Future of Home Entertainment

So here is the problem... you’ve got all these cool movies, photos & music stored on your computer but you don´t want to sit at your desk or with your laptop to enjoy them.... it is a little like still being at work..... so what do you do???

It´s time to set your digital media files free and enjoyed on your TV and quality music system. 

 

So what do you need??? A network media player that retrieves the media from your computer or other network devices thet plays your movies, music and photos on your home theatre.

We have mentioned on here before about AppleTV and the new Google TV, but it struck me that not everyone knows these products or what exactly they do......So today we´re going back to basics.........

Here are a few terms that you may be familiar with, but as we are doing the basics we may as well cover everything.....

Network: - You (or your internet provider) probably set up a “home network ” to enable all of the computers in your home to share one internet connection.  That same network makes it possible to share files and media that are stored on one connected computer, viewing them on other computers, your TV or even your smart phone.

Media: – This is the term commonly used to refer to movies, videos, TV shows, photos and music files.  Certain network media players may play only one type of media.  When choosing a network media player, you will want to make sure that it can play the types of files you have stored on your computers.

Player – While the definition of a “player” may be obvious to you, it is an important distinction for this kind of device.  The first function of a player is to connect to your computers or other devices and to play the media it finds. You can then watch what it is playing on your TV screen and/or listen on your home-theatre audio/video receiver. 

Many network media players not only have internal hard drives for saving media (1Tb is not uncommon) but also can stream movies, music and photos from the internet.  You no longer need to browse the web on your computer to enjoy videos from popular websites like YouTube or Netflix; to hear music from Pandora, last.fm or Rhapsody; or to see photos from Picasa and Flickr. 

A number of manufacturers make network media players—Roku box, Seagate, Western Digital, D-Link’s Boxee Box, Popcorn Hour—that are stand-alone devices. Their sole function is to stream music, movies and photos from other sources to be played on your TV and audio/video receiver and speakers.  

These set-top boxes connect to your home network, either wirelessly or by using an Ethernet cable.  They are often small, about the size of a thick paperback novel.

A network media player makes it pretty easy to share your media on your home theatre. Whether you choose a dedicated-network media-player device, or a TV or home-theatre component to enjoy your media, be sure you have what you need to set up your home network and network media player.  

But you need more than just a network media player to make it work, click here to check out part 2 in our the Future of Home Entertainment.....