I'm going to (hopefully) close on my new condo next month, and I want to upgrade my media technology. What I'm thinking about:

1) Something that allows me to wirelessly stream Netflix and potentially other internet services on my TV. Roku? Internet-connect Blu-Ray player?

2) Something that allows me to play music from my computer and the internet on my stereo. SqueezeBox? Sonos?

So, what do you guys know about these things? Any suggestions? Is there anything that can do both? Note that my television will probably be physically remote from my stereo.

How turnkey do you want it to go? Sketch would probably do this with two PCs. I use a PC and an Xbox.

If you really want Blu-Ray, you might want to consider getting a PS3, even if you don't play games; it might come in cheaper than individual components. In addition to streaming music, it would also allow you to stream downloaded internet video. An xbox can too, but it won't have blu-ray.

Roku's are amazingly great if all you want is Netflix and Pandora. I'm sure the internet blu-ray boxes are just fine. I'm not convinced that Blu-ray is worth the cost, I just don't see the technology lasting much past 5 years.

No experience with the dedicated wireless media servers.

I've had a PS3 since Christmas and so far pretty much the only thing I've used it for is Netflix streaming. I have yet to watch a single Blu-Ray (my TV is only 720p anyway), and I've only played about an hour's worth of Little Big Planet (sucks, but I don't have time to play more anyway). Knowing this, and if I were to keep my Netflix streaming plan (which I'm not since I don't really have time to get much use out it, either), I think a Roku would have been a better investment for me. Luckily I didn't buy the PS3 myself.

I'd go for a PS3. You can stream Netflix, play Blu-Ray and also stream your music (although it's a bit harder than a 360 is in that regard). Also, you can pick up a cheap Airport Express on eBay (Apple's wireless router) and you can plug those into your stereo and control it over AirTunes. I'm probably gonna pick one up for my apartment next year but everyone I know who's already set that up has said it's easy. Plus, if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch you can control it without your laptop.

i'm a huge fan of Samsung. I own...


http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/tv-v ... returnurl=



oh, and get this...

I've never done this on a 360, but it's extremely easy to do on the PS3. PS3 is easily the best choice for you, shmoo. It can do most of what you're asking for (not sure about PS3 streaming to your stereo, never have looked into something like that).

Get the poison out...

bwahahahahaha!!! been using that quite a bit this past week.

well played sir.

Getting music from my computer to stereo is more important to me than wirelessly connecting to my TV, since it's not too difficult to connect my computer to the TV to watch a movie. Less likely to do that to listen to a song.

Sonos is well regarded. I've only had minimal exposure to one of their models- very sweet, but pricey, IIRC. I was gifted a 2nd gen Squeezebox a couple months and I really like it. 5 minutes to set up, and very user friendly. The DAC is decent enough that the SQ doesn't get stabby in my ears, and the remote is handy. I've listened to my computer-based music more recently than ever before. Since I don't do the things in the question posed by your Item 1, Ima have no experience.

I'm a big, big fan of the Squeezebox Duet. I expect some price drops once the new touch-screen device is released by Logitech.

My impression is that Sonos is more geared for distributing music throughout the home, whereas Squeezebox is designed more for exactly what I want, wirelessly connecting my computer to my stereo. However, I know people who have Sonos so it's good to hear that people like the Squeezebox too. I also think the Squeezebox is a lot cheaper than Sonos.

I had that one but the wireless dongle didn't work at all for me. So I returned it and got the LG-BD390 (which is what I wanted in the first place, but they didn't initially have in stock)



Profile 2.0, built-in wireless adapater, Netflix, YouTube, streams media from a network connected PC

http://reviews.cnet.com/blu-ray-players ... 88056.html

Probably available for cheap now. As of last fall:

I play my music wirelessly throughout my house with my apple airport express. It has a stereo jack on the bottom of the router so it's as easy as plugging in a stereo jack to the router. You might be looking for something more hightech than this, but thought I'd post anyway.

and pair the airport express with one of these and you've got a winner