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All The Video You Need Without Wires
Why
mess about with fiddly cables when chances are, you already own devices
with one or more wireless streaming technologies built in. How you can get
started with wireless multimedia streaming
WHAT IS WIRELESS STREAMING?
Simply put, wireless streaming refers to being able to ‘throw’
multimedia content stored on your personal device (possibly a smartphone,
tablet or a laptop) to another device situated in the vicinity such as a
TV, projector or another mobile device. There are various technologies that
enable this, the most prominent of which is DLNA (Digital Living Network
Alliance). DLNA defines standards for compatibility between devices that
manufacturers can use. Many new TVs and home entertainment devices (Blu-Ray
players, game consoles, AV receivers) have DLNA built in. DLNA is also
built into smartphones (except Apple, which has AirPlay) and can be enabled
on com- puters and Apple devices with additional software.
How it Works
To get started with the easiest form of multimedia streaming, try
streaming content stored on a computer to your smartphone or tablet using
Plex (www.plexapp.com).
You’ll need the free app (Android, iOS, Windows) and the server software
(Windows, Mac, Linux) installed on your computer. Another technology called
AirPlay is proprietary to Apple. If you have an iOS device and Apple TV,
you can mirror content to a TV or projector in 1080p. You can also get
speakers and AV receivers with AirPlay built in. Miracast, created by the
WiFi Alliance, allows streaming of HD video and audio to compatible
devices. Many new Android and BlackBerry 10 smartphones already support
Miracast. READ THIS BEFORE YOU START 1 For streaming to work, both
devices (the TV or receiver box and the phone/tablet) need to be connected
to the same home network. 2 Quality of HD streaming depends on the
source content. Full HD video at high quality needs a lot of bandwidth and
may not operate correctly all the time. Depending on the kind of router you
have (WiFi b/g or n) and your distance from your device to the router, you
may experience frame drops or erratic performance. 3 If you have a
regular TV (not a Smart TV), you can use any number of other devices (some
of which you may already own) to stream content to it. For example, many
different HD media players and game consoles like PS3 support wireless
streaming. 4 Possible uses: use wireless streaming to show
photos/videos from your phone to a larger audience. You could stream
downloaded content to a TV without connecting any wires and you could also
wirelessly play a presentation on a TV/projector from your phone. 5 If
you don’t have any existing devices, the cheapest way to stream content to
your TV is by getting a Google Chromecast dongle (roughly 3,500). If you
need to stream from a computer to a mobile device, you can do so for free
by using apps like Plex. And you can stream content from one Android device
to another using a free app called Cheapcast. (one of those devices can
also output to a HDTV with an HDMI cable to complete the experience). 6 If
you have an Intel-powered laptop with WiDi, you can stream 1080p video to
any TV by buying a WiDi adapter from brands like Logitech, Netgear or Belkin
( 4,000 onwards). The adapter needs a power supply and has a conventional
HDMI output. In many cases, the adapter is small enough to be concealed
behind the TV. 7 DLNA remains the most widely available standard for
sharing of digital media between devices. It is estimated that over 450
million DLNA capable devices (from smartphones, tablets, computers,
cameras, TVs, gaming consoles and media players) are now in use.
Hitesh Raj Bhagat & Karan
Bajaj
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