whats a more effective way to watch movies from PC?

[Mirakh]

Netflix
hands down.

[zeq]

I have little USB stick that has a HDMI plug instead of USB and it just plugs into my TV. Gives me the generic Android 4.1 interface and it allows me to connect to my file server and watch movies. They are maybe $30 to get and another $50 for a good remote.

[Rec]

I've got a western digital media player ( link ) for that purpose. Just copy your movie onto an usb stick plug it in and watch it. The media player makes absolutely no noise, that's why I got it since my PC is quite noisy.

I also have one of these (an older model, I believe), and it works excellently. You can also choose to use an external drive instead of a USB stick. I use a 3TB external drive I picked up for 120 bucks or so, simple and easy.

[Faithh]

the "best" way is to build a HTPC and Media Server combo

movies are stored in ISO format on the media server and then streamed to the HTPC over network, the ISO formatting retains all the special features and does not lose quality

you use windows media center on the HTPC and Windows Home Server on the Media Server, and the software MyMovies to facilitate the ISO mounting and streaming as well as cataloging and ripping

i've looked into tons of different options and after see this in action at my friend's house it really is the best if you are serious into digital home media

And subtitles then?

[Cyanotical]

And subtitles then?

yes, it's exactly like putting a DVD or Bluray disk in the drive, it's just streamed over network

[lordjust]

You can yea but I tried this method first and the movies skipped and jumped due to the USB being a cheap shitty thing it was not able to feed the movie fast enough. At least that's what the guy at the shop said ^^

Yes it could be that your USB stick wasn't fast enough . A normal USB 2.0 can do 1.5 MByte/s and a 1080p movie can use up to 4.5 MByte/s. A highspeed USB 2.0 stick or HDD can do 60 MByte/s which is enough and the second best method to watch HD movies. Best way would be to buy the bluray and watch it with a blurayplayer because rips in the internet (that's what you people want to do aren't you?) don't have the same quality as the bluray because people don't want to have big files so instead of 36MBit/s they do a compressed rip with only 5MBit/s.

Another method would be to just connect the TV with the PC via HDMI or DVI + sound but keep in mind that the longer the cable, the better quality you need so that a strong enough signal will reach your TV. Furthermore you could stream movies via the built in DLNA software or your Xbox360 or PS3 but your PC will have to decompress the files first before it can send them to the TV and when you have a 1080p MKV with HD sound you need a strong CPU to do that.

[Faithh]

yes, it's exactly like putting a DVD or Bluray disk in the drive, it's just streamed over network

Owyeah :P disks being bought :P

[Cyanotical]

Owyeah :P disks being bought :P

cough, netflix/redbox

[abracadabro]

HDMI>AMP>HDMI TV
No video quality loss and lossless 7.1 sound ( DTS HD, Dolby true HD )

[Annoying]

PS3 + PS3MS
If you're like me and the PS3 sits on the same gigabit switch as your PC, it's completely seamless and simple.

Note: PS3MS works on 360 as well. No Live required.