As the way we store movies, music, TV shows, etc. grows increasingly sophisticated, we’ve managed to multiply the ways in which we can get frustrated with or lose track of our media. If you want to stream an album stored on your phone through your laptop or PS3, you can drive yourself nuts trying to figure out how to get your gadgets to work together.
Fortunately, there’s a simple feature on your routers that will allow you to sync up your home devices and create an easily accessible library of media. This solution is called UPnP.
What Is UPnP?
UPnP stands for Universal Plug and Play, a feature that allows you to share media stored on different devices all over your network. UPnP-friendly devices include Xbox One, PS4, and even some DVD players, Blu-Ray players and SmartTVs.
So if there’s something on your home computer that you’d like to see on your big screen TV, all you need to do is enable UPnP on your home network (which we will discuss in the section below). No need to re-download files. Just stream them on the UPnP-friendly device of your choice.
How Do I Use UPnP With DD-WRT?
Now that you know what UPnP is, you’re probably wondering how you go about enabling it…
If you’re one of the fortunate people with a powerful router upgraded with the endlessly versatile firmware known as DD-WRT, then the process of turning on your UPnP is remarkably simple.
First, you need to start by logging in to your router on your browser (the default LAN IP address of a DD-WRT router is 192.168.1.1). You should see a screen like the one above.
Click on the NAT/QoS tab. Once you’ve done that, click on the UPnP tab right below. Then you’ve just got to click “Enable” next to the UPnP service line.
And that’s it! Your home network and the devices using it are now UPnP-enabled. Start streaming YouTube videos on your big screen TV and iTunes through your home theater system!
Best FlashRouters for UPnP
Looking for a DD-WRT router? FlashRouters offers a great variety of routers specifically flashed with DD-WRT. Take a look at some of our fan favorites!
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