Requirements to Stream Programming on Your Computer

Streaming multimedia on computer has become the primary way of viewing media for many people regardless of their station. Various service providers’ even manufacturers of different products all over the world advertised products and services that promise to let you stream live TV, movies and original programming on your computer. However, there is a possibility that your computer can’t handle streaming, such as high definition video and audio formats that produces quality sound. Aside from the capabilities of your computer, bandwidth allocation and Internet connection is a must to consider.

Computer Requirements

Modern computers were created with high speculation, so technically,

• Monitor – Plays an important aspect in viewing. Not all computer display support high definition videos. Hence, additional resolution- support is essential if you plan to stream HD properly. For instance, if you want to watch in full 1080p, your monitor needs to support a resolution of 1920×1080 or greater.
• Browser – It is more likely for you to watch streaming media through web browser. There are many companies that provide apps and other software for streaming in which you need to abide with their requirements. But if you stream online in quick speed, it is very important for your browser- like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari as well as Adobe Flash installs, to be of the most up-to-date version.
• Operating system – When it comes to OS, modern ones really counts. If you are using a Windows-based system, you should at the very least use Windows XP SP2, but, it’s good to consider Windows 7 or 8 for it serve better. Then for Mac users, it is ideal to utilize Macintosh OS 10.4 or better. Any current version of Linux can handle streaming.
• Sound – The quality of audio may vary, depending on your headphones or speaker set up. The speaker system should specifically support the surround sound system you might wish to have. And of course, your sound card should be capable of handling the sound adequately. Interestingly, modern computers nowadays already come equipped with good onboard sound.
• Codecs – Your codec packs should invariably play or support most of video formats. Many stand-alone streaming apps and sites provide these codecs, free of charge. If in case you cannot view certain video feeds, there are many other free codec packs you can certainly try.

Internet Requirements

Your Internet capabilities are much more important than your physical computer hardware for streaming. The faster your internet speeds can do will likely to achieve a better streaming. High net speeds will ensure smooth and jitter-free video streaming.

Nowadays, large name Internet service providers deal various software and apps for streaming. Many of them offer minimum broadband speeds that are much higher than the minimum requirements you need for streaming multimedia. Anything from 4 to 9mb/s is definitely enough for you to stream almost anything outside 3-D HD video.

But then again, if you use wireless routers or anything other than a direct connection, your networking equipment should be capable of moving data to your preferred speed.

Putting it Together

To put things up together, the above- mentioned options will absolutely allow you to watch any streaming multimedia from your computer in full resolution and with no latency or stuttering at all.

Other than those listed, there are also cable providers, most news and movie networks offer a streaming service as well as most sports networks, not to mention the many sites that bring you original content.

Of course, in this imperfect world, there are some things that are beyond our control. When you stream video, you are streaming from a server that is located somewhere far with its own specifications. So, even you’re aware of your system capability of streaming the content, there’s the possibility of failed server.