Watch downloaded movies on DVD player?, Part 2

Infopackets Reader Chris B. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

I read with great interest your latest article, 'Watch downloaded movies on DVD player?'. I have one more suggestion for your Readers -- actually, it's more of a twist on a suggestion you already provided.

For those who already own a video card with the 'TV out' feature: instead of running cables over a long distance (which may end up costing a fortune), I believe it would be equally feasible (or even cheaper) to purchase a wireless video transmitter and receiver combo package, and hook it up to the 'TV out' port of the video card. The transmitter would need to contain a single video port (Composite or S-video), and two RCA (left and right) audio ports; following that, hook the video and audio outputs from your computer to the transmitter and then connect the receiver into the audio and video on your TV or entertainment center.

This setup will allow you to 'beam' the video and audio through your house, even through walls. Some of the computer-based transmitter kits even allow you to use a remote to control the 'player' software. I think these run somewhere around $50 - $80, but you'll have to search the web for more info. "

My response:

Thanks for the great suggestion! However, one downfall of this approach is that the majority of wireless video transmitters run on FM or similar technology, so there stands a possibility of video interference once the signal is beamed over. Interference may be acceptable for regular TV news, but would annoy the heck out of me if I was watching a movie ;-). The wireless DVD player setup I suggested wouldn't suffer from video or audio quality loss, because the information is digital and there are regular CRC checks built into the receiving unit to assure data integrity.

Update 2005/06/09: After this article was published, Reader Clive M. chimed in with similar sentiments:

" I have a comment to make regarding the reader who suggested using an audio/video transceiver package to connect the audio/video output from a PC to a TV. In my opinion: it doesn't work very well -- I've tried it. At least, not if you've got a 2.4 GHz phone or a 2.4 GHz wireless router. Most of the new transceiver packages, (such as Terk, AngelTrax, etc.), also use 2.4 GHz as the carrier frequency. Unless the router is turned off, reception at the receiver end suffers major interference. And let's not even get into what happens if a microwave oven is turned on. Unless it is absolutely not doable, I recommend that you stick to a hard wired connection [or use a wireless solution that operates through your wireless router such as a wireless DVD receiver or wireless media center]. "

Note: Part 3 of this ongoing discussion has been continued. Click here to read!