Getting started with media streaming

To stream your media, you need the following hardware:

• A wired or wireless private network.

• Either another computer on your network or a device known as a digital media receiver (sometimes called a networked digital media player). Digital media receivers are hardware devices connected to your wired or wireless network that you can control using your computer—even if your computer is in another room.

For more information about setting up devices on your network, see Add a device or computer to a network.

To turn on media streaming on your home network in Windows Media Player, do the following:

For more information about how to use media streaming, see Stream your media to devices and computers using Windows Media Player.

You can choose what you want to stream and what devices on your network can receive streams. For example, you can choose not to stream music with explicit lyrics or pictures rated three stars or less. You can even create different rules for each computer or device that receives streams. For more information about choosing streaming settings, seeChange settings for streaming media in Windows Media Player.

Media streaming options

For information about maintaining your privacy and security when streaming your media, see Privacy and security when streaming your media: frequently asked questions.

You can stream nearly any digital media file in your Player Library, including protectedWindows Media files downloaded from online stores. To stream a file in your Player Library, the original file must be stored in one of the monitored folders in your Windowslibraries. For information about monitored folders, see Add items to the Windows Media Player Library.

Note

If you're using a digital media receiver, it might not support playback of all the file types your computer can stream. For example, your device might support playback of audio files but not video files or picture files. Also, your device might be able to play songs that you purchased from an online store but not songs that you've rented through a subscription service.

The Play To feature allows you to stream music, videos, and pictures to other computers and devices on your home network so the media can be enjoyed in different locations in your home. For example, you can select a playlist in Windows Media Player on a computer in your bedroom and then stream the songs to a home stereo system connected to your wireless network.

Play To dialog box

For more information about Play To, see Using the Play To feature to stream media.

If you have two computers running Windows 7, you can use Windows Media Player to access your home media over the Internet using remote media streaming. For example, if you've allowed remote media streaming on both a laptop and a home media computer, then you can access your home computer's Player Library using your laptop and an Internet connection.

Internet Home Media Access dialog box

For more information about remote media streaming, see Stream your media over the Internet using Windows Media Player.

Note

Remote media streaming isn't available on Windows 7 Starter andWindows 7 Home Basic.