Many streaming devices you plug into your TV including PlayStation 4, X-Box One, X-Box-360, and ROKU offer DLNA streaming support. They can stream music and video files over the network from your PC provided you have a DLNA server set. At the moment, the internet is crammed with pieces of software that can do precisely that, but in this guide, we are only going to touch on the built-in DLNA feature in Windows 10.
What is DLNA?
If you have a smartphone or an HDTV, then you probably have heard of DLNA or read about it in the manual. If you didn’t get the jargon, fear not as we will break it down for you in the simplest way possible. DLNA or the Digital Living Network Alliance is a way for multimedia devices to communicate with each other when on the same network. Devices that are DLNA-compliant can stream music, share videos, and photos to each other. DLNA compatible smartphones can also be used to mirror media content from the handset to an HDTV that is also DLNA enabled. So if you have some cool videos on your smartphone that is DLNA enabled and you would like to view them on the big screen, you can either use the DLNA or Wi-Fi Direct feature on your device to do this. When used this way, your smartphone acts a remote control.
How to Enable DLNA in Windows 10
Step 1: Open the control panel and search for ‘Media’. You can use the search option or fire up Cortana and search for the control panel, and then search for Media. At the top, you will see the ‘Network and Sharing center’ option.
Step 2: Click the ‘Media streaming options’ link that is right below the Network and Sharing Center. After that, click ‘Turn on media streaming’ to activate the media streaming server. Step 3: Customize the streaming service
Although the above control panel does not mention the term DLNA, the media streaming feature in Windows is a DLNA-compliant media server. From here I may not be able to show you how to add media because I don’t know what type of DLNA compliant streaming device you have. However, the entire process is a no brainer thing as the Window will show you the connected devices once you turn on the media streaming feature on your DLNA enabled streaming box. Once your media streaming device has been connected to your Windows 10 computer, you can launch the Windows Media Play to see the available streaming files. All in all, the process should not take you more than 5 minutes if you know your media streaming devices in and out. Was the guide helpful? Let us hear your experience with the inbuilt DLNA server on Windows 10 in the comments section below.
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