How to connect PC with extended hard drive wirelessly without a network (1 lap t

[cotbegimot]

Hello,
May be I should clarify a little: I recenty bought Seagate 1Tb extended HD where I keep my video library.....ALso, I am using Wireless connection from my Lap Top to flat screen TV. Extended hard drive is placed next to TV stand. The idea is to wirelessly get access to extended HD and then wirelessly send signal from PC to TV (this part is already working thanx to Warpia Wireless.
Let me know if I am way out of my league....

 

[eibgrad]

I'm not familiar w/ the Warpia product, so I looked into it a little just to get a taste. Best I can tell it simply allows your PC display (no sound) to be projected on your TV over wireless.

And now you want something similar for your HD content, iow, stream that content for playback on the TV (video and audio)? And you’d rather not use a network? You want something similar as the Warpia that’s point to point?

Is there any reason you don’t have a network, even a basic wireless router? Because that would increase the available options tremendously.

I just want to be sure I understand what you want before making any suggestions.

 

[cotbegimot]

You pretty much summonned it up (except that new Warpia version does stream audio).....To be honest with you I have no object to networks except for the fact that I am not very computer literate and thus want to do it as easy as possible......I just want to use my lap top as controlling device(remote control) for both: remote HD and TV......I do have wireless router though and worse comes to worse will do network

 

[eibgrad]

What I recommend is staying away from those proprietary "wireless/usb" solutions and sticking strictly w/ standard network solutions.

For example, one of the nicest devices currently available for streaming content from your hard drive or PC is the WD TV Live HD Media Player:

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=735

It’s a wired device, but you can always add wireless later using a wireless Ethernet bridge (don't let that scare you, it's not that hard to get working, esp. if you hang out here). It will even give you access to YouTube, Flickr, Live365, maybe even Netflix. Plus all your PC content. And you can plug your USB external drive right into the back. 1080P, HDMI, plenty of file formats, optical out (if you have a AV), etc.

Obviously the WD TV Live is a highly featured device. There are other less featured devices if you have more modest needs. In those cases you usually lose support for some file formats, maybe no HDMI, maybe no online access (just PC and external storage), etc.

Also, if you’re in the market for say a blu-ray player, many higher end models include features like that of the WD TV Live built-in (frankly, even some TVs do now as well). So you can avoid adding too many devices unnecessarily and save some money if you plan your purchases. If you were going to say spend $200 on a blu-ray player in the next few months, it might be better to spend a little more and get something that also supports access to your home PC and external storage. IOW, kill two birds w/ one stone.