Streaming Media Players: An Overview By Rincy Jacob Linda Bui

What Is Streaming Media Player? A streaming media player is what connects your television or home theater to the Internet and allows you to stream video and music from online services. They're typically very basic devices with only a few connections, such as video (HDMI and/or composite), audio (RCA and/or digital), and Ethernet networking jacks.

Cable/Satellite Providers vs. Streaming Media Player Can be accessed over the Internet, so you can watch them as soon as you want. At first, this was only possible on devices that had Internet connections built-in like computers, tablets, and smartphones. Takes the signal from the Internet and pass it to your TV using different types of connectors (A/V, component, HDMI, etc.) Amazon Fire TV, Roku 3, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku Streaming Stick, Netgear NeoTV NTV300, WD TV Live The signal comes into your house via a cable that usually gets attached to a digital box and that gets connected to your TV. A regular box just lets you watch the programs; a DVR lets you record them as well. The biggest problem with that model is that you were limited to the content that the cable/satellite providers made available Comcast, Time Warner, Direct TV, Verizon FIOS, etc

Getting Rid of Cable/Satellite Service What you want to watch? Streaming media players do not provide most local or live programming. No local morning news show, national program like The Today Show, you may be able to see some of their segments through your streaming media device, but not the entire program. For satellite cable users, stormy weather often calls for watching a DVD because of poor signal reception. On the other hand, streaming services can't stream when the Wi-Fi router loses power.

Different Kinds Of Devices Offers Different Things The devices that you attach to your TV don’t own the content that they’re sharing The various device manufacturers have to negotiate with the various providers for rights to stream their media and the different devices support different providers. Each device supports hundreds of other providers, but not all the same ones. There are lots of combinations and permutations that affect what you can and can’t see with each player.

Other Types of Devices There are other types of devices whose primary function isn’t to stream media but that do include those capabilities as well, like gaming consoles, set-top boxes, and home theater systems. Also, a lot of the latest generation of smart TVs are now Internet- enabled, so they can access streaming media directly without the need for a third-party device. There are also two wireless technologies known as mirroring (which is basically your TV being a larger version of your computer/tablet/phone) and screencasting, which lets you send specific video or other content to your TV from your device but lets you use other functions of your device at the same time.