I've got DVD files on my Windows PC that I want to be able to play on a digital TV with an HDMI, a VGA, and traditional audio and video cables. What solutions could you recommend for watching these movies? The PC contains a folder full of movies in DVD format (each movie folder contains a VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folder, and the VIDEO_TS folder contains IFO, VOB, and BUP files).
The options I can think of off the top of my head would be:
Get another video card and a long cable to wire the TV directly to my TV (downside: I have to be at my PC to select, start, and stop a movie)
Find a hardware device that can read from the PC and allow remote control, like a DVD player that can read from a PC (downside: probably doesn't exist)
Find a wireless device that can similarly stream to a TV.
I'm not sure whether anything in 2) or 3) exists, so I wanted to get some options.
EDIT:
I'm going to try a few solutions out. Lots of feedback with every kind of external device - from xbox360, roku, apple tv, dvd/blue ray players, etc. I'm going to try out the Roku XDS with a USB hard drive initially and see if it works the way I want it to. I'll update with any issues I come across.