StreamToMe Support: Getting started
This page will take you through all the steps required to play music and videos in StreamToMe and give you a quick demonstration of all its features.
Installing ServeToMe
StreamToMe does not play music or video off your device (iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch). Everything that StreamToMe plays must be sent over the network from a Mac or PC running ServeToMe.
The first step involved in playing music or video is to download and install ServeToMe (a free program for all StreamToMe users).
To install ServeToMe on Windows, double click the Setup "exe" file and follow the instructions. By default, ServeToMe will launch when the installation is complete.
To install ServeToMe on the Mac, double click the "dmg" file and drag the ServeToMe icon onto the Applications icon. Open the Applications folder and double click the ServeToMe icon inside it to launch ServeToMe.
The ServeToMe window will appear.
The ServeToMe window on the Mac.
Updating font cache, please wait...
The first time you launch ServeToMe, it may show the message "Updating font cache, please wait..." in the window under "Server status" instead of the "Running" status.
This process may take between 20 seconds and a couple minutes depending on the fonts on your system. The server will start running automatically after this cache generation is finished.
This font cache update is a requirement of the subtitling and track labelling system that ServeToMe uses but fortunately it only needs to run the first time you start ServeToMe.
ServeToMe Features
The following image shows the important features and controls in the ServeToMe window.
Additionally: the "Running on port 9969" text can be clicked to start and stop the server. The video quality popup menu sets the maximum output resolution for transcoding — slower computers should set this limit lower as transcoding high resolutions requires a fast computer.
Finding ServeToMe when it's running
When the ServeToMe window is closed on the Mac, or minimized on Windows, it will continue to run but will not be visible in the Dock or as a window in the Taskbar.
To see if ServeToMe is running on the Mac, look for its icon (a play button with waves radiating outwards) on the right-hand side of the menubar (Mac):
On the Mac simply click on this icon to bring up the ServeToMe menu and show the window again or quit ServeToMe.
On Windows, look in the Notification Area (aka System Tray) at the right-hand side of the Taskbar. If you do not display all notifications, the icon may be hidden in the popup menu:
The ServeToMe icon on Windows is the blue triangle in the orange circle. Click this icon once to show the ServeToMe window or right click on it to show the ServeToMe menu.
Make sure ServeToMe is running without problems
Once you've located ServeToMe, you can check that it is running without any problems by looking at the button underneath the "Server status" label. This button's text will show "Running on port 9969" in the ServeToMe window (see the screenshot in the Installing ServeToMe section for an example of how this should look) when the server is running correctly.
Setting up shared folders
The first time you start ServeToMe on your computer, it will contain a list of default shared folders (it will try to find the default music, video and iTunes folders on your computer).
These folders may not be the ones you want to share or your video may be stored at a different location.
Press the "+" button in the middle of the window to add a folder containing music or video that you would like to play. Select any path in the list of Shared Folders and press the "-" button to remove a shared folder.
If you have a number of different folders containing media you would like to access, you can add them all.
Connect to your Mac or PC from your device
Once ServeToMe is running on your Mac or PC and you have added at least one shared folder, it is time to connect.
Launch StreamToMe on your device.
The "Edit" button here will let you add a server using the server's manual address but for your first launch, it is easiest if you connect to your computer using an automatically discovered address. This will happen if your computer and iOS device are on the same local WiFi network (and if you're running ServeToMe on Windows you should alos have Bonjour Print Services for Windows installed).
Once your computer's name appears, just tap the name of your computer and it will show you the list of shared folders you added to ServeToMe. Tap on any of these folders to see their content.
If your computer's name does not appear or you can't connect, please read the Connection problems on a local network support page.
Any music or movie file in any of your shared folders will appear as you browse through your shared folders. To play any item, just tap it and the stream will load and start playing.
StreamToMe controls
The following StreamToMe screenshot explains the function of the different buttons and controls in StreamToMe.
Every playable item will have a small blue button on the right-hand side of the row. If you tap this button, the settings for the track will be displayed.
From this screen, you can apply an extra adjustment to the audio (this is in addition to the normal audio controls on your device which will also work).
You can also set the audio track and subtitle settings for playback and disable album artwork for music tracks.
Finally, at the bottom of the "Track Settings" screen is a "Global Settings" button. Use this button to make any setting the default so they will be applied to all files.
Learn more about StreamToMe and ServeToMe
For information about how to use additional features or how to change less common features in ServeToMe, please look at the Tips, tricks, hidden features and hidden settings page.
If you're having difficulty connecting from StreamToMe to your computer when you're on a local WiFi network, please look through the information on the Connection problems on a local network page.
If you're having difficulty connecting from StreamToMe to your computer when you're on a 3G network or a WiFi network at a different location to your computer, please look through the information on the Connection problems from a non-local (internet) or 3G network page.
Other support topics
If you have a query that isn't covered by these topics please, email: