[Murby]

Hi Everyone

I'm a little new to mac so please excuse me if this is a stupid question... I want to turn my mac into part of a home cinema system. ie DVD Player and audio (itunes), getting lined to my amp in another room. So I don't have to buy another DVD player really!

I would like to do it wireless if possible (as i rent), but could install some wires as a last resort.

Has anybody done anything like this themselves (i would like to hear your experiences)? Or does anybody know of places / companies I can get the info from?

If anybody can give me any tips it would be a great help!

Thanks

Rich

[subego]

Not a stupid question at all.

The simple answer is no, not really.

There are simple ways to wirelessly get music from your computer to your stereo, but most of them are PC only... So far.

MacSense (or is it MacAlly) announced the HomePod at CES. Its not available yet, I think will cost about 200USD, and is seriously freaking ugly.

Available now is the SliMp3, which is a wired (ethernet) solution. I think this also costs about 200USD. Anything with ethernet can be made wireless by adding a Linksys WET-11, which adds about 120USD and a middling amount of complexity to get them all talking together.

[edit: Murby, I just noticed you are located somewhere that doesn't have TiVo, so you can ignore the next paragraph... sorry]

Also available now is the TiVo with Home Media Option, which is also a wired solution, but is going to get into some major bucks, especially if you add the WET-11 mentioned above. Of course, you get the whole PVR thing as a bonus, but you're still out at least 350 smackers.

This technology is starting to reach critical mass though, so I don't think you will have to wait too long to have more options.

I don't know as much about the DVD situation, but I'd recon a cheap (100USD) DVD player will trounce any other option.

[vmarks]

If you had a cheap PC at the TV end of things you could use VLC to serve the DVD off the Mac to the PC at the TV.

This would work equally well for audio. You'd just have to have wireless cards in both.

The iMac doesn't do TV out well, just to another monitor. However, if you use a scan converter to make the extra monitor output work as a TV signal, then use a Rabbit (wireless box for sharing tv signal throughout a house) at the iMac and at the TV, you'll have your DVD broadcast to the TV wirelessly, and cheaply too.

The answer is, there are cheap ways to make it work, but would spending $50 US on a really cheap DVD player be just as good? probably.

[Murby]

Hi

Thanks for your help guys. I'm a little disappointed, as I had kind of assumed it would be quite easy!

I might take a look at the home pod (if it's ugly i can hide it!).

I think a DVD Player looks like the best option, but I really liked the idea of using the mac, with my sony ericsson as a remote...

Either way I'm going to crack on with this and see if I can get anything interesting to work..

I'll be sure to let you know of "any" sucess!

Thanks again
Rich

[DAlex]

A lot depends on the kind of mac you have. I had a white ibook and it worked very well in the setup you want - the ibook has a audio/video out port, and the cable has composite leads on the end so the audio connections went into the stereo and the vido end into the TV. Worked fine, gave me a dvd player and iTunes through the stereo.

So what kind do you have?

DAlex

[Murby]

Sorry should have made that clear :-(

I've got a Imac G4 (the 800Mhz version).

[DAlex]

Originally posted by Murby:
Sorry should have made that clear :-(

I've got a Imac G4 (the 800Mhz version).

Snap, me too! Well you have the vga out port, so I'd look for a vga/video composite converter (such as this http://www.trianglecables.com/cotovicovgad.html ) but I've not tried one......

A quick search in google brought up that one, there should be other options.

Good luck

DAlex

[mathew_m]

To be honost Apple's DVD player leaves a lot to be desired. I was watching the movie Secretary the other night and was experiencing combing problems in every scene. Video sources are also problematic. Hopefully Apple will get it's stuff together for the next release.

Anyway I would invest in an inexpensive DVD player. Just about anything under a hundred bucks will be better. Hardware decoding is the way to go.

[Maquero]

one of the other issues is audio,yo would need to buy one the m-audio sonica theahter wich works over usb to get surround sound with vlc