All computers running Windows come equipped with Windows Media Center. There is no reason not to take advantage of the multi-media capabilities of this free program. It works very well out of the box, but by giving it extended functionality- you can turn your computer into a full blown media center. With DVR media center software, already packaged with the media player, it would be a shame to not take advantage of the possibilities this can bring. It only takes a few freeware programs and a capture card that will cost less than $100, to fully appreciate what this program is capable of. All tools needed to record television, play video, and listen to music is already available to you, to create the perfect home theater personal computer.

Capture Card Installation

It’s very easy to record television on from your PC. It will only require the ability to plug in a coax cable into your machine. This will require a simple capture card. A capture card is simply a piece of hardware that will handle all of your video recording once installed; and installation is painless. In most situations, many PCs will already have a capture card installed. But if your machine does not have one, you will need to purchase one. This is a very small obstacle as they are very inexpensive; it is likely to be less than $100. And once it is installed, no further money will need to be spent to have your media center completely set up. Thankfully, capture cards are pretty cheap, especially when compared to other hardware of recording devices.

Installation will mean you will need to open up your PC or have a professional install the capture card for you. But if you wish, it’s also possible to purchase an external USB capture card for a few more dollars. The USB card can simply be plugged in to the USB port; no internal installation is required. In any case, once your card is installed, launch Windows Media Player and it will handle the entire set up process for you. It is very simple; you will only need to follow instructions on your screen.  When you are finished with installation, you are on way to recording television on your PC.  Now it’s time to extend functionality just a bit to be sure your media center will accomplish what is needed.

Extending Your Media Center

Now that your computer is set up for DVR recording, you may be fully aware that your media center is located in your office—which is not very convenient. But these days Xboxes are almost as common as PCs. Most often your Xbox will be sitting in your living room. If your Xbox machine is already connected to your home network, it will take little effort to extend to your Windows Media Center on your PC. Since your Xbox is already integrated into your home theater, extending your Xbox to your PC will turn your home theater system into Windows Media Center running on your Xbox in your living room that is already integrated into your home theater system. The Xbox website has a page that will allow you to download the appropriate software for your Media Center Version.  Follow the simple set up instructions and point your Xbox to your Media Center. The Xbox manufacturers have created Universal media remotes for this purpose. These remotes will cost less than $20. But as I said above, no further purchases are needed; it’s also possible to use the game controls that come with Xbox machines.

Unfortunately, one of the only drawbacks to using Xbox to extend your Media center is the lack of ability to support DivX playback. Sadly, it also does not support playback of other popular codecs that are not MS-video related. Luckily, this can be easily remedied with third party software. A quick download of the free program, called Transcode-360 and you will no longer have trouble with any playback on your Xbox 360 machine.  From Xbox highlight the video to be played, press info on the controller, choose More, and then select Transcode.

Using Plugins

Let’s go one step further before we are finished. The setup is already fully functional and there will be no difficulty with play back or recording, but it’s also possible to add other third party freeware programs to further extend functionality of your media center. There are a number of excellent DVD Ripper software packages that will now allow you to rip DVD images and store them on your hard drive for later viewing. These video files can easily be accessed from your Windows Media Center menu. How cool is that? So you see, it won’t take much at all to have your Media Center completely setup on your PC. With very little effort and very little money, you’ll be up and running in no time at all.

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As physical discs, tapes and analogue TV become extinct, and digital streaming delivery of files becomes more common. Watching a TV show or movie on your PC screen or laptop can be a bit too restrictive. No big screen, usually lower quality sound, having to wait 5 minutes for a boot-up and not conducive to group watching means we need another option. The answer is one of the new breed of internet TV media streaming set-top boxes that deliver digital files onto your big screen TV easier.

Do you need a media streamer?

Introduction

No one can say listening to music hasn’t changed greatly since the invention of MP3 players. In much the same way, our video watching habits can and will change as internet TV boxes continue to impact on the market. In the very near future, gone will be the piles of DVDs we all have stashed in some drawer in our house, all replaced by digital copies. It’s even possible that DVD players, cable receivers, or satellites will turn out to be as un-important as the VHS players we all got rid of a long ago. Every home has some type of set-top box that handles our video watching pastimes. But as delivering media via the internet continues to be developed, the playback of digital video will become as common as MP3s. In fact, a media streamer is very similar to an MP3 player but the media streamer offers playback of video format as well.

Choosing the Right Media Streamer

So what exactly is a media streamer and what does it do? Similar to most electronic devices that have adapted and evolved, media streamers can vary greatly in quality and features provided. Media streamers is a term that appears a lot now and describes a network connected device  that both plays media from a hard drive or home network, and can stream content from the internet. So in general terms, the media you can play, video, music or images are usually stored outside of the media player and the device will play the file from its source wirelessly. So you can stream from online video sites like Hulu, Amazon and Youtube, catch-up TV sites etc. Or you can connect to your home network consisting of a computer, hard drive, tablet, phone, or media server etc.

Media streamers come in different shapes and sizes, but they are generally very small and vary wildly in the features they provide, how well the media streamer you choose accommodates your needs will require you choose the model that has the features you might need. With that in mind, it may be a little confusing at first since media streamers are so new. Like many electronic devices we have all purchased from time to time, the features needed may also vary from one person to the next. But in order to be sure you have a media streamer that will suffice, there are a few requirements to consider.

What to Consider

Connectivity is top priority. This may sound elementary, but without proper connectivity there is little hope of successfully transmitting video files from your streaming device to a television. Most media streamers found on today’s market will include HDMI connectivity. Some models will include component connections and audio connections, and there are now a range of models that enable wireless video streaming, so you can lose the ugly cables.

Support of different file formats is also an extremely important consideration. Since there are so many different video file formats and codecs, it will be important to choose a media streamer that can handle the most popular video formats. This is the best way to ensure your video library will be supported. Additionally, the network support included in your media streamer is also very important. Network support is different from connectivity. Any media streamer worth its weight will provide an Ethernet port to connect to your network. But these days, the better media streamers should also provide a wireless network support to offer users and hands-free operation.

Usability

The media streamer you choose should be easy to use and easy to navigate with an intuitive interface. You can choose a media streamer with all features unimaginable, but that will serve no purpose if finding files you wish to watch is difficult to do. The menus and navigation bars should be user-friendly and perhaps customizable to gain the most from your unit. Your media streamer should offer easy network set up and a remote control unit that responds very easily. There’s nothing more annoying than a remote control that will not change video as needed. You may also wish to choose a media streamer that has support for popular online services. Subscription services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus should be readily available. Your unit should provide content availability for such sites. Availability of on demand subscription movie sites will only further your home entertainment.

Web enabled TVs and Gaming Consoles

At this time, purchasing a media streamer may be either a little expensive or even unnecessary as they are still in the early stages of development. However, there are cheaper alternatives that will offer similar experiences to those which a media streamer can provide. It is still possible to transmit video files stored on your hard drive and view them through your television with alternative sources.

These can be described as media players and software jukeboxes which run on your computer, a connected (smart) TV or many gaming consoles can also transmit video files through your television.  Many gaming consoles come with hard drives for storing multimedia files or offer a means to connect a USB storage device to access your video library. In these situations, the video playback is similar to media streamers and may be an affordable alternative until these units become more readily available and affordable to average users. It’s also likely, these jukeboxes and gaming consoles will continue to evolve and provide improved video streaming capabilities to continue to be competitive as media streamers become more popular.

What’s the best Media Streamer for you?

D-Link Boxee Box

Price around $99

The rather snazzy looking Boxee Box by D-Link has full 1080P hd support and 7.1 audio as well but users complain of a lack of apps that include Netflix, Youtube, Spotify and Vudu. The boxee can stream from the home network, streaming from the web, via the two usb ports, and it has an antenna slot for live cable TV as well (but only free unscrambled ones). It has a cloud based DVR that also disappoints as it has limited coverage and carries a monthly subscription charge.

Roku 2 XS

Price around $79

The Roku XS lets you play digital media from the web, your local network or from the USB/hard drive. Built in WiFi, over 600 channels, can play HD 720p and 1080p, has motion control for games and connects to your TV via a HDMI port. It can stream Netflix, Hulu+, Amazon and Pandora amongst others.

Western Digital WD TV Live Hub

Price around $79 -$160

The WD TV Live Hub comes either with a built in 1Tb hard drive or without so it can double as your media server. But there is a downside in the fact that the WD Live has no wireless connection so has to be connected via an ethernet cable. The device can stream the usual Netflix, Youtube etc. It plays full 1080p HD and can stream from the web or your network files, and can also play casual games.

Apple TV

Price around $94

The Apple TV is an interesting streaming device, it can play files from your iTunes library rather than just standard video files, it can be controlled by any iOS device such as iPad or iPhone and has the Airplay feature which streams wireless movies from your handheld device. It has 1080p playback but you are limited to to rental content from iTunes and streaming from Netflix.

Android TV Boxes and Sticks

Many companies are putting the open source Android operating system on a number of boxes sized similar to the Apple TV, as well as plug-in HDMI sticks that fit into the back of your TV. They are generally cheap and make a great way to turn any HDTV into a smart TV. They can stream movies and shows from the home network as well as having (limited) storage internally which is usually around 4Gb and can be expanded up to 32Gb. Services such as Youtube, Netflix and Hulu etc can be run as well as apps from the Google Playstore and the XBMC media software. Interestingly many people prefer these devices over the official Google TV devices as streaming services are not blocked.

Google Chromecast

Price around $35

A new entry is the cheap thumb sized Google Chromecast stick. This device plugs into the HDMI port on your TV set and lets you stream from any mobile device or computer using a Chrome browser straight to your TV. The device shows great promise and an even better price.

Other media streaming options

Xbox 360

If you have an Xbox360 then you already have a streaming device. The console made by Microsoft can access services such as Amazon Instant Video and Netflix but it is not so easy to connect to a home network.

Playstation 3

Just like the Xbox, the PS3 has access to some streaming services and can play movies if you plug in an external hard drive.

Computer

Most of us own a PC or Mac and it is very easy nowadays to hook it up to the big screen TV and watch content. The computer also has full access to streaming services and catch up TV websites.

Media Software

Install some media software into your computer and you can make filing and running movies, shows and music a breeze. A big favorite is XMBC.

Final Thoughts
The digital age is now firmly upon us, as DVD’s begin to lose popularity, downloadable movies and shows will take over, just like they have with video games. Whatever computer or console you own, you have greater access to streaming and downloadable content. Now is the time to set-up your computer or media player to a home network so you can watch all of this great content at home or on the move. Watch on the big screen then carry on on your tablet when you go to bed or traveling.  Internet TV and video is not the future anymore, it’s here all around us right now. You owe it to yourself to open up this great new, easier, and more convenient world. Once you do, your viewing will never be the same again, and you will never want to go back.

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Alright i agree they could have thought of a better name, but there is no denying that XBMC (short for Xbox media center) is widely regarded as the leading media center software available to organize, play, and arrange all of your media files from a single interface. Originally created for the Xbox console, it has now been ported and runs on pretty much every device created.

XBMC turns your pc into a media center

If your not sure what media center software is or does, imagine all your media files that you run on your ipod, tablet or computer, add your DVD collection and streaming services into the mix, such as Netflix, catch-up TV services etc. and have all those files and services running on your PC and powered by the media software. Now you can hook up your computer or connected device to a big screen TV, a projector, a surround sound amplifier, and play all of those files straight from the media player which will organize and play them for you.

But that’s not all that XBMC does, if you rip a DVD or download a digital copy of a TV show for example the walking dead, and a movie, lets say Marvels the Avengers, XBMC will go to the web find the movie posters and DVD covers, grab the plot and cast details and then present your movies, shows and music in a gorgeous interface for you to play.

Add the fact that XBMC is an open source, free download, runs on a number of operating systems including Windows, Mac, Linux and Xbox, new versions and features are constantly being added, remote apps for iOS and android are available, and there is no excuse not to download it right now.

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With the rise of internet streaming, video downloads, MP3 playing and DVD ripping, more of us can enjoy all of our media files on a personal computer. But some of us are not so keen on the tiny PC screen that can be found on a laptop and some desktops. So how do you connect your computer to the TV set and enjoy some big screen action?

Connect your computer to the big screen TV

Although a PC is convenient for music, pictures and video. Video and sound is not always so great on the computer. With new video websites coming at you everywhere you look and the rise of digital content, it seems that the only downside of streaming is being restricted to a small PC or laptop screen to watch stuff on.

From streaming video sites like Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, Amazon, ABC and the BBC amongst literally hundreds more from the web (Read our internet TV and movie site reviews here.), plus digital files and downloads, the computer offers tons of both free and paid streaming content to watch conveniently and on-demand.

The only possible downside (apart from possible dodgy buffering and slow downloads depending on your broadband connection), is that you have to watch your favorite TV show or movie on a dinky 12-14 inch laptop screen. Well fear not dear readers, you can connect your computer to your big screen TV set or projector very easily.

Many computers especially modern ones, now come with Wi-Fi streaming, home network options built in, HDMI cable connections and many other ways to hook up to your 50-inch home TV.

Ports and Connections
So firstly you should look at the ports on your computer and television. You will find any of the following:- Composite, S-Video, VGA, DVI, or HDMI port for connecting your PC to your TV set. Any modern PC will have a HDMI connection. If so just get a lead and plug into both the computer and TV set.

Computer settings
IF you have a windows PC then from your Start menu find and open the Control Panel >>Appearance and Personalization menu. Then select an connect an external display from the Display menu. Doing this should make the display from your computer be replicated on your TV. You may have to play around with resolution settings to get it just so.

Wireless Streaming Options
Devices and computers that are WiFi enabled can also stream across the home network if your TV is DLNA enabled. Many other options are available to mirror or cast a video or show from your device straight to the TV. Check out our streaming wirelessly to TV article for more information.

Media Centers
Instead of having a bunch of folders that you need to open up and navigate, there are now some kick-ass media centers that take care of all of your media files – Video, streaming, music and pictures, then present them to you with DVD artwork, movie posters, synopsis, cast details, reviews etc. and make the computer the best option to use for movies and shows. Most media players have the option to rip your CD’s straight to the computer but DVD ripping is generally unsupported due to copyright laws, although many believe if you own a DVD then you can watch it on your PC as long as you keep the disc version.

HTPC’s
Many people love the idea of streaming from a computer but would rather just switch a set-top box on and off and get the same functionality. This is where a HTPC or home theater personal computer comes in. A HTPC offers a super quick loading Windows or Linux based OS and boots straight into a media player such as XBMC. Then you can play your movies, shows and streaming straight from the TV using a wireless keyboard or media remote for operation. For more HTPC information check out our guide here.

Controlling your PC using a remote
Once connected, you don’t want to be scrambling to find the mouse to pause, rewind etc. so we need a device that will wirelessly control your TV PC setup. So what’s the best way to control your computer from the other side of the room? You can purchase a PC remote control cheaply on Amazon or Ebay. Or a real cheap option is to pickup a wireless mouse. Just plugin the USB dongle to your PC and you can control all the action from your armchair.

DVD Rippers
If you have a large collection of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, you will want to get them transferred to your computer. For this you will need a DVD ripper, then encode or convert to a computer and tablet friendly format such as MP4 or TS etc.

So if you have a modern PC (check if you have a hdmi port), although many TV’s now accept a vga or composite video cable, download a media center product (we recommend the free and open source XBMC) and start enjoying your media 21st Century style.

Older PC’s may need a few older cables and wires to help you hook up your PC to your TV set,and setting up a Wi-Fi connection to the home network is a feature many smart TV’s have these days.

For more help with older computers, watch the video below and start watching Internet TV on the big screen.

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Watching TV, video and listening to music online is a great and convenient way of delivering your home media and web based content to any PC or connected device such as a tablet or smartphone. Or at least it would be great, if it all worked correctly.

Want stutter and buffer free streaming? Read the guide

Life isn’t always that simple though, and sometimes with the myriad of different computer hardware and configurations mean that those streams just don’t want to show. But fear not, many common problems come with easy solutions.So here are some tips and answers to basic streaming problems that consumers have when watching internet TV.

Streaming Troubleshooting, Speed Up Help and Tips

If your streaming and live TV broadcasts constantly buffer and look the pits, then try some of the following:-

Free up Computer/Hardware Resources

The obvious step that many viewers don’t try is to shut everything not needed down. So close all those browser tabs. Press control/alt/delete together or right click your mouse when the cursor is down in the taskbar, then find highest memory using processes and close them down.

Note If using a phone or tablet then you can improve streaming by rebooting your device, turn off Bluetooth and kill off any running apps.

Disable hardware acceleration

You want your hardware to have as many resources as possible for all that streaming, so turn off any hardware acceleration you have running. On a windows PC open the Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Display > Change display settings > Advanced settings > Troubleshoot > Change settings. Then just drag the Hardware acceleration slider down to zero.

Upgrade your router/broadband supplier

Check that your wireless router is modern and 802.11n compatible rather than the older 802.11b/g. Then check with your broadband supplier, the speed of your internet broadband connection. Many providers offer faster services.

Streaming Problems FAQ’s

Q. No Stream showing at all?

To watch any stream you will need a media player. Unfortunately you will need a selection of players to watch all streaming. Hopefully they will already be installed on your computer or device. The most used players are Windows Media Player. The second is Flash Player and some streams will need Silverlight. There are some older streams which may still use Real Player. If you are using a Mac OS then you need to download the Flip4Mac Quicktime WMV Component. This is because Microsoft and Windows Media Player are no longer supported with Macs. However, don’t worry guys, the Flip4Mac is 100 percent compatible.

Some Firewalls (used in Networks) make it impossible to receive streaming media. Ask your Network administrator for help.

Sometimes the connection is very slow and it can take a while before the channel starts playing, have a little patience.

Don’t forget that the live Internet television depends on the origin of the stream and not on the software that displays the TV images. Some stations are offline temporarily or with too many connections, not all stations have a 24 Hours schedule. If you are receiving error messages on certain station, try it later.

JIT Debugging needs to be enabled.
This is usually enabled by default but sometimes gets disabled by some programs to determine if you need to enable JIT Debugging follow these steps:
1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Select from the menu Tools->Internet Options then select advanced tab.
3. Scroll to approximately half way down page.
4. Find Use JRE (some numbers) (requires restart) and check the checkbox on left.
4. Restart Computer.

Q. What Browser Do I need?

All Internet Browsers should be ok including Internet Explorer, Opera 8.0 and higher, Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s FireFox, including all platforms released and their versions. Just make sure you have the latest version of IE or Firefox installed. Also make sure you are not using a non graphical web browser. Some browsers will need certain plugins to view the streams so make sure that you accept any plugins requested by either FireFox or IE.

Q. Why do the TV Streams keep freezing and how can I stop it?

This could be a buffering problem switching from one TV to another, we recommend to stop the first one by hitting the Pause button on your screen. You can also open the TV stream directly into your Player if you find that it doesn’t want to play directly from the site (just click the “External” button). If you find that the link will still not play or is broken, do not hesitate to contact us; that is what we are here for.

Q I can see the TV Stream but I cannot hear it.

I know it sounds obvious but check that your speakers are turned on and connected and the volume is turned up. Check another PC program that has sound or music from it.

If this doesn’t work, and you still cant hear anything then you need to check to see the sound drivers in your PC are set up correctly. You can do this by clicking on the speaker icon in your taskbar and see if the volume properties appear on your screen. If they don’t then you may need to update your sound card drivers.

If your using a Mac, go to your control panel and click on the System Preferences under the Apple Menu in the left corner of the screen. Check that all of the sliders are at their full capacity. You should also be hearing a short beep sound when moving them around.

If none of the above works make sure you have the latest media players installed

Q. I can hear the TV Stream but I cannot see the picture.

Make sure your Media Player is up to date and is the latest version available. If not, then you upgrade your Media Player.

If none of these works, try a different internet television channel as it may be the streaming servers fault.

Q. Some stations are not as clear as others, is something wrong?

A: Just like a TV set, live Internet television depends on the origin and not on the software that displays the TV images. The video quality is dependent on the broadcaster’s own bandwidth; the higher the bandwidth, the better the video quality you will receive.

Q. Buffering – Channel keeps freezing and stopping and starting.

A: This is a buffering problem. The buffering can be attributed to your Modem connection, your ISP, or Internet traffic in general, and even the station broadcasting if its busy. The most likely culprits are Internet traffic and the station’s server being overloaded. If your doing other Internet intensive work may increase buffering as well. So shut everything else down.

Q. Error message “Interface not supported”.

A: Please download the latest version of the media players.

Q. Error message “Unspecified error” or “Could not obtain OLE control window handle”.

A: Please download the latest version of the media players.

Hopefully you have now sorted out your streaming TV problems and can look forward to hours of happy viewing.

Read more streaming help guides – Speed up your PC for stutter free streaming

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