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Tuesday 15 March 2011

Western Digital WD TV Live Hub Media Center 1TB - review and practical tips






This is a review of the WDTV LiveHub media centre / media server, which the folks at WD and Chilifish PR kindly lent me.

Overview

As with most media servers you can:

  • hook it up to your TV
  • store media files on it (1 TB means a lot of files!)
  • play those files on your TV, or a networked computer or smartphone - including music and photos as well as video - all at the same time

If you connect it to your router, you can even play or show, on you TV, stuff over the internet from YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and some other sites. Indeed, one feature they emphasise is the integration with Facebook.

The full specs are on the WD site. Also general info.

Currently it costs around £150-£160 on Amazon:

Connectivity

Ethernet port: to connect it to your home network, typically via a spare port on your router. When connected, you can access the internet as well as files on your networked computers, and also play on a networked computer or smartphone any media stored on the Hub.

Audiovisual connectivity: HDMI, component (hi definition) or composite. (For the non-technical - see my guide to connecting AV equipment to your TV generally, and tutorial on how to connect your PC to your TV to play videos etc.)

No cables are provided however.

Operating systems

The Hub is said to be compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP, and Mac Leopard and Snow Leopard. I tried it with Vista.

In the box

The Hub, power supply, remote control with 2 batteries, quick start sheet. No hard copy or CD manual and no software, you have to download that yourself.

No cables, except the power lead. The power plug was continental (2 round pins) in my review unit, and no adapter was included - hopefully the units they sell in the UK market will have the right plugs, or else you'll need to buy a separate power plug adapter yourself.

What types of media files does it play or show?

See the manual p.152 for the list of supported formats. My own experience was however mixed.

From my tests, it played or showed these formats: flv (only some files, not others), gif, jpg, m2t, mp3, mp4, mpg, png, wav, wma (very jerkily!), wmv (some files, not others).

But, it just wouldn't play any files I tried in these formats: avi, mov, swf. (To be fair, they don't claim to support SWF Shockwave Flash files. I just tried them out.)

The files I tested all played fine on my computer however, and also were OK if I played them on a computer over the network via the Hub media server. They just wouldn't play on the TV using just the Hub itself. Go figure… maybe my files were in older unsupported versions of those formats.

One folder of music which I copied over wholesale got split into 2 folders in the Music view on the Hub, with 7 tracks in 1 folder, 3 in another. Again, I'm not sure why. It's rather frustrating as I wanted it to cycle round playing all tracks in that folder repeatedly, but couldn't get it to. The playlist feature seems too basic - just adding stuff individually to the queue, and if earlier items are to be repeated in folder, it never gets to later added items!

They say you can access non-WD content via the Hub that's on another networked drive, as long as it supports DLNA media server or samba server. I didn't test that.

Setup tips - the missing steps

The Quick Installation Guide isn't complete and misses out important steps after step 3 (ie after connecting the Ethernet cable between Hub and router).

So here's my version of the quickstart, including some essential info not in their guide:

  1. buy the extra cables that you'll need for steps 3 and 4!
  2. connect the Hub to the mains with the power supply & mains lead
  3. connect Hub to your TV (see my introductory guide to connecting PC to TV which has info and links about connectors)
  4. connect Hub to a spare networking port on your home router
  5. turn on the Hub
  6. via the onscreen menu or the Setup button on the remote control, go to Setup then Network Setup, and select Automatic (works in most cases they say, certainly worked in mine; if it didn't work, see the full manual).
  7. in Network Setup note down what it now says against IP Address, eg in my case it was 192.168.1.67
  8. in Setup > Audio/Video Output, choose the output that suits your own TV connections eg HDMI (the default), Composite or Component
  9. in Setup > Appearance > Screen Size Calibration, change it so that the screen fits on your TV - on my system the top or bottom of the Hub's screen output was cut off, until I adjusted this to 90%. I tried a zillion things till this worked!
  10. in Setup > System > Timezone, you may want to set it to your own timezone. It's preset to Pacific.
  11. in the AccuWeather service (Services > AccuWeather) you can set your home town. NB London in the UK is listed after the longer towns that start with "London.."!

How to transfer files from PC to Hub

The Quick Installation guide said in step 4 to download the WD Discovery Tool. I didn't need it, and in fact it didn't work for me at all, even though I had set my firewall to let it through:

Step 4 really should have explained how to access the Hub from your computer using Windows Explorer or a web browser. So here's the missing explanation.

There are 2 ways:

1. in the Windows Explorer or My Computer address bar, type \\wdtvlivehub (case insensitive but include the backslashes) - then OK or Enter. You'll be able to navigate to and view the contents of the Hub and its folders (doubleclick WDTVLiveHub icon in there, you'll see a Sample Media folder inside that).

You can create subfolders, copy/paste or drag and drop multiple media files there, etc, in the normal way.

2. in a browser, enter the IP address you noted earlier. Then you'll see this (the pic below is from my iPhone):

The password is "admin" (without the quotes), tick to accept the Agreement (and to keep signed in if you wish), and click Login. Once you're in, you see this (screenshot from my Vista PC):

(Don't bother with using the Network icon in Windows Explorer: it just brought up 2 icons for the hub, one of which when doubleclicked only opened Windows Media Player, while the other opened the Web interface to the hub.

And don't bother trying to enter \\wdtvlivehub in a browser; it doesn't work in Firefox, while in Internet Explorer it just opens a Computer/Windows Explorer window, ie same as using the \\WDTVLiveHub method in Computer.)

How to play files from the Hub

To play or show media on the connected TV, just turn on the Hub and use the remote control to select Music, Video etc.

There's a "Now Playing" button as a reminder of what's currently playing! Audio files will continue to play in the background as you do other stuff like check Setup; video files won't, as you'd expect.

To play media from the Hub on other networked devices, the best way is to go to the Hub's IP address (as noted in step 6 above) in a browser. Login, click Media



Launch Twonky Media (the server), and navigate to the files you want to play or view, which the Hub categorises by type (Music, Video etc).




You can also upload files to the Hub using Twonky but I wouldn't recommend it as it only seems to cope with one file at a time.

Online services

One of the features touted is the integration of the Hub with certain online services.

However, it started off being too US-centric, showing services you could only get in the US. Progressive firmware upgrades have got rid of the US-only services and added some new ones, but BBC iPlayer and SeeSaw are still missing. If they'd included those (or just a plain web browser!) from the start, they could have done very well with this product.

See their list of current services (NB that includes US services you can't get in Europe.) Basically, apart from Accuweather, it's Facebook, YouTube, photo sharing site Flickr, various internet radio stations and internet TV channel compilations - as I write that's Flingo, Deezer (mainly French so yay for Europeanisation there), Live365, Tunein Radio (lots of UK radio stations) and MediaFly.

The closest integration is with Facebook - you can upload pics etc from the Hub to Facebook. (You could update your status too, but that's painful unless you have a USB keyboard hooked up to the Hub, or use a wireless keyboard).

Oddly enough, you can't upload to Flickr or YouTube.

My biggest comment here is that it's too closed. Maybe they did deals with the services available via the Hub, I don't know. But if they'd made it more open, it would have been much, much more attractive to users - eg if they'd included a web browser so you could play BBC iPlayer TV shows, LoveFilm movies etc over the internet via the Hub, or failing that an API allowing developers or site owners to add extra services, increasing the range available to Hub users.

At the London Girl Geek Dinner in late 2010 where they demo'd this device, they said BBC iPlayer integration would come - but ideally it should have been available from the start, when targeting UK customers. And it's still not available.

In my view it's very important for WD to broaden as much as possible the range of online services which users which can access to play video on the Hub over the internet, whether by streaming or download. This is because, strictly, it's illegal in many countries, including the UK, to rip CDs and DVDs, eg to store on a Hub - so, in terms of video, if you want to be legal you're pretty much limited to online services. (Personally, I only tested the Hub with videos or audio that I'd shot or recorded myself or to which I had rights, and which I then exported to a few different formats.)

The other issue is that the integration with what services the Hub does offer just isn't slick or user-friendly enough. For starters the search capability falls short. Flingo includes Blip.tv, for example, but the search didn't bring up some videos I know are on Blip.

Other tips

Remember Setup > System > Device Restart (you may have to scroll down) - if switching it on and off doesn't work, even at the mains, the Restart function seems to do the trick, at least for me. That's Restart, not Device Reset! (which is really really only as an absolute last resort as it'll wipe stuff). At one point during my tests the Hub inexplicably stopped outputting audio that was anywhere near audible, possibly because of the crash mentioned below, and fiddling with power on/off, plug fittings etc did nothing - but the Device Restart fixed it for me.

When it shows a big green tick, that's not a confirmation message to indicate that it's already done something and everything's OK. You actually have to hit the OK button again to actually whatever it was that you selected - the tick is kind of like an "Are you sure?" rather than "Yes it's done".

If you're going to use the online services a lot, get something like Netmeter to monitor your bandwidth usage so your broadband costs don't go through the roof (see my post on how to connect PC to TV).

Pros

(Note that many of the pros aren't unique to this product, other gear (eg NAS servers) will share the same advantages.)

1 TB, a very very very decent capacity. Enough for tons and tons of media.

Tiny, so it's great if you have a space-challenged AV setup.

Nice and quiet in operation.

You can access and play the files on it from a smartphone eg it worked on my iPhone, as well as networked computers - and several devices can play different files from it at the same time. This is limited by what your device can play, eg the iPhone will of course play .mov files happily:

- but not .avi:

It's said to offer full-HD 1080p playback - I don't have a HD TV yet, believe it or not (unless someone wishes to offer me one to trial!) so I couldn't test the HD.

It has onscreen buttons for Videos, Music, Photos and Files. And it automatically categorises everything neatly; no matter in what scattered folders I (deliberately!) stored different types of media, all the videos got displayed under Videos, all music files under Music, etc. If the right tags were added to your audio files, it will let you filter by Genre etc.

After you start playing one item in a folder it also automatically plays everything after it in the same folder.

For video, it remembers where you played to and offers to start again from there ("Resume").

2 USB slots, one front, one back. You can plug in eg a wi-fi adapter, USB keyboard, external hard drive, camcorder, digital camera etc.

Automatically prompts you to update the firmware when a new version is available.

Can sync with external USB drive that you plug in, and also sync with a folder shared on your network.

There are some thoughtful but somewhat hard to find features - eg you can change some (not all) of the remote control buttons' commands via the Setup > Operation > Remote Settings menu, to program the button to do something else. And you can control the Hub via your computer or smartphone's web browser (iPhone or Android), by calling up a "virtual remote control" that you can click on within your web browser:



While you can enter letters with the remote control (onscreen keyboard, or tap certain keys a certain number of times), the Hub also works (mostly) with a wireless keyboard whose dongle is plugged into the USB - at least, it mostly worked with the model I tried (review to follow). That keyboard's arrow keys also worked. However, there's an inconsistency in the services integration: that keyboard would not work at all with the Flingo search (hence my use of "mostly").

Facebook integration, for avid Facebook users.

Cons

Doesn't play some video file formats; plays some in one format but not others in the same format, no idea why.

No cables supplied, so you can't use it straightaway - you'll need first to buy your own HDMI or other AV cable to connect it to your TV, and also your own Ethernet networking cable if you want to connect it to your broadband router to access internet content. It's understandable that no AV cable was included as everyone's setup varies, but it would have been nice if they'd included an Ethernet cable.

You can add items to a queue, but don't be fooled by the name - that's not a playlist function. In fact it seems little different from a version of a Favorites function (quick access from the Dashboard). I couldn't see any way to create a playlist, a glaring omission!

It's a computer - so it can crash or freeze. It did once when I was trying a search on Flingo.

Services - too closed, see comments above.

No wifi. In my home, I can't connect the Hub both to my TV and to my router without having to run a cable across the middle of my living room, which I'd trip over. (For review purposes I simply tried not to fall over the cable, and to remember to disconnect it when done using the Hub!)

If only it came with wifi, so it could talk to my wireless router without wires… but, wi-fi isn't built-in. There's a USB port to plug in a wireless USB adapter, but you'd have to buy that separately. I can't be the only person whose living room set-up is such that using this box is simply impracticable, unless I fork out for a USB adapter or a very very very long Ethernet cable to try to go round along the walls.

Niggle - no CD supplied, you have to download the manual (which you'll definitely need) and, if you want it, the WDTVLiveHub software from the WD site, although I got by without the software (which didn't work, for me).

Wishlist - improvements I'd like to see

I ran through some of these with a non-technical friend, who agrees with my assessment - she says she wouldn't have been able to set up and use the WDTV LiveHub herself, even at a basic level, without the missing instructions which I've flagged.

As well as addressing the Cons mentioned above, a small practical point - on the remote control, the Options button should be swapped with Back, given that most people are right-handed.

The Hub was said to be aimed at consumers who aren't technical, so it's a shame the Product Overview info wasn't in the box, or indeed on the outside of the box to tempt prospective buyers! And also that they didn't do more to tailor it for a European and indeed UK market before releasing it here, although subsequent firmware updates have improved that a bit.

Conclusions

There are a couple of issues with the Hub, in my view.

First, it doesn't seem to hit the target market squarely enough, if WD have decided what target market they want to aim for with this product. The tech-savvy have probably set up their own NAS and media servers already, while the average non-techie consumer might well find the setup too difficult.

There isn't enough info in the quickstart to help non-technical users (I've outlined above the main missing info), there are some other usability difficulties with it, and it's not made clear enough that people will also have to go and buy their own cables - so some consumers may find it frustrating. Also, the branding could be confusing. Some consumers might be puzzled by what "Twonkymedia" is and why it's there, for instance, and similarly with "Mochi". (Twonky is the server software on the hub that lets you view and play its media files from another computer on your network - why not just say, "Access your media"?)

Geeks will already know how to set up their own servers, so instead of buying this they may just go for cheaper hardware and install free server software (it's possible to get 1 TB external hard drives or NAS servers more cheaply, including some with server software and even Ethernet cable included).

Second, networking. To me, there's no point having a media server that isn't permanently connected to my home network. But, as mentioned above, my setup doesn't make that easy. If they had built into the Hub the technology from their WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit (4 Ports, Twin Pack), which enables networking through power points (though I've not tested one), or even included wi-fi as standard, they'd have solved this problem for potential buyers. I'm sure that others besides me may have the same problem. Buying a wireless USB adapter or trying to run ultra long networking cables round the walls is an extra expense and hassle, which may put some people off.

So, overall, I think this is a nice bit of kit, but it works better as a media server for networked computers (or other networked devices) than as a stand-alone player, given the issues I've noted with playing certain files. And, particularly given its price, it's let down by some usability issues for non-technical consumers, the lack of built-in wi-fi or livewire technology, some shortcomings in the integration with the featured web services and indeed the lack of online services: you just don't get the broad range and freedom of choice as you do when you simply hook up your PC to your TV and play stuff from the internet on your TV that way, even though the Hub's sound quality is much better (in the case of my home setup at least).

If Western Digital had built in wi-fi or livewire capability as standard, included cables or at least one cable, made the services more open by adding a simple browser or at least provided more services particularly for BBC iPlayer, 4od, Demand 5 etc and TV/movie rental outfits in the UK like Lovefilm, made the interface more user-friendly and included just a few more instructions in the box, and (ideally) lowered the price a little, that would have made the Hub much more desirable, at least for more technical consumers. As for an API, we can only hope!

Friday 11 March 2011

Domestic reviews - Gilberts' gourmet chopping boards






I cook a lot. And I absolutely love Gilberts' cutting boards (which I think are the "Epicurean" range).

When I was looking for new chopping boards, I wanted ones that were dishwasher-safe and light, and so I avoided considering wooden ones, which in my experience are usually huge and high-maintenance.

But then, fortunately for me, I came across the Gilberts Epicurean boards, and they're just fantastic. The description says they're used by many professional chefs, and I'm not at all surprised.

These superb boards are made from "environmentally-friendly natural wood fibre composite laminate", according to the blurb, but they really are dishwasher safe and they don't need any oiling etc, so they're very low maintenance indeed.

More to the point, they provide a great cutting surface, with a good, pretty non-slip grip for the knife, and I can cut up stuff on these boards without etching deep grooves into the surface too. Cutting and chopping using these boards just feels more comfortable, easy, efficient and secure to me, than with other chopping boards that I've used.

The board is thin and light (even the bigger version), with a nice large hole to hang it up with. The large board is even lighter than smaller plastic chopping boards I've used. So it's easy to store, and easy (even for a weakling like me) to pick up the board and take it to the cooker to scrape cut-up meat or veg into the wok or pan straight from the board.

These boards aren't cheap at £20 or more (at the date of writing this), but they're not prohibitively expensive either, as they're still under £30, and to me they're well worth the money as they are so good, and seem very durable. I've not had mine that long so I can't testify they'll last for years, but they feel like they would. An excellent investment, in my book.

They're available via Amazon in natural or black, in two sizes - 15" x 11" or 12" x 9".

I have to say that these are brilliant, simply the best chopping boards I've ever used, and I cook at least two or three times a week. First rave review in ages, and it's not even for electronic kit!

Saturday 5 March 2011

How to connect PC to TV to watch online videos, movies etc







This is a basic introductory tutorial guide for non-technical beginners on how to connect your computer to your TV and watch shows from the internet on your TV - eg BBC iPlayer, 4od (4 on demand) and other TV programme episodes and films - whether you stream them in real time over the internet (which means you have to maintain your internet connection to watch it), or you download the file to your PC and later play back your downloaded video (which means you can watch the downloaded video while you're not connected to the internet). This is Windows only, sorry, I don't do Macs; some parts of this post may work for Macs though.

What kind of TV? These instructions should work perfectly well even with older non-digital TVs, as long as it has the right connectors (see below). You don't need to have a high definition HDTV, though the quality will probably be better if you do.

Why do all this? Well, watching internet video on demand, like movies or TV programmes, is much more comfy and sociable (and maybe better for the eyes?) if you watch them on your big screen TV, leaning back on your sofa, rather than huddling around a computer monitor screen. Better still if you have a high def TV.

What's there to watch? You're likely to want to do this more and more, now that we in the UK have BBC iPlayer, 4od (4 on demand), Demand Five, ITV Player, SkyPlayer and the like, so that you can catch up on missed TV episodes or even see new series online.

Services consolidating different TV channels include SeeSaw (on demand TV programmes from the BBC, Channel 4, Five and more, both free and paid). Outfits like LoveFilm, recently acquired by Amazon, are increasingly allowing online renting of downloaded movies (the lucky Americans have NetFlix). 4od also allow you to rent some films online.

YouTube can also be fun on a television, and there's also free internet TV like FreeTube and other online TV sites.

1. Basic outline

The basic steps are:

  1. connect your PC to your TV - this depends on what connections you have on your PC and what you have on your TV. You need to get the right cable to hook 'em up; and you may need more than one cable
  2. set up your PC to let you watch video from your computer on your TV set
  3. switch your TV to the right inputs so it'll show stuff from your computer, and start the video playing on your computer
  4. (optional but recommended) get something to control your PC remotely so you can pause, rewind etc from your couch!

Monitor vs TV. Your Windows computer (sorry, I'm not a Mac fan) can output video images to more than one screen at the same time. So you can leave your PC connected to both your regular monitor and your TV. You don't need to switch between them. (In fact, if your video card has several video output ports, you can use more than one monitor at the same time too.)

Sound. You probably want your TV both to show pics and play sounds from your online or downloaded video. What you need in order to do that depends on the connection between TV and PC. There's a veritable alphabet soup of possible connector types, from DVI and VGA to HDMI, component video, S-Video and for older TVs composite video.

Only HDMI to HDMI connections carry both video and audio signals in the same cable. Other types of connections (eg S-Video out to composite video in) will require you to get, and hook up, two sets of cables, one for the video, and a separate cable to carry the audio. (Unless of course you're happy for the sound to come out of your computer speakers only. But, you'll still need to get at least one cable for the video image signals.)

What you need. The PC you use for this has to be physically close enough to your TV that you can connect them with cables without causing you or others in your home to trip over them! In my home they're in the same room, but one of the cables I use is 5 m long, just to skirt the walls.

You also need the right cables, discussed below.

There are wireless options which let you watch video from your PC on your TV, but they're expensive. We're talking hundreds of pounds. I won't cover those here.

2. How to connect PC to TV

I was going to do a guide on how to hook up the output (video and audio) from your computer to the inputs on your TV, but others have already done it well, so links are included below.

Microsoft have a basic guide - expand the options for the full info. There's a more detailed guide with photos of the connectors too, for 2 monitors rather than a TV but the principles are the same.

Even better, Lovefilm UK have produced a nice tool to check the outputs on your PC and inputs on your TV, with pics of what the different types of connectors should look like.

Take a look at what's at the back of your computer and back of your TV (check out the side of the TV too, in the case of some older types of connectors). On the Lovefilm page, scroll down till you see their Step 1 and Step 2. Under their Step 1, first click on the diagram representing what the spare connector/port on your computer looks like (you may have more than one, eg both DVI and S-Video, in which case you could try each one separately), and then under Step 2 click on the pic which looks like the connector you have on your TV. Their guide will suggest (under Step 3) what type of cable(s) and adapter(s) and/or converters you need to buy. It even shows if you need to get separate cables for both audio and video. Here's an example where DVI was selected for the computer, and VGA for the TV.

Be warned though, their "Buy it now" buttons just do basic searches on Amazon, and you should doublecheck the search results for yourself just to make sure that eg it's an "A out" to "B in" cable, and not a "B out" to "A in" cable (where A is the connector on your PC, and B is the one on your TV). Directionality can matter.

If you don't have any of the connectors shown, eg because you have a very old TV, then, sorry, you're out of luck. See Alternatives, at the end of this post.

Audio splitter. If you need a separate audio cable to connect your computer's audio out (eg from your PC's speaker socket) to your TV, you may want to buy a splitter (like this 3.5mm speaker and headphone Splitter). You don't want to keep unplugging and swapping cables, believe me - wear and tear, inconvenience - and splitters aren't expensive.

With most computers, the kind of splitter you'll need is a splitter for a stereo mini-jack socket, so a headphone or speaker splitter will do. Splitter goes into your PC audio out, plug your speakers into one part of the splitter, your new audio cable into the other part, and then you can get sound to both your normal computer speakers and TV.

My guide to connecting set-top boxes or other AV kit to your TV may also be of general use to those unfamiliar with hooking up gear to TV sets.

3. How to set up your Windows computer to see online video

Once you've bought the right cables, hook everything up. Best do that after switching off both PC and TV, just in case.

Now, you have to set up your computer to handle both your normal monitor and your TV properly. So turn 'em both back on.

Display settings. Open up your display settings. Depending on your version of Windows, there are different ways to get to your display settings (see Microsoft's instructions for XP and for Windows 7 and Vista (or for the latter rightclick a blank area on your desktop, click Personalize and then Display Settings).

My display settings on Vista look like this:

What the two rectangles represent are your normal monitor and your TV. Probably your usual monitor will be labelled no. 1, and your TV no. 2. You can check which is which by clicking the "Identify monitors" button, which will display a big 1 on the screen that's represented as no. 1, and a big 2 on the other screen.

Positioning. You can click on either rectangle labelled 1 or 2, and drag it sideways to swap positions. I recommend that you position 1 and 2 to reflect the physical location of your monitor and TV in real life, otherwise things could get confusing. So, if in your room your monitor is on the left and your TV is to the right of the monitor (even if it's a long way off to the right), it's best have no. 1 (your PC monitor) on the left of the display settings view, and no. 2 on the right.

You next have to set things up on your PC so that it deals correctly with your TV, which is treated as an extra monitor as you can see.

Extend your desktop. In the display settings, click on the rectangle that represents your TV, ie no. 2. Make sure that "Extend the desktop onto this monitor" is ticked, then click OK.

After you've done this, you'll be able to use both monitor and TV at the same time. If you move your mouse over to the right (in my case - it may be left depending on your setup), you'll find that it disappears off your computer monitor and (provided you've switched your TV to display what's on your computer, covered below) reappears on your TV. Even if your TV is switched off or you've not set it to display your computer video, your mouse can disappear off the edge of your normal monitor. Just move it back. You have been warned!

Colours. If the colours look all weird on your TV, in your Display Settings click on the rectangle for your TV first, then try setting the Colors dropdown to Medium (16 bit) instead of Highest (32 bit). Or vice versa. Then OK it. And see if that improves things. Depending on your TV set, medium can actually be better than Highest.

Other tweaks. Having selected no. 2 for your TV, you can also:

  • click Advanced Settings (bottom right), then the Monitor tab, then under Monitor Settings click the Screen refresh rate dropdown and see if a higher setting is available. The bigger the number for the refresh rate, the less the flicker, and the better for your eyes - so you want to pick the highest refresh rate your TV can provide. The example below isn't much!


  • experiment with changing the Resolution slider to see if it makes a difference. On my TV, I got the best results from Low.

If you have problems, try the Microsoft suggestions for troubleshooting multiple monitors etc, for Vista and Windows 7 (audio/video issues, black screen).

4. How to watch video from your PC on your TV

Now that you've set everything up, you can play videos or movies on your computer, and watch and hear it on your TV.

The steps, in summary, are:

  1. set your TV to display the right input (ie what's coming out from your PC, rather than from your set-top box or DVD player etc)
  2. find the video you want to watch in your browser or Windows Media Player window
  3. move that window to your TV
  4. (recommended) put the player on Full Screen setting
  5. click the Play button!

4.1 Input

To do this, switch your TV to the correct input (see further my post on connecting AV equipment to your TV) so that your TV will display what's on your computer. Basically, just keep pressing and releasing the AV button on your remote control until you can see your computer's desktop background on your TV - it's the button you might use to cycle between TV and DVD or VHS, etc. (To get your normal TV back, just keep pressing and releasing the AV button again till you get to what you want.)

4.2 Find your video

Now, either you'll stream video live over the internet, as with YouTube, or you'll download a movie or video (eg from BBC iPlayer) and then play it in (probably) BBC iPlayer or other media player software. (With iPlayer you have choice, you can either watch it online, or download it - which takes a while - and watch it later.)

With online streaming video, you'd normally use your web browser (eg Internet Explorer, Firefox) to go to the site you want, then find and click on the programme you want to play, and watch it in your browser.

With a previously downloaded show, as with iPlayer, you'd launch the iPlayer programme, or (as with some other video) you'd launch Windows Media Player or other video player, and watch the video in there; so go ahead and open the downloaded movie or video that you want to watch.

4.3 Move the window to your TV screen

You now need to drag the window in which the video is to play (whether it's Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player etc), sideways from your monitor to your TV. This surprised a non-technical friend, so I am spelling it out.

You literally move the window of your browser or Windows Media Player etc (click in the window's top blue title bar, hold down the mouse, and drag it) - sideways, until you can see the window on your TV. I drag it to the right in my case, because my no. 2 screen is set up to be on the right in my Display Settings; if your no. 2 is on the left, then drag it to the left.

You may not see the window on your monitor anymore, as it'll go off that screen, but at some point the window will appear on your TV.

What if your window won't move? Make sure that the window has not been maximised. The top right hand bit of the window should look like this, with a single square in the middle button:

If instead it shows two overlapping squares in the middle button, like this:

- then you need to click that button (with the overlapping squares) to "Restore" the window (so it shows the single square), and then you should be able to move the window. It'll probably shrink a bit too - just drag the bottom right corner to resize it.

Now, you'll find that what fits on your monitor screen may not fit on your TV screen, depending on what TV and monitor you have. So you need to resize the window to the size that fits best on your TV.

Once you've figured out and set the right size for (say) your browser window, if you click on the Restore button in future, it should automatically remember the size you set it to last time. I normally use my browser maximised for the web, and for playing iPlayer I hit the Restore button.

Tip: you don't need to resize the window so that it fits exactly on your TV screen, as long as you use full screen (covered below). You can actually make the window bigger (so you can see stuff within the window better), in fact you could even have the window partway across, so that part of the window is displayed on your monitor, and part of it on your TV screen. As long as more of the window is on the TV screen than on your monitor, you'll be OK.

4.5 Go full screen!

After you've got most of your browser or player window showing on your TV, I highly recommend that you to click the Full Screen button, usually at the far right of the controls underneath the video. Hover over that icon and it should popup with a "Full screen" label - see the BBC iPlayer example at the top of this post, and the 5 Demand example below. (If you can't see the controls, try moving your mouse over the video.)

You may have to scroll in the window down and sideways in order to be able to see that icon, as things which fit on your monitor may not fit as well on your TV, depending on what TV you have. But that doesn't matter - once you've clicked the Full Screen button the picture should automatically expand to fill the whole of your TV screen, even if only part of the window was visible on your TV before. (If your window isn't far over enough on your TV, it will fill the monitor screen rather than TV, which is why I said before that you need to have more of the window showing on the TV than the monitor.)

So, before you move your browser or player window sideways to your TV, the trick is to scroll the window down and sideways in advance, so that the full screen icon is visible on the left (in my case) of the browser window, before you move the window across. Obviously, you want it positioned so you can see it and click on it on the TV screen.

Can't see the full screen icon? With some channels, eg Demand 5, even the controls themselves aren't visible initially - you first need to click the big Play icon (large right arrow, at the bottom left of the video), and perhaps confirm you're over 16, before you can see the controls and click the full screen icon. You could do that before you start moving the window across to your TV, it's fine to have the video playing as you move the window. Even with the other channels, you could start the video playing before you move the window.

Nothing happens when you click the full screen icon? With other channels eg BBC iPlayer, you may find that the full screen icon is greyed out and nothing happens when you click on it. You have to start playing the video first, before the full screen button becomes clickable.

Bottom line, if you can't see the full screen icon, just start the video playing first by clicking on it (or at the bottom left of it, for Demand 5 - not a good idea in my view, for all the others you just click on the video picture itself). If you can't see the controls, waggle your mouse over the playing video.

4.6 Miscellaneous

Controls. As mentioned before, if you move your mouse over the picture, the controls will become visible so that you can click to pause, rewind etc. Personally, after starting the video playing, I then park the mouse pointer at the bottom right corner of the TV screen so I can find it again easily to pause etc.

Pop-out? Some channels offer a pop-out button which you can click to play the video in a separate window. This is not the same as full screen view, and in my experience isn't as good, but try it if you want - whatever works for your own setup.

Screensaver. If you have a screensaver on your PC or set it to turn off your monitor after X minutes, remember to disable it before you start watching, or else your TV screen may suddenly go blank or screensavery! Wiggling the mouse sorts that, of course, but still… And remember to enable your screensaver or power saver again after you've finished watching.

ITV Player issue - ITV is the only one of the main UK channels whose full screen view just doesn't work properly, on my TV at least. Whatever settings I try, part of the picture always gets cut off on the TV in "full screen" view. So, with ITV Player, I have to grit my teeth, tweak the browser window to make the video as big as possible while still fitting completely within my TV screen, and then watch it NOT in full screen view.

Lost your window? When you've finished, don't forget to drag the window back to your normal monitor before you turn off your TV.

If you forgot to do that, you can still get your browser or player window back onto your monitor. In your taskbar at the bottom of your monitor screen, there should still be an icon or rectangle representing that window (and other open programs). Just rightclick it that icon the taskbar, click Move, then hold down your left arrow key on your keyboard (in my case, it might be right in yours) to move the window back to your monitor! Hit the Esc key when it's back to where you want it.

Subtitles. The S button in the BBC iPlayer controls turns on subtitling. Not all programmes have subtitles though.

And most non-BBC channels don't provide subtitles yet. They should.

5. How to control videos on your PC remotely

You can use your computer keyboard and mouse to start, pause, rewind, etc an online or downloaded video or film, but it can be a pain getting up from your sofa just to do that.

I'll be posting reviews in future of relatively inexpensive kit you can get to control your video from the comfort of your couch - basically, wireless ways to control your computer.

The sound can be controlled using the volume controls on your TV remote in the usual way.

6. Bandwidth!

Downloading movies or watching them live eats up a lot of bandwith. If there's a monthly maximum cap on your broadband internet plan, you may find you hit it and it may get expensive for you to be charged for the extra. You may even want to change plans.

Just to give you an idea, before I started using iPlayer, Demand 5 etc in earnest, I used a total of maybe 7 GB max a month, and that's including both uploads and downloads. Now, I average about 50 or 60 GB a month in total! (I use the excellent free Netmeter to keep track of my broadband usage, by the way.)

7. Alternatives?

You can get dedicated set-top boxes to show videos or movies from the internet on your TV, whether streamed in real time over the internet to watch online, or downloaded and saved on the box for watching offline. These might just need a connection to your router (which could be over wi-fi) and of course to your TV.

Lots of companies are getting in on the act here, if they haven't already, eg the D-Link Boxee Box Digital Media Player, or Apple TV (including film rentals over the internet), with related things like Google TV

There's also the Western Digital WD TV Live Hub Media Center 1TB, which stores as well as plays music, video and other media - I'll be posting a review about it soon.

Or some might want to wait for the YouView Freeview box (formerly Project Canvas) which the BBC and others are working on, called "a new subscription-free internet-connected TV service for the UK", including old programmes, with the ability to record too. It's set for an early 2012 consumer launch, so the latest news goes.