Once again, Windows Phone 7 is flexing it's media muscles. I couldn't help but smile a bit when my WP7 successfully began streaming a popular movie from my Release Candidate version of Windows Home Server 2011.
Setup was not difficult, and outside of building my initial library, it took very little time. The quality is great, and looks just as good if not better than the Netflix client that comes built in to WP7. You access the TVersity service simply opening up a web browser and navigating to the standard TVersity web address ( similar to: 192.168.1.XX::41952 ). Booya TRJ has already has a great tutorial on TVersity, and although it was written for the Android, I referenced it myself before conducting this demonstration.
So if you have the slick WP7 already, then give this a test! You don’t need Windows Home Server 2011, but I’m a Media Server kinda guy so it was definitely my choice. Even if you just have a laptop with some movies on it, then go download the free version of TVersity install that bad boy. If you want some hand-holding, then read our Android TVersity article because the principles are all the same. Yeah, there’s your checklist. Get a WP7, and Download TVersity, those are pretty low barriers to entry.
Something else to consider, is that most people I know have a stack of DVD’s laying around. Now’s also a great time to go ahead and rip some of those movies to your hard drive. Good news is that we covered ripping your own movie collection already! Do a little reading at Booya Gadget, grab your favorite as an initial test, or if you’re already a media Guru, then you can skip that step and just point TVersity to the folder with all your favorite movies.
If you’re slightly wondering if it works with music, that’s a big YES as well. In my experience, Music is typically the easiest to get streaming anyways, but sometimes Movies / Video can give some phones a headache. We do this crap all the time with every device we own so that should reduce the demand on your brain.
My overall setup is Windows Phone 7(T-Mobile), DLink DIR 655 Router, Windows Home Server, and one of the BEST media server software products out there in TVersity. I’ve fallen in love with XVID AVI video formats over the years, so that’s what I focused on in this test. I didn’t test every format in the world, so you’ll need to test “your favorite format” if you tend to convert your videos to other containers. Ouside of the phone, you already have the equipment to test this and give it a test drive with the awesome and free TVersity software. Let us know what you think, or if this helps seal the deal on your WP7 upgrade.
Video Demo Showing Windows Phone 7 Streaming Video/Movies with TVersity on WHS 2011