Streaming iTunes video to TV

Question for all the computer geeks here:

I have a MacBook 2.0 laptop. I've been downloading a lot of American shows on iTunes. But I want to view them on my big flatscreen TV instead of this tiny 13 inch monitor.  Does anyone know how I can hook up my laptop (wired or wireless) to play on the TV?  There are no video output plugs on my laptop, at least not the traditional kind like the RGB or S-video type cables. 

I heard Apple is working on a TV box that will allow you to wirelessly transmit video from your computer to the box to do this effortlessly. Essentially, it's a big harddrive. But it's been delayed..

Yo APstyle!

You mean MACs have limitations?!!    careful, I read stuff like that and I might not give them a try!

OK, has the macbook got some sort of connector that outputs to a breakout box that you can connect your telly to? - my laptop has a TV out plug but on some laptops and desktops I've seen little boxes to which you can conect RGB cables and that in turn plugs into the machine sometimes via a special connector (sorry for being slightly vague!)

Another option if you have a desktop PC with a larger monitor and a WIFI connection is to stream from the mac book onto that monitor?

if all you have is this macbook then it sounds like you're a little stuck, however there are other ways for you to get what you want...

Go onto Ebay and do a search for a 'Media Player' (in the computing or consumer electronics section)

You'll see external hard drives which also have Media player facilities/Embedded software. These things have a plethora of outputs and your new 'semi HD' (sorry couldnt resist that dig!) LCD will hook right up to it. Copy the files from your MACbook to the drive and using the remote control the media player comes with, you can playback on your telly!!  I think theres a 500GB version for something like £150 delivered.

Next thing you gotta watch out for is what resolution the downloads you've got are at. I hope they're not encoded at PSP or Ipod Video resolutions ! - if they are the image on your LCD telly will be crap. hopefully they'll be at a higher resolution so at least the image will be enjoyable.

There's also 'wireless media players' which I've been toying about buying - some come with built in hard drives too. I have ALOT of Standard Resolution DVD's encoded to MPEG on my main Study PC. With the wireless media player, I can stream the file from the PC/Server and it'll play it back on my 47" Rear Projector Telly, the software inside the media player will support this resolution so the resultant picture on the big tv should be excellent. You can get a Dlink one for around 85-100 quid and brand new i think they're like £135-150 ish (more if it has the HDD built in)

Other manufacturers do things similar, Evesham etc - have a little search around.

Hope this helps !

DtM! West London & Slough UK!

If all else fails, you might be able to buy a video adapter card for the laptop which converts to conventional TV video.  I have no experience with Macs, so I don't know what is available.

As Dennis says though, if the basic resolution of the video isn't that good, what can look quite reasonable on a small screen can suddenly appear to be very poor and fuzzy on a large screen.   

I would just put in a call to mac, or the mac store here.  I'm sure they can tell you precisely what you need (not sure how old your mac is? I haven't got the attachment for mine yet, but my friends who have macs a few years old just have a basic input/output cable from the laptop to the tv they use and that's it).

Yes, you can get a cable that outputs to your TV!! I've got one for my circa-2001 mac laptop, and it is Made Of Awesome.

And where can one purchase this cable made of awesome?  Anywhere?  Or does it have to be Mac certified of Awesome?

Ok, I just realized my Macbook has a port called "Mini DVI".  According to the apple website, it's used to connect the laptop to a larger external screen. It looks like you need some sort of adaptor, which I cant find anything about on the Apple website. Doesnt say whether that also means you can connect to a regular television.

we have an adapter for ours that hooks directly to the tv. 

What kind of connection does the tv have? The MacBook has a mini dvi, which I just noticed you said. I was going to get a mini dvi to dvi for my macbook when I got a tv, but ended up not getting the tv. ha. Your MacBook will hook up to your tv.

I think since you have a laptop, it would be easier to get the mini dvi cable, only because you can put it under the tv and shut the lid. I think appletv was mainly made for desktops in other rooms.  

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/StoreReentry.wo?productLearnMore=M9267G%2FA

This is for the US Apple store, looks like what you're looking for possibly.  I've got a similar one to this

This page is a search page from apple's website for all their dvi adapters, if the one above doesn't work.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?find=dvi+macbook+adapter&btn.x=0&btn.y=0

I've got one of the new flat screen imacs for work and we do some video editing on it.  I had to get the dvi to s-video adapter and it lets me hook it up to camcorders and mini-dvd recorder/players just fine. Never hooked it up to a tv though.

Tristessa,
Thanks so much. That's exactly what I need -- actually the second link, because I have a regular Macbook so I'll need the mini-DVI. My TV has S-video, RGB composite and HDMI. 

Too bad neither the cables, nor the Apple TV, have HD capability.

Tristessa,
Thanks so much. That's exactly what I need -- actually the second link, because I have a regular Macbook so I'll need the mini-DVI. My TV has S-video, RGB composite and HDMI. 

Too bad neither the cables, nor the Apple TV, have HD capability.

Glad it was what you needed.  I've been thrown into a video realm computer-wise recently by work and have had to learn a bunch in a hurry.  Not sure about the HD thing, but i *think* it may be offered later on, just not available yet.  I seem to remember hearing something about it.