Streaming content over network.

FXB

FXB

New Member
I have a desktop which I built and use as my main rig and I also have a macbook pro. I would like to have all my media (photos, movies, music) on my desktop. I also want to be able to stream it to my laptop and other devices on my network. How would I proceed in doing so?

Desktop specs
8gb of RAM
2 x 2tb HDD
AMD Phenom X4 955 3.2 GHz
Windows 7



Laptop specs
4gb of RAM
1 x 500gb HDD
intel core 2 duo 2.6 GHz
OS X 10.6.6

let me know if you need more info?
 
if u use itunes just transfer all ur stuff to desktop and turn on file sharing... you can do ur movies music tv shows transfers thru itunes
 
So I changed my idea a little bit here. I want all of my content stored on my desktop. (documents, photos, music, movies.) I then want to be able to connect to the Internet to view a file. How do I do this? What are the pros and cons?
 
I'm not sure I got it right. You want to be able to access your media files that are located in the desktop pc, on the laptop, via the Internet. So that you can do it anywhere?

If that is the case you can do it with a VPN such as TeamViewer or VNC such as RealVNC. There are basic differences. VPN makes the remote laptop part of the network. VNC allows you to control the desktop pc like you were sat in front of it. They can be challenging to set up.

There are tools like Wake-on-LAN that avoid the local pc (desktop pc in your case) running constantly but I have no experience there.
 
Nanobyte said:
I'm not sure I got it right. You want to be able to access your media files that are located in the desktop pc, on the laptop, via the Internet. So that you can do it anywhere?
Click to expand...

I want to have access to everything on my desktop from my laptop via the Internet. I want to have as little Data on my laptop.

Will the OS come into play? I use Windows 7 64bit on my desktop and OS X on my laptop.
 
You can do what you want using the methods I noted. I suspect the VPN may be better. If you want to play audio and video remotely, it will have to be streamed because you cannot guarantee constant bit rate over the Internet. The player has to be buffering the stream to keep the output going without hiccups. Images are simple to handle.

You could also transfer the files to the laptop, even via FTP, use them and delete. No streaming required but not exactly what you are after.

That's about as far as I can assist.
 
FXB said:
Which VPN should I use?
Click to expand...
TeamViewer is quite a good one because it can do Remote Control, File Transfer or VPN. I can't compare with others. I found it quite easy to handle through a firewall. The only thing I don't like about the Remote Control is that the connection is made via TeamViewer (DNS Server?) but that's not a big deal. Each party has a unique ID so I guess when you try to connect, you send the ID you are trying to connect to and they know the address of the other end. Normally the other end has to give you a password but it can be set up for unattended access.

The VPN is independent. TeamViewer is free for the basics.

Others may have experience with different apps.
 
Do I have to leave my desktop on at all times to have this work properly?

if I get a unique ID and password how can I access my PC remotely? I would have to know the ID and password
 
FXB said:
Do I have to leave my desktop on at all times to have this work properly?
Click to expand...
I mentioned in post #5 that you can use Wake-on-LAN but it may depend on your equipment.
If I get a unique ID and password how can I access my PC remotely? I would have to know the ID and password
Click to expand...
In post #9 I wrote "Normally the other end has to give you a password but it can be set up for unattended access". This applies to Remote Control. You can manually allocate a password rather than it being dynamic so you don't need the other end to respond. You can also access via Windows login.

The instructions for VPN are less specific but it would seem that the login can be similar to Remote Control.

Edit: To get a better idea of what this is about, install TeamViewer on the 2 pcs. Initially you can start them up manually. Both PC will get IDs and generate a password (normally changes every program start). Then try to use Remote Control. You will probably have to play with your firewall. Once you get Remote Control working and can operate one PC from the other, try File Transfer. You could then look at the different ways of logging in remotely. Finally try VPN. That will create a virtual network in your Network Connections.

Then you can look at Wake-on-LAN and streaming!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top