Streaming Question

[wentwj]

So, currently I have a Mvix external HD box that I put videos on to watch on my TV. However, I'm getting to the point where I don't want to move everything over to that external HD to watch it, and I'd rather just keep the videos on my computer and stream them to my TV.

So, can an AppleTV just stream from a single iTunes library, or would I have to go and set it up to stream from iTunes a single video at a time? Basically can I view my iTunes library from AppleTV?

Also assuming the connection is strong enough (wireless n/g or wired) is the quality comparable?

 

[wmealer]

You can absolutely view your entire iTunes library on tv, with one caveat: movies/videos must fall within the compatible specs (which are pretty narrow), found on the apple website.

You can also stream from multiple iTunes libraries if you have more than one. It's just a matter of selecting from your multiple sources, from within the tv interface.

Quality is no different on your tv than it would be on your computer, because you're viewing the exact same file.

 

[wentwj]

You can absolutely view your entire iTunes library on tv, with one caveat: movies/videos must fall within the compatible specs (which are pretty narrow), found on the apple website.

You can also stream from multiple iTunes libraries if you have more than one. It's just a matter of selecting from your multiple sources, from within the tv interface.

Quality is no different on your tv than it would be on your computer, because you're viewing the exact same file.

Thanks for that, I wasn't sure if streaming reduced quality by compressing it during the stream or anything silly like that.

I'm perfectly content with encoding my video using VisualHub into an AppleTV acceptable format, I'm assuming it allows for fairly good quality (at least near DVD). I've seen people on here are having problems getting HD video to work, and... while I'd love to get some HD content on an AppleTV I can live with SD

 

[wmealer]

VisualHub gives great results, and is extremely stable. I've read the others having problems with HD content, but I for one have had great results with almost all my HD conversions in VisualHub.

And yes, depending on your settings, DVD rips can look just as good as an actual DVD. And the filesize hovers between 1.5 - 2.0GB for a typical feature-length film.