Another huge article was posted today on the Engineering Windows 7 blog detailing media streaming in Windows 7. Media streaming refers to using a computer running Windows 7 as a hub for sharing media to other computer systems and devices over a home network or the Internet.

The article is divided into three parts. The first can be seen as an introduction. It outlines the configuration of media streaming in Windows 7. One interesting aspect here is that it has been integrated into the Homegroup feature which basically means that media streaming is enabled by default for most network configurations. Windows Media Player for instance comes with three options that deal with streaming media:

• Set up your home PC so you can access your media libraries while away from home
• Allow other Windows 7 PCs and devices to push media to your Player and control it
• Quickly authorize all home PCs and devices to access your media collection

HomeGroup introduces the concept of “shared libraries” for music, pictures, and video. As described in a previous blog post, these shared libraries are accessible from within the navigation pane of Windows Explorer and Windows Media Player, and from the “shared” view of each media category within Windows Media Center (see figures below).

The second part is about security, specifically access to shared libraries. Options are provided to select the type of media that the user wants to share as well as to allow access to all devices in a Homegroup or only selected ones.

The third and final part details how to use Windows 7 as a Universal Remote Control for a media collection.

In addition to playing media streamed from other shared media libraries within Windows Media Player, Windows 7 can now send media to be played on other Windows 7 PCs and DLNA-certified digital media renderers. We call this feature “Play To.” With “Play To,” you can browse or search from within Windows Media Player or Windows Explorer to find your desired media, and then choose where you want it to be played. A versatile remote control window is presented for each “Play To” session, providing you with the ability to control the entire experience.

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