How to Play a Video Over LAN

LAN stands for local area network.

The Term LAN is short for local area network. A LAN does not have to exist in a business environment but can be any network of computers in a home or business. A LAN may include two or hundreds of computers. Playing a video over a LAN may be slow depending on the host computer that has the file and the speed of the network. When possible, it is always better to play a video directly from the local computer.

Things You'll Need

• Video player

Instructions

1. Connect to the local area network. In a work environment this usually just means connecting your computer via the network card to a network jack by using a network cable. In a home environment you may connect to a router with a wire or use a wireless card to connect to the router. Browse your network places to find the file.

2. Find out the bandwidth limitations of your network. If you are at a business you will have to ask the network administrator. At home, you can check your router's speed. The speed will only be as fast as the slowest speed between your router and your network card. Very slow networks may only allow for very choppy video playback.

3. Install a video player locally on the computer where you will watch the video. Use a player that will work with the format. Windows Media player will work on most video files but not DVD without a video codec or other DVD video player installed.

4. Click on the file to begin playing it or open the video player and browse to the file and choose the file to begin play. If the playback is choppy it is most likely because the network speed is too slow or the network has a lot of traffic at the moment.

Tips & Warnings

• Making a smaller version of the video may help it play smoother across a LAN.