How to Play an AVI Over a Network on a TV

Homes equipped with a home network and two computers can easily stream an AVI for playback on a TV. That means that you can play and fully control a movie on the computer upstairs from the downstairs computer connected to the TV. In fact, by using this method, one computer may stream the movie to another computer and the playback controls can be manipulated by a third device such as a PDA or SmartPhone connected to the network.

Things You'll Need

• 2 computers connected to the network
• VLC
• Audio/visual cables

Instructions

1. Download and install VLC on both computers. This is a free piece of software that comes with codecs for almost every video format and a built-in streaming function. It is also available for every operating system which makes it ideal for any network configuration.

2. Launch VLC on the computer that has the AVI file you wish to stream.

3. Click "Media" and choose "Streaming" to open the streaming dialogue box.

4. Click the "Add" button and choose the AVI file or files you wish to stream. Press "Open" when finished selecting the files. Click "Stream" followed by "Next" to continue.

5. Mark the check box next to "Display Locally" and select "UDP" from the "New destination" drop-down menu. Click "Add" to open the destination window.

6. Type in the IP address of the destination computer. If the IP address is unknown, go to the other computer, press "CTRL+R" and type "cmd" without the quotation marks. Type "ipconfig /all" without the quotation marks in the command prompt window to display that computer's IP address.

7. Click "Stream" to open the stream and play the AVI file. Press the space bar to pause the video.

8. Click "View," hover the mouse on "Add Interface" and select "Web Interface."

9. Connect the second computer to the TV with the audio/visual cables. The type of cables used depend on the available ports on the computer and the TV. HDMI is the ideal choice because it only requires one cable for both audio and video.

10. Configure the computer for use with multiple screens. On laptops, you can do this by pressing the "FN" key and one of the "F" keys in the top row. Press the "F" key that has a symbol of a computer screen printed on it. On desktop computers, right-click on the desktop, select "Personalize" and click the link on the left to connect to an external display device. Click the "Connect Display" button and follow the onscreen instructions to connect to the TV.

11. Press the "Source" button on the TV remote control until the computer screen is visible on the TV.

12. Launch VLC on the computer connected to the TV.

13. Click "Media," "Open Network Stream" and click "Play" to begin streaming the AVI.

14. Open a web browser on the computer connected to the TV or any other device connected to the network and type "http://IP Address of the computer with the AVI:8080/" in the address bar. Use the same method as described in Step 6 to find the IP address of the streaming computer if it is unknown. This web page shows the playback controls for VLC and the user can control the various functions remotely.

References

• Video Lan: Easy Streaming
• Engadget: How-To: Stream Almost Anything Using VLC

Resources

• VLC Download