How to Stream Audio & Video Media in your Home

Learn which products let you stream media like audio and video effortlessly to your TV or speaker system in your home.

Who could’ve guessed even a few years ago that our beloved PCs – machines once reserved strictly for productivity, web surfing and email – would one day be a hub for all things entertainment-related, including music, TV shows, feature films, home movies, video games, radio, audiobooks, digital photos and more?

Then again, perhaps it shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, considering that a hard drive can store large amounts of media, and broadband Internet connectivity serves as a fast and convenient distribution method for beaming content from cyberspace to your space.

But while more and more PC users are turning to their computer to collect and store all of this digital content, sitting around the desktop in your den isn’t the most comfortable way to enjoy it. After all, who wants to force the family to hover around a small monitor to see new photos of the kids? And why listen to music on small, tinny speakers when you’ve invested thousands in a cutting-edge home theater that’s in a different room entirely?

Fortunately, a number of easily configured products are now available that allow you to wirelessly stream audio, video and digital content throughout your home, providing you have a wireless network present. We’re confident you’ll find all a ready, intuitive solution for enjoying multimedia in any room, and in a way that’s both fun and convenient.

Apple TV

Perhaps the most popular solution is Apple TV (from $229;), which lets couch potatoes access all of their PC-based media through iTunes. Windows or Mac users can use the sleek white remote (included) to scroll through music, podcasts, audiobooks, photos, movies and TV shows. Users can also rent or purchase high-definition flicks from iTunes and start watching just seconds after they begin to download to your PC.

The silver Apple TV, which is about the size of a hardcover book, is easy to setup: Simply connect the unit to the television via a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable, which handles both video and audio, or component cables (the red, blue and green video-only cord) for slightly older televisions. Both analog and optical audio outputs are also offered. Next, have Apple TV join your wireless network (with speeds up to 802.11n, the latest and fastest Wi-Fi standard) or connect directly to your router or modem through a wired connection thanks to the Ethernet jack at the back of the unit.

The $229 Apple TV offers a built-in 40-gigabyte hard drive to store up to 50 hours of video, 9000 songs or 25,000 photos (or realistically, a combination of all three). The $329 version ships with a 160-gigabyte drive. Check out our Apple TV review.

Other solutions

• Many TV fans are well aware of the Slingbox and Slingbox Pro-HD, products that let you access all of your local television content anywhere in the world via an Internet-connected laptop or WI-Fi-enabled smartphone. Sling Media has now introduced the SlingCatcher ($299.99), which handles this task in reverse: By connecting this device to your television you can access downloaded media stored on your PC and some Web video content as well.

• Xbox 360 owners can pick up a Wireless Networking Adapter ($99.99), a small unit with an antennae that connects to the video game console, allowing you to wirelessly access media on your computer in another room. Windows XP users must also have Media Center software installed, but it’s already integrated within the Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate operating systems.

• A half-dozen products from D-Link called MediaLounge Wireless Media Players (from $149.99) can also distribute audio and video content from a PC to a TV over a wireless network. Similar to Apple TV, consider them set-top boxes that connect to a television (or stereo receiver) that enable you to wirelessly access music, pictures and video stored on a computer’s hard drive. Units can also be used to stream select Internet radio stations to the home theater. While the user interface isn’t as intuitive as the one found on the Apple TV, these devices support many more audio, video and photo formats than iTunes.

• Wirelessly stream your digital music – stored on a PC, Mac, NAS box or from the Internet – throughout two or more different rooms in the home with the Sonos Music System. The starter kit includes the ZonePlayer 80 (which attaches to your stereo), ZonePlayer 100 (placed in another room, and includes 50-watt amp), a Sonos wireless controller (with 3.5-inch LCD) and cables. Supported codecs include MP3, WMA, AAC (MPEG-4), Ogg Vorbis, WAV, AIFF, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless and FLAC formats. Check out our Sonos video review.

• As with the Sonos system, Logitech’s Squeezebox Boom ($299.99) is also dedicated solely to streaming audio transmission. Use the intuitive controls and aqua blue display to have this music player join your wireless network, and within seconds you can browse a digital music collection stored on your PC or tune into your favorite Internet radio stations and online music services. Add another Squeezebox Boom to stream different music in separate rooms at the same time. The Logitech Squeezebox Duet ($399.99) adds an iPod-like multi-room controller to access your entire music collection and thousands of online stations.