My multi media does not work

[johnbavaria]

Hi Guys
I have OS Vista home premium and service pack 2 on my PC which is connected by cable to my internet router. This router is connected by wifi to a router extender.
The router extender is connected by a LAN cable to my new plasma TV.
I cannot get my PC to share media when I tick the box in the media and networking centre in spite of the fact that the PC network map detects the TV. The TV does not detect a server but does show all the right IP addresses etc. so can receive data.
I know my network works because if I connect the router extender to the amplifier instead I get internet radio. I also have an internet radio squeeze box working in the kitchen which is connected by wifi to the router extender and that works too.
Both the squeeze box and the TV are detected in the PC media centre but I cannot share data from the PC with the TV. The plasma TV icon stays at the bottom of the network map.
What can I do to watch films etc on my TV from the PC ?
thanks

 

[MrNeeds]

Hi John, welcome to the forums.

you might need to allow the device for network sharing on windows media player, to access this, simply open windows media player, click the little dropdown menu underneath the library tab and click on media sharing, just click on the detected item, for example, your TV and click allow



this should now enable you to play some of your media depending on what is in your library, not all videos will play as some tvs dont have the same decoding capabilities as your computer.

MrNeeds

 

[johnbavaria]

Thanks for quick response.
You have got immediately to the nub of the problem.
this window does not work, you can check it but nothing ever happens to the window, it just stays ticked.
John

 

[MrNeeds]

It may help to restart the service that controls the sharing on the network, go to the start menu and type "services.msc" (without quotation marks), and allow the prompt, this is the management console, scroll through that list and look for "windows media player network sharing service", right click it and stop service, then restart service after it has stopped, try accessing the window again and see if it works this time.

If that wasn't successful, then you could always try and re-install Windows Media Player, failing that, you could also try a 3rd party sharing service like TVersity or Orb

MrNeeds

 

[johnbavaria]

Thank you McNeeds
I had already tried most of what you write, to no avail.
I have now tried to download an updated version of windows media and could not.
I am using Tversity but am bugged by the fact that I cannot use microsoft's sofware which was supplied with the PC when I bought it. This was supposed to be a media PC!
regards
john

 

[MrNeeds]

Thank you McNeeds
I had already tried most of what you write, to no avail.
I have now tried to download an updated version of windows media and could not.
I am using Tversity but am bugged by the fact that I cannot use microsoft's sofware which was supplied with the PC when I bought it. This was supposed to be a media PC!
regards
john

Sorry I couldn't help much in regards to WMP but to be honest, TVersity is much more versatile, it does let you play all of your media as it converts the original files to a format that can be understood by your TV on the fly, as you can see in my picture, I have a new Bravia that is a media player that's similar to your setup, and I'm very disappointed with the flexability of the formats, I cannot play any format of video on my TV due to the decoder, I've not tried TVersity with it yet but I'm almost 100% sure that all my videos will play via that software.

Dave

 

[johnbavaria]

thanks Dave. I suppose it will be a while yet before we can rent films online and stream to our TV's
John

 

[MrNeeds]

thanks Dave. I suppose it will be a while yet before we can rent films online and stream to our TV's
John

in the uk we have a service called "love film" which means you can rent films and stream them over the internet directly to your TV in HD, and that service is built into my TV, if you are talking about iTunes rentals, you could get yourself an Apple TV box, you can stream all rentals and anything you have in your iTunes library, you could also stream media from iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad straight to your Apple TV, just one of many solutions available to you if you know where to look

Dave

 

[johnbavaria]

That is very interesting Dave as we subcribe to German love Films over here. Think it maybe an English company. Will check if we can get films your way rather than receiving dvd's through the post.
I understood that films are only streamed through the router into the PC hard drive, and then via a wifi network (RF) to the TV. The flat screen (Kuro plasma) has no hard drive but should be able to play films over the network.
Next question:
I nearly bought a panasonic blue ray recorder ( 2nd generation) over here so i can watch blue ray films and record HD UK TV programmes. We get BBC HD, ITV1 HD and BBC1HD from the unencripted Astra 2 free). In the end i did not because we will eventually return to the Uk and the German/Austrian version does not contain freesat software, which, whilst being no problem here could be a problem in the Uk. Am I right not to purchase just yet?
thanks
John

 

[MrNeeds]

i'm not sure if it's just sony TV's or others as well, heres a few screenies of my TV with Love Film, I don't have a subscription with Love Film so bear with me...






In regards of the Blu-ray recorder, if it can recieve Freeview HD then its all good, do you have the model number so I can check out the specs?

Dave

 

[johnbavaria]

Hi Dave
What I was comparing was the following
Panasonic blu-ray recorders in germany and the UK specs. All made in the UK I think
UK
DMR-BW880EBK twin with freeview 500GB storage
DMR-BS 800 twin with software for freesat 500 GB storage

Germany
DMR-BS 885 twin 500GB networking
DMR-BS785 EGK twin card slots

hope that helps
back in 2 weeks
regards
John

 

[MrNeeds]

Hi Dave
What I was comparing was the following
Panasonic blu-ray recorders in germany and the UK specs. All made in the UK I think
UK
DMR-BW880EBK twin with freeview 500GB storage
DMR-BS 800 twin with software for freesat 500 GB storage

Germany
DMR-BS 885 twin 500GB networking
DMR-BS785 EGK twin card slots

hope that helps
back in 2 weeks
regards
John

Interesting, I'm not sure if freesat works with astra 2 signal, not really got anything to try it with, if you can find out online if the two satellites are compatible, then go for the german version and swap plugs over when you eventually get here and install a freesat satellite?

Dave