How to stream movies from a PC to a TV

CABLES GALORE

One method is to run a very long HDMI cable from your PC to the TV. Although it’ll work, and you're essentially streaming content from one to the other, it comes with its own set of impracticalities.

Running a HDMI cable around your home isn’t the neatest job you’re ever likely to accomplish. Unless you have trunking, wall points, and you're handy with a drill, the end result could end up looking like the dangling vines from an old Tarzan movie.

WIRELESS HDMI

If running HDMI cables around the home isn’t for you, then consider a wireless HDMI approach.

There are countless wireless HDMI kits available, from as low as £40 through to several hundred. But essentially they all do pretty much the same thing.

A HDMI Wireless kit usually consists of two main components: the transmitter and the receiver unit. Basically, you’ll install the transmitter unit on your PC, along with any software necessary to make it work. Then you’ll plug the receiver unit into a spare HDMI port on your TV. Providing all goes well, everything that’s displayed on your desktop will be streamed to the TV via the two wireless units.

While a good choice for those who don’t want to run a cable, there can be some issues with the wireless HDMI option. One of the worst offenders is the transmission through solid objects. Some wireless HDMI units can cope with sending the signal through a wall, floor, or even across the house. Others will cut out if someone walks in front of a line of sight signal.

Another issue is that of lag. While the signal works through walls, the units themselves may not be able to cope with the fast update that your PC’s HDMI output displays, therefore there’ll be some significant lag when you’re trying to watch or play anything, rendering the entire project fairly useless. A common problem is also the lag between audio and video, with one or the other being out of sync.

Again it can be an expensive affair should you end up buying a unit that doesn’t perform as well as you’d hoped. The best advice here is to read as many reviews as possible before spending any money on a wireless HDMI kit.

CHROMECAST

It’s not perfect though, and you’ll need decent Wi-Fi to make it work to its full potential. But if you do have a strong Wi-Fi network then all you’ll need to do is drag and drop any videos into the browser from the PC side to begin viewing.

Again it’s not a perfect solution, and there are limits to what you can do. But if all you need is a simple streaming solution, the Chromecast option may tick all the right boxes for you.

STEAM LINK

The Steam Link is Valve’s contribution to PC game streaming from your gaming PC to the best screen in the house – the TV.

It’s a slimline box that connects to the TV’s HDMI port, with several USB ports and a gigabit Ethernet port. All you need to do is plug the Link into the TV, along with power and any keyboard, mouse, or Steam Controller. It's then just a case of launching Steam from your PC.

With the Link powered up it’ll scan your network for any PCs running Steam and issue you a code. You can then opt to connect to the PC, where you’ll need to enter the code directly into the Steam Client.

Once everything is connected though, you’ll be able to view the Steam Big Picture client on your TV downstairs, and you’ll be able to play any of the games in your Steam library.

In addition, if you minimise the Steam client – don’t close it down as that will drop the connection to the Link – you’ll be presented with your Windows or Linux Desktop, and from there you can control the mouse and keyboard as normal to watch videos, pictures, and browse the internet.

The downside to this setup is that you ideally need to have a wired connection for the best possible streaming quality and speed. Although WiFi is perfectly possible (the Link has 802.11ac 2x2 MIMO built-in), to stream those fast paced games and movies in the best possible quality you’ll need a solid 100Mbps or gigabit wired setup.

BASIC MEDIA STREAMING

If you’re not too concerned about viewing or accessing your desktop from the TV, just media in the form of videos and images, then you can easily accomplish that with Windows Media Player.

Start by opening up WMP, and click on the Stream menu option. From there select ‘Turn on Media Streaming’ and follow the instructions to enable media streaming from your PC to any DLNA capable devices on your network – including your Smart TV.

With the media streaming from the Network and Sharing Centre within Windows, you can choose to allow access to the physical hardware installed on your PC, the Blu-Ray optical drive for example, and any secondary storage devices where the media in question is located.

GAME STREAMING

If the Steam Link doesn’t work for you, or you have games that belong to another PC game library platform – one that doesn’t play well with adding it to Steam – then you may want to check out the Nvidia Shield TV.

This marvellous Android-based box of tricks will allow you to stream your installed games on your PC, including any you add, to the TV with an exceptional degree of quality. However, you will need a compatible Nvidia graphics card installed in your system before you’ll be able to do that.

If you own an Nvidia 650 card or above, then you should be able to stream the games through the Nvidia GeForce Experience program on your PC. As with the Link, you can plug a keyboard and mouse into the Shield downstairs and play the games, including anything from the Steam library, as well as you could on the main PC upstaris.

FINALLY

There are plenty of streaming solutions for accessing your PC content from the TV; it’s just a case of working out which will work best for you.

If you have any other ideas or solutions you’d like to add, then please mention them in the comments section.

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