Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PrashP

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 5, 2010
15
0
I've downloaded a load of .avi movies.

Some of them are blueray rips so too big to burn onto dvd's

What would be the best way of playing them on the TV?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If your TV has a USB port, try sticking the files on a hard drive or USB key and see if you can play them that way. That'd be the most convenient.
 
FYI: You know it's illegal to download movies from those torrent sites. I am assuming you have apple tv. You can either convert those to itunes compatible format via handbrake or jailbreak your aptv and stream from your server.
 
I'm assuming that the avi's you've downloaded are entirely legal, and the the blu ray rips in questions are rips of your own personal DVDs, right?

What sort of hardware do you have at your disposal? Depending on what you have there are different options.

The most simple way is to hook your computer directly to the TV using an HDMI cable if you have a newer Mac mini, or using an HDMI adapter with another Mac.

Another option is to buy an AppleTV to connect to your television. Then you'll either need to jailbreak the ATV to play .avi, or use your computer to convert to a format ATV can play.

Yet another option is to get an application called Playback and run that on your Mac to serve the media in question, and use an Xbox 360 or PS3 to play the files.
 
FYI: You know it's illegal to download movies from those torrent sites. I am assuming you have apple tv. You can either convert those to itunes compatible format via handbrake or jailbreak your aptv and stream from your server.

Wow, you got right on your high horse then fell off it all in one sentance :D
 
I wish people would save the lecturing and disclaimers about downloading torrents: "you know it's illegal to download...blah blah etc etc" yes EVERYONE KNOWS THAT ALREADY, AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO STOP ANYONE, SO MIND YOUR BUSINESS, AND ANSWER THE PERSONS QUESTION: "how do I play avi on my tv?" !!!
 
I use AirPlay from my iPhone to send .avi to my AppleTV2. I use an app called VLC Streamer on the iPhone. It has a server component that runs on my Mac to send the video to the iPhone.

No jailbreak required on iPhone or AppleTV.

There are other apps that do the same thing.
 
I wish people would save the lecturing and disclaimers about downloading torrents: "you know it's illegal to download...blah blah etc etc" yes EVERYONE KNOWS THAT ALREADY, AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO STOP ANYONE, SO MIND YOUR BUSINESS, AND ANSWER THE PERSONS QUESTION: "how do I play avi on my tv?" !!!

But if someone knows how to torrent, one should also be able to find dozens/hundreds of threads/guides/articles on how to play .avi files on an Apple TV, but I guess, that is just wishful thinking, as the ability to find and download torrents does not include the ability to search for already present answers I suppose.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.