Streaming Videos from Windows 7 PC to DLNA compliant HDTV

A DLNA-compatible HDTV easily connects into your home network just like any other desktop or notebook computer, printer, or media player. Once the connection is established, you can browse selected folders on your media server PC and select music to listen to, or photos and videos to watch. A DLNA HDTV can also be controlled to play the digital content you send from your Digital Media Server (DMS). The following guide shows how to set up a Windows 7 PC as a DMS and stream from PC to HDTV via the “Play To” feature of Windows Media Player.

Before we starts, make sure both the DLNA compliant HDTV and your PC are connected to your home network and you have Windows Media Player 12 or later version installed on your PC. Follow these steps to stream videos from PC to DLNA HDTV:

1. Setting up Windows Media Player for video streaming

First, make sure all your photos, videos, and music are in the right libraries and that you are allowing them to be shared in your home group. Then, load Windows Media Player and hit the big “Stream” button and check “Allow Internet access to home media…” to allows for video streaming to DLNA compliant devices.
stream video

In the Internet Home Media Access dialog box, click Allow Internet access to home media. For security reasons, you are advised to click “Link an online ID” and input your Windows Live ID and password.
stream from pc to hdtv

Once this is done, Windows Media Player is ready to allow media to be streaming and playing on DLNA HDTV.

2. Pushing/Streaming PC videos to DLNA compliant HDTV
It is easy to push media to the TV while using your computer, simply right click on the video file you’d like to stream, choose your TV under “Play To” option in Windows Media Player.
stream video to hdtv

Now the wired DLNA HDTV should ask if you want to play the video. Press “Allow” and your video should start streaming to your TV.
dlna video streaming

Notes:
1. Windows Media Player 12 (bundled with Windows 7) supports all DLNA roles. Windows Media Player 11 reportedly supports DLNA, but there appear to be problems.

2. If you’re not sure if your TV is DLNA-certified, search info at DLNA Certified Products and see if it is a DLNA compliant HDTV.

3. Not all the videos can be streamed from PC to HDTV via DLNA. Only specified media formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-4 and WMV 9) are good for DLNA video streaming. Errors occur in case of unsupported video format. Native formats for DLNA media streaming:
dlna video streaming

To stream MKV, AVI, H.264 videos to HDTV, you can transcode the format to one of the applicable required formats. A recommended transcoder here is Pavtube Video Converter, which uses CUDA acceleration tech and converts videos fast enough. You can also use Blu-ray Ripper app to convert Blu-rays and DVDs to PC hard drive and your PC a DMS for streaming to HDTV and other DLNA certified devices like PS3 and Xbox 360.

Additional Information:
Pavtube Studio unveiled a column called iPad Video Specials to help beginners enjoy movies and TV shows on iPad, iPad 2 and the new iPad 3. This column explains how to use iPad to watch movies online, how to transfer local movies to iPad for watching, how to encode MKV/AVI/WMV to iPad compatible video, how to turn DVD and Blu-ray into iPad movies, as well as how to access iPad Video Mirroring and Streaming.

Tags : stream video, stream from pc to hdtv, stream video to hdtv, dlna video streaming