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Easy How To Stream Video and Music From PC To Android

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Damian Parsons

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Today we will take a look at one of the ways to stream video and audio over WiFi to your Android China phone from your PC or Mac computer. This will work for all Android versions including Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Jelly Bean 4.2 4.3 and KitKat 4.4. It will work across all MediaTek / MTK devices and allow you to watch movies on MT6572, MT6582, MT6592, MT6595, MT6589 and MT6572 SoC.

This is a simple and easy setup that will allow you to access all streamable content from your PC, and saves you the trouble of having to copy content over. BS Player is natively capable of playing avi, divx, flv, mkv, mov, mpg, mts, mp4, m4v, rmvb, wmv, 3gp, mp3, flac.

Stage 1 – Prepare your computer and Android mobile to share
  1. Go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change Advanced Sharing Settings.
    • Depending on how your PC is setup, you may not see “Network and Internet”. The bottom line is that from the control panel, you need to access Network and Sharing center, then Advanced Sharing.
    • Alternatively, click Windows Start button > in bottom search box type “advanced sharing” > select “Manage Advanced Sharing Settings”.
  2. You should then see a screen as shown below. Select “Turn on network discovery” and “Turn on file and printer sharing”bs_player-JiaYu-G3-New-ROM-Firmware055
  3. Make note of your user name and password on the PC you’ll be streaming video from. This is the same as what you would normally use to login to your PC.
  4. Connect your PC and Android mobile phone to the same WiFi network
  5. Install BS Player Free from Play on your Android phone

You have now passed the first stage of how to watch videos and movies and listen to music on your Android mobile phone via streaming from your PC. The next step is to setup BS Player.

Stage 2 – login to your PC from BS Player
  1. Open BS Player on your Android phone
  2. In the upper left you will see “Library”. Tap it and select “LAN”bs_player-2014_09_08_21.01.39
  3. Tap “Tap to add server”bs_player-2014_09_08_21.01.55
  4. You will see it begin to scan the WiFi network you are connected to. As soon as the IP of your PC comes up, tap the back button as it doesn’t need to search further once it’s found it.
    • On occasion, it may take more than one try for BS Player to successfully find your PC. If it doesn’t find it, tap “Tap to add server” again. If it doesn’t find it after several tries, there is a manual option as well. Tap in the upper right hand corner where you see 3 dots > select “Add server” and enter your computer’s IP, user name and password. (How to find my computer’s IP?)
    • NOTE: If your PC changes IP in the future, for example if you reset your router or disconnect and reconnect the PC to your router, you will have to go through the scanning process again.

    bs_player-2014_09_08_21.02.12

  5. After the PC has successfully been found by BS Player, tap the network address of the PC you’d like to access and up will pop a box for you to enter your user name and password. After entering this info, tap “Save”.bs_player-2014_09_08_21.04.03
  6. You should now be logged in to your computer through your Android device with BS Player. Navigate to the drive / folder / video you would like to play.bs_player-2014_09_08_21.17.01
  7. One of the awesome features of BS Player is the ability to search for subtitles online. It should automatically search for them once you begin playing the video. If it doesn’t, open the menu via the 3 dots in the upper-right corner, or tap the menu button and select “Subtitles” > “Check for subtitles online”.
    • NOTE: If you have subs already downloaded prior to using Android BS Player, make sure they are in the same directory as the video. If the subs are in a sub-directory underneath the directory the video is in, it won’t find them.

bs_player-2014_09_08_21.23.22

I’ve found this to be one of the easiest and quickest ways to play movies on Android. Once you’ve gone through the process once, it takes just a few seconds to access all of your video and music content on your PC and begin streaming them to your mobile. Of course, there’s more than one way to skin a beaver, and am very interested to hear your comments below on the various methods you use to stream.

Comments

7 responses to “Easy How To Stream Video and Music From PC To Android”

  1. Marcello Avatar
    Marcello

    I like it much better with oshare on the pc and upnplay on the phone.
    And when the TV is attached to a properly configured UPNP/DLNA client (in my case XBMC on raspberry pie) you can use the phone to pick your movie and then display it on the TV, and still pause/seek from the phone.

    Reply
  2. josemanuel Avatar
    josemanuel

    I use bsplayer in my phone since my first android to do just what you explain, easy and straightforward. I think there are already some more video players doing the same thing, but I never tried because bsplayer do its work as good as possible.
    I completely agree with you, the other way round, playing my phone from my pc is not as easy yet, unless you share your phone content through the lan, but this is not as easily done in my experience.

    Reply
  3. JX Avatar
    JX

    The best way, but more involved way is to set up Serviio Media Server on ur PC((free version)(most os’s are supported)). On your china phone or tablet just run MX player(also free). You will need a file browser that can access networks but most of you should have at least ES File Explorer. The beauty of this set up is that it is 100% DLNA and you can stream everything(no format limitations or conversions)including media on NAS, SAN, as well as any web streams be it a webcast or online movie site and by streamers like roku and smart TV’s. Haven’t come across a device yet that would stutter using this set up, and I’ve used maybe over two dozen.

    Reply
  4. Marcello Avatar
    Marcello

    @josemanuel: my setting is simpler and allows to stream phone->tv,pc->phone and pc->tv (using the phone as remote)

    @JX: agreed, I just like oshare better than serviio, but they basically do the same job

    Reply
    1. JX Avatar
      JX

      you’re right Marcello, but oshare isn’t being actively developed or updated and there are format limitation especially with the audio. The setup is less involved but Serviio allows unlimited customization plus plug-ins are developed on a weekly basis. Oshare chokes on my torrent streams and I’m being kind here. But it all really falls down on the end user and the content they need access to. Servvio has an ios/android app to stream directly to any dlna device, but for most that is an overkill since most of our media is stored on a server or online. I see this as too redundant to stream to the phone to stream to tv, not a economical solution. Eliminate the middle man and enjoy all the content without hiccups.

      Reply
  5. mohan17 Avatar
    mohan17

    it can also be done by es explorer and more easy and even can download apk from pc

    Reply
    1. Damian Parsons Avatar
      Damian Parsons

      ES Explorer is excellent for many things. Connecting is the same process as BS Player — select the PC you want to connect to and enter login info.

      For videos though, BS Player is a much better, full-featured video player and adds the excellent option of auto searching and downloading subtitles, as well as watching videos in windowed mode so you can use your phone for other things while you watch.

      Reply

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