On 12 Apr 2007 01:40:42 -0700, nemodat@gmail.com wrote in
<1176367241.842381.27740@b75g2000hsg.googlegroups. com>:

>All I want to do is watch video files on my television, without having
>wires connected between my computer and my TV. Is that too much to
>ask? It appears that it is. That's the conclusion I've come to, being
>neither a techie nor a noob, but just a regular joe who likes to get
>his content over the internet, and watch it on my television.

What you want to do is definitely possible, but neither trivial nor
cheap. Streaming high-quality video over wireless takes appropriate
software, a fast and stable wireless network, and an appropriate
wireless device at the TV.

Probably the easiest and perhaps the best way to do what you want is
with Apple TV <http://www.apple.com/appletv/>, driven by iTunes on your
computer.

>This may sound like a trivial point, and obviously in the grand scheme
>of things it is. But in my daily existence, the need to have wires
>connecting my computer and TV is a pain, because s-video cables are
>bloody expensive, and therefore the layout of the furniture in my
>living room is largely determined by the affordable conjoining of
>these two devices.

S-video cables are actually quite cheap on eBay.

>Fast forward to the present. The prodiguous marketing of the Apple TV
>made me giddy over the prospect that perhaps my days of waiting were
>finally over. Except they're not, because Apple TV requires the use of
>iTunes, and iTunes doesn't support AVI files (and many other file
>types besides). The fact is that the vast majority of the video files
>I watch are AVIs. Yes, its possible to convert all uncompatible files
>to iTunes-compatible formats, but this hardly strikes me as a
>reasonble solution. And it reflects the political economy of a large
>corporation profiting from both content and hardware.

Apple is probably concerned about facilitating the playing of illicit
AVI downloads from the Internet (which is what I'm guessing you want to
do), and justifiably so IMHO. That said, it may be possible to work
around the problem with Quicktime Pro (not expensive) -- see
"Make iTunes 6 accept non-native video formats"
<http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051013124423475>
and <http://forums.macnn.com/82/applications/273756/xvid-avi-in-itunes/>

>Then there's the Netgear products, the EVA700 and the EVA8000. But
>I've read some lackluster reviews about each, and they are not
>available for direct purchase from any retailer in my (rather large)
>city.

There are a number of alternatives to Apple TV that support a wide
variety of video formats. Check out:
* Buffalo LinkTheater (may be your best bet)
* Slingbox
* Philips Streamium

>Then I start reading about Xbox and something called XBMC, and
>that perhaps this is the solution. But I'm not a gamer, and I don't
>understand but I don't think wireless streaming is not possible with
>Xbox anyway.

Check out Nero 7 MediaHome with Xbox 360

>I call some local boutique store that specializes in "solutions" for
>personal computing. Now he's telling me to look into some IR Blaster
>device. I'm not liking the look of that thing either.
>
>All I want to do is watch video files, stored on my computer, on my
>TV. This is either not possible, or so fraught with problems that it
>hardly seems worth it.
>
>It's 2007. This is ridiculous.

Not really. What you want to do is both bleeding edge and (I'm
guessing) not legitimate.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>