Network sharing/movie watching question.

[pellpell4]

So this is my first post on this website, but I have a pretty elaborate question that would help me out a ton if there was a decent answer.

Some background on what I have to work with at this point; I have a desktop, laptop, 2 smart TVs and 2 other LCD TVs, a smart bluray player, xbox 360, and a wireless router. So here's my question...

What I'm looking to do is be able to watch my movies (most of which are in MP4) from any of my televisions. Or at least the 2 main ones.

What I've been doing is keeping the movies on my laptop and connecting them with HDMI to whatever TV I want to watch the movie on. What I'd like to be able to do is have the movies on my Desktop and share them with my other TVs through the network. I recently learned you could open a sharing folder with the XBOX 360 and play the movies using that, which works well unless you're using an MP4 which XBOX doesn't read.

So, I'm looking to get a new tablet, netbook, or notebook. And possibly a wireless Desktop to TV connector, if that's what I'll need. But given the hardware available to me, is there any way to have these devices all share my movies through my router so I don't have to keep moving my laptop?

Even if it's something I'd have to buy, I'm very interested in knowing how it would be possibly because this is very high on my to do list! Thank you so much for your help!

 

[I am confused2]

On your desktop, create a folder that containes all your videos, make it for sharing, then from any of your other devices that are on the network, you will be able to access.

You are then using the desktop as a central server. Easy enough.

 

[cyclones]

Your smart TV's should be able to access the movie content once its shared correctly and they're all on the same network (which I assume). For your LCD TVs, you will need to have the laptop and then a HDMI cable since those dont hook up to a network unless you had a computer connected to them.

 

[Fat.Clown]

• setup a media server on your computer. (suggestions XBMC or PLEX)
• if possible you should be able to stream movie to your "Smart" TV. I don't know how "Smart" your "Smart" TV is. My "Smart" TV purchased back in '10 is pretty dumb.
• otherwise get a networked media player such as the WD TV Live Streaming Media Player . Which looks like it can stream nearly every format. Hook one up to the TV you want to stream to and you'll be set.
• the Logitech revue looks to be pretty promising too. It is android powered. I don't know if you have any experiences with an Android device, but they can definitely play MP4 files.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

I second the use of PLEX. That is what I am using at home, and I a LOVING it. My suggestion is that if you have the option, used WIRED connections over wireless if you can.



If you are interested, here is a thread I started which I have been discussing different things about building a rackmount server specifically for running a PLEX media server. It's going to get pretty long though...

http://www.techist.com/forums/f76/has-anyone-built-rackmount-server-thoughts-261412/

 

[MarvinHarris]

"Wild Media Server" has great features which include on-the-fly format conversion and DLNA streaming to many different devices.

Wild Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)

 

[Oreo]

Plex. Or even straight up DLNA. As others have said, most modern BluRay players and SmartTV's will pick up DLNA hosts, and some will happily access Plex media server.