I finally have Netflix streaming on my Xbox 360!

Netflix on my Xbox 360!

Ahh, it’s been a long and arduous journey trying to get it setup using AceVPN! But following a recommendation from reader Vic, who advised me to use US Video instead, I was able to get Netflix up and running in less than five minutes! I’m lucky enough to have a router supported by the US Video (Netgear), so all I had to do was login to the router configuration page, change the a couple of the DNS settings, and that was that! So much easier to setup this up at the router level rather than having to use a separate VPN program on my PC and then bridging that connection to my Xbox so it can use the VPN as well!

So far so good re the streaming quality. AceVPN used to stop and buffer every now and then, which is a bit of a buzz kill when you’re engrossed in a movie or TV show! US Video gives you a one week free trial, and if it keeps on performing well, I’m totally going to subscribe – it’s US$4.99 a month.

I’ve also hooked my TEGA v2 up to the TV using a VGA cable, and will be using it mainly for video streaming from sites like Hulu and YouTube. Initially, I set out to use it for Netflix as well, but there’s just no comparison between the quality of the Xbox 360 Netflix connection (HDMI) and the TEGA v2 (VGA). It will also be handy for when my partner wants to use the Internet and I’m using the iMac. I bought an el cheapo Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse at Harvey Norman yesterday for $28 (a steal!), and this combo works quite nicely with the TEGA v2. This is something that I couldn’t do with an iOS or Android tablet, that’s for sure! I’m running the TEGA in Windows 7, and by switching the display output to monitor only, I can run it at 1920 x 1080 on my TV! This even works for Android, although I can’t really think of any reasons why I’d want to run Android from the TV!

TEGA v2 outputting via VGA on my HDTV

Update: hooking the TEGA v2 up to the HDTV is just a stop-gap solution until I get a dedicated notebook/PC for this purpose. It seems a sin to shackle something so obviously mobile to the living room TV, plus I don’t think it’s powerful enough to stream video smoothly. I don’t know whether the bottleneck is the TEGA v2′s processor (1.6GHz Intel Atom N455), integrated graphics or analog VGA connection, but either way, something more powerful with a HDMI output would be much better for this purpose – even if it’s just one of the newer dual-core netbooks with HDMI outputs. Or perhaps even the entry-level Mac Mini? The bottleneck is definitely not my Internet connection, for once, as both the Xbox and my iMac stream video beautifully. I love you, unlimited broadband!