Hello, I'm having difficulty with streaming movies, pictures, etc from my computer room, in the bottom floor of my mother's home to her bedroom on the top floor (we live in a split level home). She has a LED television, and it has two HDMI ports, but no USB ports. Is it possible, with ROKU, Google Chrome, Apple TV, to hook one of these devices and stream movies, pics, etc (on the HDD of the computer on the bottom floor) via WiFi to her LED television? If so, can anyone, in plain language, tell me how to do this? Right now, I'm stuck burning the movies and pics to a DVD and playing it on her portable DVD player. I would really appreciate any and all assistance concerning this minor issue. I'm trying to make it easy for her and myself. Thank you in advance.
Is this a smart tv and does it have either ethernet or wireless capabilities? What brand name is this tv?
I think you should try Joe C source before anything else. Is the smart TV using the same internet connection with the PC in the split home?
It would help to know, I have a Spysung ..I mean a Samsung tv and Samsung does provide software to network my tv and my pc for streaming video from the pc to the tv
I do have WiFi in mom's home, and yes the WiFi is available all through this, small, split level house (It can only hold 4 family members). I have a Roku device that I can plug into mom's HDMI port, and I was hoping that I can stream movies and pics from the laptop, which is on out WiFi network, to mom's TV. If I cannot, how could I go about achieving what I want to do without spending a whole a lot of money. Thank you.
+1 for Plex. I started with Plex Media Server running on my PC streaming to Plex sideloaded onto a NowTV box (Roku variant) and now run the server on a QNAP NAS with remote access enabled so my friends can access my library over the internet.
It's not smart of a TV, it has no wireless capabilities, but I'm using the Roku device with the PLEX severe link you provided earlier.
Can't the Roku just read/browse your Windows share? I play 1080p from my PC & I'd hate to dumb it down through transcoding as both Plex or Serviio don't play every format direct.
Can you be more specific? I'm just learning how to use Roku. How would I tell it to read/browser my Windows Share? I did get PLEX working and I was surprised that it worked. If I can just use Roku to do everything, it would be a lot easier for me to use and then show my mom how to use it. She's getting more "techy" since it's only the two of us since my father passed on 12-26-2013... Thank You.
I've never used a Roku so did a Google and found that it only supports DLNA servers, not simple network shares. I say stick with Plex which should be simple for your mum to use. By using Plex I'm sure you could add wallpaper, etc to your tv shows as well...
Thank you everyone for all your suggestions. I was able to setup Roku in my mother's room so she can anything I have on my Toshiba Laptop!