I have a lot of music, videos, and pictures on my personal computer, but sometimes I am not at my desk and I still want to view my media content. Fortunately, I have an Android phone and with Skifta I can easily stream these files to my phone through a WiFi network.

Register for a Skifta Account

Registering for a Skifta account is free and allows you to use the advanced features of the app.

Install Skifta on your PC

Step One: After registering and before you can stream media from your PC to your Android device you will first have to download and install the Skifta database application (get Skifta for other devices) to your PC.

Step Two: Once the app is installed you will have to wait some time for the app to configure.

The Skifta application will now run in the background and you no longer have to worry about it. If you wish to remove Skifta, remember to uninstall the Skifta background app.

Step Three: Launch Windows Media Player to configure your network settings.

Step Four: Click on “Stream” and “Allow remote control of my Player…”. This ensures that Skifta on your Android device can read the data on your computer through Windows Media Player.

Step Five: Next click on “Stream” and “More streaming options…”. Here you can enable which devices are allowed to access your network. Ensure that you have allowed your Android device access to your “Homegroup”.

Your media will now be configured for streaming.

Install Skifta On Your Phone

Step One: After configuring your PC, install the Skifta Android app on your device.

Step Two: Ensure you are connected to a WiFi network (the app only works over WiFi)

Step Three: Launch the Skifta app on your Android device.

Step Four: Once the app launches, wait for the app to update.

Stream Media From Your PC To Your Android Device

After installing Skifta on your computer and your Android device, you can start streaming media.

Step One: On the main page of the Android Skifta app you will have to select a media source. Skifta allows you to stream content from your PC, other devices connected to your local network and even “channels” on the internet such as your Facebook Photos and podcasts like Revision3.

Step Two: Next you have to select the device you want the selected media to be viewed on. If you want to simply stream content to your Android device, then simply select your device.

Step Five: Now you will be able to start browsing and playing the media on your PC (or whichever other channel or device you selected earlier).

Step Six: Select the media type you wish to stream to your Android device. The media that is in your Windows Media Player library should appear in this list. Be warned if the list of media you are trying to load is quite large (for example a large number of videos) you may have to wait some time.

Step Seven: Finally, select a video to play it on your Android device.

That’s it! Provided the file you are trying to play uses a compatible Android media format it should play without a problem.

Conclusion

Skifta is one of the easiest streaming apps I have come across. As long as you follow the setup as described in this article you should have no problems streaming videos, music, and even photos. Having said that, unlike competing products Skifta does not convert the video on the fly. So, you have to first ensure that the video you are trying to stream is in a compatible format. This can be problematic, however it is not a deal breaker.

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Here we have gathered a list of media players that can play (almost) every other formats.

1. VLC Media Player

VLC is one player that need little or no introduction. If there is any media files that you can’t play, the first thing you must think of is VLC. From media formats like MP3, AC3, MPEG-3 to MPEG-4, H.264, DivX etc, VLC supports them all. It can also be used to convert media files from one format to another, and improve the compression ratio. It can act as a streaming server and you can see online videos using IPv4 (mostly used) or IPv6 protocol.

VLC is free to download/use and exists for almost every platforms, including the iPad and iPhone.

Supported OS: Almost all Operating Systems.

2. Media Player Classic

Media Player Classic is exclusively meant for Windows. Though it looks similar to Media Player v6.4, it has many additional features. It can even be used to implement a Home Theatre. Removal of tearing in video is another feature. It also supports EVR (Enhanced Video Renderer). Creation of minidump when MPC HC crashes, shuttle PN31 remote control support, multi-monitor configuration, pixel shader to convert BT601 – BT701, YV12 Chroma Up sampling pixel shader are some other features. Some of the supported audio and video formats are WAV, WMA, OGG, AU, AIF, AIFC, MOV, SND, AIFF, MIDI, MPEG, MPG, MP2, AC3, DTS, ASX, MP3, M3U, PLS, ASF, WM, WMA, WMV, AVI, CDA, JPEG, JPG, GIF, WAX, PNG, BMP, D2V, VOB, MP4, SWF, QT, FLV.

Supported OS: Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7

3. Moovida

Moovida is more than just a simple media player. It is a feature rich software that allows you to organize your digital media in a slick way. It offers enriched media library with which you can import media from local folders, network devices or even from the internet. The Videos Galore feature supports a wide variety of formats including DivX, avi, wmv, mkv, asf, flv, mov, h264 and ogg, Moovida is available in over 20 languages. Moovida Immersed is a new feature which will support remote control navigation on your HDTV. 

Supported OS: Windows and Linux

4. GOM Player

This player supports almost all CODECs and hence offers support for varied formats. In case you require an extra CODEC, GOM player will automatically direct you to the place where you can get one. It can play AVI files with broken index. It has a strong sub-title support with the major formats being SMI, SRT, RT, SUB (with IDX). You can create and work with your own playlists. It supports playlists similar to M3U, PLS and ASX. Screen Capture feature is also allowed and supports advanced features like customizing color, contrast and brightness. Some of the supported formats are gom, dat, avi, divx, k3g, asf, wm, wmx, wmp, wmv, wvx, ogm, mpeg, mpg, mpe, m1v, m2v, vob, mp4, 3gp, lmp4, skm, dmskm, mkv and ifo.

Supported OS : Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/NT

5. SMplayer

MPlayer is best known in Linux world, used as the backend for various media player. SMPlayer is the implementation of Mplayer in Windows. It comes with a simple GUI that allows you to control the functionality of MPlayer. One of the most interesting features of SMPlayer – it remembers the settings of all files you play. If you leave your movie half way, the next time you resume, it will restore to the same point you left it, and with the same settings: audio track, subtitles, volume…

Supported OS: Windows

6. KM Player

It lets you play almost everything easily. It can easily be customized. You can adjust the visualizations, add plug-ins and change its playback options. It supports a wide range of audio/video formats so that once installed, you won’t have to go for another player. KMPlayer has a small desktop footprint. It also sports a minimalist interface that makes video playback quick and hassle-free. Some of the supported formats are VCD, DVD, Ogg, MPEG-1/2/4,  AVI, MKV,  3GP, OGM, WMV, Real Media and QuickTime .

Supported OS : Win2000/XP/2003/Vista/7

8. K-Lite Codec Pack

If all you want is the ability to play various media formats and not to install a new media player, then K-Lite Codec Pack is the one software that you are looking for.

The K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs files required to play all the popular audio and video formats, and even several less common formats. It integrates itself to the Windows Media Player so you can play (almost) any files with WMP.

It is always a good thing to be pampered with choices. Even when the Windows Media Player doesn’t recognize the file format, it doesn’t have to be the end of World for you. The above list of media player + codecs should get you on with your life. What other method do you use to play that file that is not recognized by your media player?

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There is a powerful little plug-in that you can download for Windows Media Player that will show you the lyrics of the song as it plays.  Now don’t get too excited, this has been done before, but not with the incredible simplicity of Lyrics Plugin.

The simplicity of the name alone creates the ultimate summary for this add-on.  The completely free Lyrics Plugin holds a stamp of approval with a 4.5 star rating and over 150,000 downloads.

Installation

The installation for this plug-in is, as expected, incredibly easy.  Start by visiting the wmplugins.com download site and clicking the lyricsplugin.exe link.  Once downloaded, run the installation and follow the onscreen prompts.  I chose the default configuration.

Once complete, Lyrics Plugin will prompt you to determine if you want to start Windows Media Player.  You probably want to click Yes since you probably want to try the plugin you just installed.  :)

Usage

After Windows Media Player finishes loading, select a song from your library.  You might need to click on the Now Playing tab to see the lyrics.  I tried over a dozen songs and the lyrics for all of them were found.  If you happen to find a song that the lyrics can’t be found for, Lyrics Plugin will offer you a Google link to help you with finding the lyrics online.

Here are two samples that I used.  If you are wondering why they are blurred, it’s because I don’t have permission from the artists to reproduce their work.  I think you can tell from the images though that the content is there.

Try it for yourself, you won’t be disappointed.  Do you have any recommendations for lyrics plug-ins for other media players?  Let us know in the comments!

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