hd streaming pc or roku or streaming bd player


for that matter xbox playstation mac tv are also in the running though I have ruled out as being above 200 bucks. My goals are to have a nice way of streaming high def netflix and I do have a pandora accont which I enjoy)
well one can get the roku hd for 120 bucks, and inexpensive cable set for another 20. samsung and sony and others have blue ray players with wired and wireless streaming (of netflix, and other hd providers (pandora in samsungs case as well) for 200 bucks or so. The roku which I know little about the Roku bu is the best deal on paper, no blue ray player. the streaming bd players are a bit more, especially when you add in crazy long run cable pricing and then there is this nice core duo pc I have with a soundblaster 5.1 digital audio card and a nice video card with dvi out......Hmmmm a I already own it it would be free. to upgrade to a blue ray player or burner would be 80-200 for the drive, but this could hold off, and I know there are all kinds of compiancy issues to make this work well and it is most likely not cost effective One could need a drive sound card video card and perhaps even a new OS. unfortunately my very nice sony cineza lcd projector is 1080i not 1080p . from my understanding dvi and hdmi provide the same signal. My vid card has just the dvi and my projector hdmi for digital video. so I'll need a converter dealybopper, about 15 bucks. My harman kardon reciever will do 7.1 audio but no hdmi input for sound, my sound card just 5.1 and that is indeed what I use: 5 channel surround and my subwoofer. I can use either digital optical or "wired". I guess the question is would the pc never live up to these other more dedicted streaming devices. hey I know there would be no remote, yuk. Not willing to pay more than 2 bills to be setup.
Want very good or good enough, like the rest of my gear. Harmon Kardon avr 320 wharfedale modus 8 and other pretty well matched wharfdale surround speakers plus perhaps oversized sw10 subwoofer and sony cineza vpl-hs60 1080i projector will be involved in this home theater. currently I have a upscaling sony hdmi out dvd player...that works quite well. Never played a blue ray disk, looking forward to it. I know one thing I dont want to get stuck having to buy a hdmi sound to other digital out to use my reciever: careful to see your player has other digital outs these are like 100 bucks or a new reciever.
wyocoyote

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Well back to this old thread:
I had a nice htpc setup and it worked wll, much like Gmood1 set up!
I have chosen to streamline my entertainment center: I now use my Dell Laptop E6500. It has solid state hard drives so is quiet as a mouse.
After much hemming and hawing I purchased the display port to HDMI adapter ( its cheap but Dell had no literature indicating it could carry audio as well as video. It does!!!!
and through my Onkyo tx sr604 and to my sony vpl vh-1 projector now both the sound and video are better than ever.
I still have no blue ray player, mostly streaming netflix I know not all of which is HD. I'm stoked.
Will begin another thread: why doesnt my ipad2 plus adapter work in a similar setup.