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sdilley14 · Jan 8, 2009, 03:20 PM

I'm just wondering what everyone's take is on the best Apple home media solution for my particular needs. Ok, here's what I want to do...

Stream music videos from my computer to my TV
Look at pictures from my computer on my TV
Surf the web on my TV

Basically, I'd like to have everything from my laptop show up on my TV wirelessly or as close to that as possible.

What I have...

2.16 GHz MBP
42" 720p LCD with component and HDMI output

The closest I've come to making this happen is getting a converter that converted the regular video output on the MBP to HDMI and plugging it directly into the TV. This worked, but it was a pain to set up and it kept me tethered to the TV, and it was hard to get a decent resolution. It was just a cumbersome process I'd rather not deal with.

Obviously I know about the Apple TV, which I've considered, and I've heard of people converting Mac Minis into media centers. I wouldn't be opposed to doing either of these. Ultimately, I'd like to sit back with my laptop and play things on my TV and through my surround sound. What would be the cleanest, most efficient way to do this (that sweet spot between price and practicality of course)?

mduell · Jan 8, 2009, 07:57 PM

Wireless HDMI

Setting the resolution shouldn't be a problem.

sdilley14 · Jan 8, 2009, 09:05 PM

Could you post some links? Is this just a wireless HDMI adapter or some sort of media extender? Sorry, I'm really new to the whole media center thing. The best I've done is streaming my audio and some select video files via Connect360, but I got rid of my 360 a while back.

badidea · Jan 9, 2009, 09:50 AM

Bluetooth keyboard and mouse?
(I have the same setup as you and that's what I use for couch surfing)

But I'm in the business for a MacMini or AppleTV as well since I don't like the MBP as the media centre solution - too many cables to connect and disconnect when the laptop needs to get mobile......

mduell · Jan 9, 2009, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by sdilley14

Could you post some links? Is this just a wireless HDMI adapter or some sort of media extender? Sorry, I'm really new to the whole media center thing. The best I've done is streaming my audio and some select video files via Connect360, but I got rid of my 360 a while back.

http://tinyurl.com/8panwe

sdilley14 · Jan 10, 2009, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

http://tinyurl.com/8panwe

Ok, I did that. That's the obvious first move. Thanks for the help though, very clever and original. I know nothing about wireless HDMI so I was hoping for some links to some of the better wireless HDMI solutions so I could start comparing.

Does anyone here have a Mac Mini set up as a home media center? I'd be very interested in trying something like that. Again, this is something I don't have a lot of experience with and would look advice/opinions from people who have done this before.

mduell · Jan 11, 2009, 01:54 AM

Originally Posted by sdilley14

Ok, I did that. That's the obvious first move. Thanks for the help though, very clever and original. I know nothing about wireless HDMI so I was hoping for some links to some of the better wireless HDMI solutions so I could start comparing.

And the first site on Google has a list with links of all the major players in the market.