# Should I use old laptop for Media Center?



## arw1970

Hello!

Long story short. Downloaded PlayOn to my brand new Dell laptop, started streaming Hulu to HDTV thru PS3 and DirecTV receivers. Love it when it works, but my wireless connection keeps giving me fits, so I've ordered a Powerline Ethernet Adapter to hardwire the PS3 (which is in the living room) to the router (bedroom). That means I need to wire a computer or media server of some kind to the router as well, so I can end the frustration of wireless streaming (and free up my new laptop). I was going to buy something like WD TV Live, but my previous Dell laptop was collecting dust, so I decided to give it a try. I cleaned up its HD this weekend and it is running pretty well. I thought it would be underpowered to do the job (Core Duo T2060 1.6 Ghz with 1GB RAM), but when I downloaded PlayOn onto it, the program's computer processing test surprisingly rated it "High" (the new laptop is "Max") and video playback seemed very smooth. 

So, I also ordered a VGA cable to hook up the laptop to the bedroom TV and I've ordered a 1 TB LaCie external HD to rip my DVD collection to. 

Since none of this stuff has arrived yet, I'm just left researching and trying to figure out how/if all this is going to work. So, I have some really (truly) silly newbie questions:

1. Can the old laptop handle being a media center for Hulu, Netflix and my entire DVD collection of about 500 discs? 

2. Will the PS3 in the living room be able to read the movies that will be stored on the external HD connected to the laptop in the bedroom?

3. If the PS3 reads the movie files fine, it will be streaming them from the laptop, correct? What will the quality be without the PS3's upconversion software? 

4. Would WD TV Live or Popcorn Hour, etc., handle this job better? My understanding is that those units would still need a computer to stream Hulu, so is there no point? Or would a combo of WD TV Live AND the laptop work best?

Sorry. This is all foreign to me. I just started reading about all of this 3 weeks ago, and I think I'm on the right track, but I still lack some basic understanding of how the whole thing will work. 

The idea of having hundreds (thousands) of TV shows and movies at my fingertips has driven me in a bit over my head I think. Thanks for any guidance/advice anyone can give me!

Amy


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## silvernineonefour

Hello Amy, I'm a green pea here too, but I do know one or two things about computers. First, I agree that wireless connections can be frustrating not to mention slow, but have you looked into making your wireless network more stable? I use a Linksys WRT54GL and I can't remember when it last went down. Even power outages don't affect it. What kind of router do you have? With the laptop I would consider the possibility of heat being a problem using it as a media server. What laptop is it? I don't see why the PS3 wouldn't be able to see the movies. If you have your network set up to share them on the laptop server, everyone on the network can see them if you so choose. Quality should not be an issue, I don't know why the PS3 would not still be able to upconvert, but that's not my area. Someone else with a PS3 should chime in.


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## Bremond

Wireless (non N) for anything other than SD content is going to drive you mental. ethernet over power is also not much better. 

your old laptop has plenty of processing power to do what you want, the only problem you have might be bottlenecks with an external hard drive.

If was you i'd use the laptop directky into your display so you dont need to stream over your network.


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