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About media streamers

Our Broadband Expert says...

While you’re right that you can connect your TV to your laptop or desktop using cables, you can also use a media streamer to connect everything up wirelessly.

How media streamers work

Media streamers connect to the internet to download files or record programmes, and then sends them all to your TV to watch in HD.

You should bear in mind though, that if you're streaming content direct from the internet to your TV, the quality of your connection will depend on your broadband speed - and you could lose even more quality if you're connecting wirelessly.

This can especially affect the quality of HD streaming, which can jar and become delayed if your broadband connection is too slow.

You can judge what the quality will be like simply by streaming content on your computer. If you have problems doing this, a media streamer on a wireless connection is probably not a good idea.

Media streamer features

As well as widely varying price tags - from less than £100 to £500 and more - different media streamers offer a range of different features to suit different users’ needs.

Your choice of connections will depend on the model you buy; some media streamers offer just wired connections - HDMI, ethernet, USB and composite to name a few - while others offer wireless broadband streaming direct to your TV.

Certain models also have memory card slots and USB ports that allow you to play music and video content on your TV from a memory stick or card, and some also offer built-in hard drives so that you can store content on them too.

Some media streamers will even act as a bit torrent client, downloading web files - legal ones, of course - while you're out and about, and other models feature built-in digital TV tuners, so can act as a set-top box too.

File compatibility

As well as how your media streamer connects to your TV, you also need to think about the kind of files that it will play - you don’t want to have to sit around converting files so that you can watch them on your TV.

Think about the kind of files you will be downloading. Some players let you watch a wide array of file types, from WAV, Flac and AAC music files to AVI, DivX and MKV video formats, while others offer a more limited choice.

Wireless media streamers

If you're definitely after a wireless media streamer, some of the best include the Compro Videomate T1000 at £200, the Emtec P800 HDD Movie Cube at £280 and the Wyplay Wyplayer at a more costly £340.

However, you should look at the specifics of each model to decide if it’s right for you - some are better at streaming HD content while others play more file types.

Media streaming TVs

A new generation of multi-media TVs even offer built-in media streaming capabilities, connecting to your home broadband network to take video, music and pictures from your computer and play them seamlessly on your TV.

However, these TVs are still very costly - with price tags nearing £2,000 - making external media streamers a far more economical option.

Broadband for HD streaming

If you're determined to stream high definition content to your TV wirelessly, then you'll need a broadband package that can handle your demands.

Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com) currently offers superfast broadband at speeds of up to 50Mb, though its 20Mb cable broadband package would also be fine.

If you don’t live in a cable broadband area, or want to stick with a copper wire ADSL connection, then Be Broadband (www.BeThere.co.uk) and O2 Broadband (www.O2.co.uk) are both great options, offering fast, reliable connections of up to 24Mb and 20Mb respectively. Both ISPs also have very generous fair usage policies that are perfect for heavy downloaders.

NB Best buy tables (orange background) are always current.

Examples in the text of the article (white background) are correct at time of publication.

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If you have a general switching or provider query please email us at OurExpert@broadbandchoices.co.uk

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