Sonia Zjawinski

NEW YORK, US: There are several ways to watch online videos from the comfort of your living room couch. I've tested several over the past few months, including the Apple TV, Boxee for ATV, and PlayOn for the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360. In this final installment (for now, at least–you know how it goes with gadgets), I look at one of the most obvious ways to port online videos to the big screen. This may sound crazy, but I used–wait for it–a good ol' fashioned PC.

Here's the problem: While online media receivers like Apple TV and software like Boxee and PlayOn are steps in the right direction, they're still too limiting or require too many complicated steps to expand them in a way that truly lets you have access to all the things on the Web.

For those who want the Internet's entire video collection at the click of a button, turning an inexpensive desktop into an online media hot spot is ideal–and it's a lot easier to do, since most desktops now feature TV-friendly connections such as HDMI, DVI, or VGA. (And if they don't, that's not a huge problem–you can often get adapter cables.)

 
For full story click: http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/why-your-pc-may-be-your-best-tv/?ref=technology