Netflix streaming on a laptop

[Cyber Akuma]

I want to know if this is possible.

If you have a laptop, HDTV, and good 5.1 sound system, would you be able to use these to stream netflix videos?

I was thinking of course connect the laptop to the HDTV by a VGA cable.

However, I forgot about sound, all it has is a headphone jack.

I don't want to just output sound in 2.0.

The only way I could think of getting 5.1 sound out of this setup is to buy a USB soundcard for the laptop..... or is there a better way?

What I want to ask is.... would such a setup work to stream video in SD and HD from netflix on a HDTV with actual 5.1 sound?

If so, what usb soundcard would you recommend? I can't afford something too expensive (max $100, though even that is stretchign it for me, something around $50 or so would be ideal), and it would need optical out since it would need to connect to the receiever instead of directly to the speakers.

[Blue_MiSfit]

AFAIK, Netflix doesn't stream 5.1ch audio.

I might be wrong.

If so, doesn't your laptop have a digital audio output of some kind? Most do, and if there' a docking station available for your laptop it probably has S/PDIF over coaxial RCA, along with DVI, which will likely play nicer than your VGA.

If you don't have any kind of digital audio output, you can surely get a USB S/PDIF output module for not much money. This will give you a direct connection to your receiver, and it should handle the audio just fine - be it 2ch PCM or 5.1ch Dolby Digital.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829101151 Here's something for $55 that should work, and has both 3x 3.5mm analog jacks, and a hybrid coax/optical spdif output. Not sure about driver support or the adapter cable though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102020 Here's probably a safer bet. It's creative (gross), but it has a true optical spdif output (toslink), and retains the analog outs as well.

~MiSfit

[Cyber Akuma]

Actually, those kinda cards were what I was talking about.

And no, the laptop has no such outputs for audio, nor a docking station, I noticed that docking stations don't really seem to exsist anymore for most modern laptops.

So if I had a 5.1 video, and used one of those two soundcards you posted, I would be able to watch HD video with 5.1 sound on my laptop outputitng to my HDTV and audio receiever?

[saint-francis]

So if I had a 5.1 video, and used one of those two soundcards you posted, I would be able to watch HD video with 5.1 sound on my laptop outputitng to my HDTV and audio receiever?

Sure.

But Netflix doesn't stream 5.1. Only stereo. And I have noticed that when streaming Netflix movies on my laptop with a wifi connection I often get pauses in the movie because my internet connection has slowed and they are determining a different resolution to send me. This can take up to 3 minutes. Recently this happened about every 4 minutes in a movie I was trying to watch. Needless to say I made it about 20 minutes into the movie before stopping. I tried to finish it the next night and had the same issues. I still have only made it about 30 minutes into the movie. :(

[ZRaven]

I have noticed the same problem while watching movies on PS3. The pauses are a couple minutes long and they are annoying. I have noticed that on the XBOX 360 live frequent pauses occurred in the past. XBOX has resolved the pauses somehow and now you will get a blip in the stream and an immediate adjustment in picture quality. There is no pause anymore. This is a considerable improvement in the XBOX 360/ Netflix experience. Hopefully, PS3 will have a similar improvement in the future as well as eliminating the need to have the Netflix disc loaded to use the Netflix streaming service