Sending pictures from a laptop to Sony Bravia via WiFi

[John-Aldo]

Hi,

Just got a great new Bravia 42" and have set up the WiFi. 

Now I want to show pictures and videos from my Acer laptop onto the TV. 

I understand I can do this via WiFi, ie through the home router. 

Is this correct?  Because I've followed the instructions in the i-Manual and got nowhere.

Help, please,

John

[Catmambo]

Hi

Homestream will allow you to share all the content on your PC directly to your TV.

http://community.sony.co.uk/t5/Blog-News-from-Sony/Homestream-Media-Sharing-from-Sony/ba-p/1262890

Thanks

[John-Aldo]

Hi Catmambo, thanks for the reply.

Someone else recommended Homestream, so I downloaded it, but it wouldn't work!

Anyway, if there's already a system in place on the TV I'd like to just use that if I can.

The question is - can I ?

I'd just like some really simple instructions to guide me through it without all the jargon of DNLA, WPS, etc!

John

[Catmambo]

Hi

Without going into the jargon, the TV is a simple receiver, so you also need to have a bit of software on the computer to mange the file formats, codecs etc and allow the TV to read them & iron out the bumps. Windows Media player can do this, but its not its primary function so its not very good at this, which is why we recommend Homestream as a better more robust solution.

Homestream software works well and is very unobtrusive, so if you checkout the setup guide here http://campaign.odw.sony-europe.com/hub/Homestream%20Quick%20Start%20Guide%20v1.1.pdf it should get you up and running in no time. The platform on which its built is very highly regarded so no reason why it shouldn't work on your computer..

Thanks

[John-Aldo]

Hi again,

Ok, I reloaded Homestream and I've got to see some photos on the TV from the laptop - great.

But I can't get any videos across, even though the folder containing them is visible on the TV.

Also, I want to play something from ITV player on the TV - how do I do that?

Thanks, John

[Catmambo]

Great - so its working. With videos, you won't see any videos if you have gone in via the top level Photo sub menu even though you can see the directory. You have to go back to the top level where Photos, Videos & Music cateogories are listed and then select Video and then browse down to the directory containing the video files and then you should see them. .I probably haven;t explained this very well as its a little tricky to articulate.

No native support for ITV player at the moment I'm afraid..

Thanks

[John-Aldo]

Your explanation was fine, and I had already done as you suggest re "top level" and the videos don't appear - it says the folder is empty.

Not sure what "native support" means - but one of the reasons I spent a lot of money on this TV was because you're supposed to be able to stream items from a PC to it ... are you saying this is not possible?

John

[Anonymous]

HI there

You can stream videos from your PC, especially with the aide of the Homestream program.  But unfortunately streaming videos over the network is not Mum/Dad friendly as such.  It can be a steep learning curve if you are not familiar with things, especially with terminology.

So basically what I am saying is that the TV will do what you want, but it takes time to learn what you are doing.  Google and even YouTube is your friend on this one.

Also for terminology:

http://www.videohelp.com/glossary

When Catmambo refered to ITV player as lacking native support, he ment that the TV at this moment does not have the application built in like iPlayer is.  You can connect your PC/laptop via a HDMI cable to view ITV Player though, as a work-around.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

[garronnicholls]

Actually one of the reasons I very recently bought the 905A series TV was its native support for something called Miracast. This I understand should also be in the 805A one according to a super quick Google search

It might be worth checking to see if your Acer laptop supports this and if it does, then you can make this work via "Screen Mirroring". This in effect replicates what you would be able to do via a HDMI cable with your sceen projected to the TV and sound.

Having said that, the reason I am stalking this forum is that it is not working with my TV/Computer pairing..

[John-Aldo]

Quinnicus,

·         You say “Google and even YouTube is your friend on this one” … ‘Fraid not!  Having tried Google/Youtube, I turned to this forum in the hope of finding a simpler solution.

·         Thanks for the glossary link.

·         “You can connect your PC/laptop via a HDMI cable to view ITV Player” … I spent a lot on this TV to avoid spaghetti wiring and the installation of extra add-ons … and anyway, the computer and TV are in different rooms.

Perhaps smart TVs aren’t as smart as the publicity would have us believe?

John