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Howdy gang

TV model - Samsung PN50C540 > 50 inch plasma

Looking at getting the wireless adapter > Samsung WIS09ABGN (unless another type will work)

However, before I buy it, there is one piece of information I need to know but can't find.

On my main PC, I have Win 7 Ultimate, 64 Bit.

I have it networked to several pcs. Before buying this tv, I used my original Xbox as a media center type of go between, which would scan the shared directories of my pc, and allow me to play avi and wmv files.

With this wireless adapter, can I do the same thing - network the tv to the PC and browse the shared folders that way ? Or, will I have to use windows media player and stream it to the tv ?

I've heard options suggested but have never really gotten a straight answer.

I've been told I need the Samsung wireless adapter (specifically as its proprietary) but then others have said it's garbage and non Samsung works. others have said get Seagate FAT+ or WD HD Live

With regards to FAT/WD Live, are these just "reader converters" whereby the box can "talk to" my pc over my wireless network, thus making it so that I only have to connect the FAT/WD to the tv via a wire, and that will provide the ability to interface with my PC and my tv will surf the folders on my tv, "pull" the files and they will be "processed" through the FAT/WD box ?

Or, I am actually going to have to dump my files onto the FAT/WD box and access them via direct link to the tv? I ask because I keep everything on external and my tv already reads avi files off my usc stick, so if the FAT/WD requires me to put files on it, it would seem redundant.

Ideally, if possible, I want my computer to "talk with" my tv and have my tv browse folders and pull the media. If it requires network type boxes plugged into the tv (and the pc) to serve as communicators to allow them to talk to each other wirelessly, that's fine - kind of like a certain FTA satellite system where you had one wireless adapter at your router plugged into it via network cable, and another at the receiver plugged into THAT via network cable.

Ok......I'll take a stab.

My first guess is that if you want to use the built in player on the TV you do not necessarily have to have the Samsung adapter but will have to have one with the same wireless chipset at the Samsung. This is because the TV has drivers built in for the Samsung stick.

I don't know what the features are of the TV as far as file formats and things of that nature but the WD TV Live is also a good option. I guess you just need to find out what file formats you want to support.

A good way to test this will be to run a cable temporarily to the tv in order to try out the sharing capabilities. If they are what you are looking for use it but if you find it lacking move on to one of the other players.

The WD player does have wifi built in and will search your network for shared folders that it can play media from.

IMHO one of the separate boxes would be better so that you are not tied to that particular TV and you can add files on them to play on the go.

DrkSide wrote:

Ok......I'll take a stab.

My first guess is that if you want to use the built in player on the TV you do not necessarily have to have the Samsung adapter but will have to have one with the same wireless chipset at the Samsung. This is because the TV has drivers built in for the Samsung stick.

I don't know what the features are of the TV as far as file formats and things of that nature but the WD TV Live is also a good option. I guess you just need to find out what file formats you want to support.

A good way to test this will be to run a cable temporarily to the tv in order to try out the sharing capabilities. If they are what you are looking for use it but if you find it lacking move on to one of the other players.

The WD player does have wifi built in and will search your network for shared folders that it can play media from.

IMHO one of the separate boxes would be better so that you are not tied to that particular TV and you can add files on them to play on the go.

You are the first person to actually offer actual tips/solutions, so thank you for that.

The wire is a good idea - have a 100 ft network cable from the old xbox 1 days. Can run that and test it out.

Just for the record, I use strictly avi files.

Thanks, and I am sure i'll have more questions so thank you in advance.

PS How would I find out the chipset of the Samsung adapter and what an equivalent would be ?

I dont know if that TV is different from mine, but my Samsung UE40B7070 uses DLNA for media sharing over the network. Just the same as my Denon and the Xbox360. At least if you arent using the Samsung widgets.

So a while ago I was looking for a DLNA server that could serve, avi, mkv, flac and photos and landed on Tversity. The problem with my samsung is that they have done some proprietery stuff with their DLNA. So even though I can play stuff via Tversity(a dlna server) i can't pause, fast forward, etc. That only works with Samsungs own software for sharing. But samsungs software doesnt support FLAC and some other formats I needed, and I didnt want to try to have several different DLNA-servrar.

The bad thing is that Samsung refuse to support thirdparty DLNA server like Tversity, and Samsungs own software(PC Share Manager) was junk. Hanged on updating large indexes, etc. In the Tversity forums there are people that have done a work-around though. You load a USB-stick with a samsung extension in "game-form" and start it via the TV's game menu. What it really does is redirect the USB port to a SMB-network share. What it does is fool the TV that the files on the SMB-share is really residing on a USB-stick. And that will make it able to fast-forward, etc.

That said, I havent tested the above trick personally, for right now i just use an USB stick directly in the TV.