Windows Media Connect is a new technology built in to Windows Media Player 11 for sharing media across a home network. Windows Media Connect lets you stream media from your Windows Vista PC to devices such as an Xbox 360, or other Windows Media Connect devices (like a Roku SoundBridge). In fact, there is a whole ecosystem of Windows Media Connect devices that integrate with home theater and stereo systems so that you can access media such as music files from anywhere in the home. Windows Media Player 11 refers to the Windows Media Connect feature as Media Sharing.
Windows Media Connect integrates with Windows Media Player 11 to share your library across your home network. Only media in your Windows Media Player 11 media library is accessible to other Windows Media Connect devices. If you’re worried about how to control access to your media so that you don’t share all of it -- don’t be! Media Sharing in Windows Media Player 11 is very flexible and you can share media by star rating, parental rating, and media type. First you’ll want to check your network security before you configure Media Sharing.
In this article, I’ll take a look at how to access your media from another Windows Vista computer and how to access your media from an Xbox 360 by using the Media Sharing feature in Windows Media Player 11.
When you connect to a new network, Windows Vista asks if the network is a Home, Work, or Public connection. If the connection is a Home or Work connection, Windows Vista assumes it is a private connection, and lets more applications communicate with your computer on the network. With a private connection, Windows assumes that you are not directly connected to the internet -- therefore, it is safe to allow more applications to communicate with your computer.
If the network is public, Windows Vista locks down your computer and increases security on the Windows Firewall so that fewer applications can communicate with your computer. Windows assumes that a public Internet connection is connected directly to the internet.
If your computer is connected to a public network, Media Sharing is disabled. Media Sharing is enabled on a public network. To check and see what type of network you are connected to, click on the arrow under the Library button in Windows Media Player 11, and then click Media Sharing. Windows displays the current status of media sharing at the bottom of the Media Sharing window.
Since Windows Vista automatically adjusts your network security settings based on the type of network that you are connected to, Media Sharing only works if you are connected to a private network. Before you continue, check to see what type of network your Windows Vista PC is currently connected to. If it is not a private network, you’ll need to change the network type.
To determine what type of network you are connected to and change the network type:
1. Click Start, Control Panel, and View Network Status and Tasks under Network and Internet (see Image 1).
2. In the Network and Sharing Center, verify that your network is a private network (see Image 2).
3. To change the network type, click Customize.
4. Select Private.
5. Click Next and Close.
This article was excerpted from How To Do Everything with Windows Media Center, written by Joli Ballew and Justin Harrison for McGraw-Hill Companies and a copyright exists at McGraw-Hill. Permission must be granted by McGraw Hill to reuse or republish this material.