Streaming media over wifi between xp and 98 options??

[yoda313]

I was wondering if there is viable software to stream media between pcs on a wifi G system. One is an old pentium 2 laptop with a wifi g card in it. The other is my celeron 2.66ghz emachine with a dlink 524 wifi G router.

What I'd like to do is to stream video and audio from my desktop to my laptop via the wifi connection.

FREEWARE is preffered but I might consider payware if its under $50 and works on win98.

I'd like to at least stream mp3s to the laptop. I do have dvd players downstairs that can play mp3 cdrs so I can do that but I'd like to just stream it off my desktop rather than burning discs. And I'd like to be able to playback shows I've just recorded off my harddrive to my laptop without authoring a dvd.

Are there viable means of doing this via software?? How do I setup the ips on both pcs?

And on a side note, is there freeware that can let me view whats going on both pcs at the same time via the wifi connection??? Thanks in advance.

PS - yes I have looked through the tools list for streaming software. U-broadcast looks interesting but I don't know how to configure the port so I can use windows media player on the laptop to find my routers ip. Also u-broadcast seems to be video only - not music files. Keep in mind I also need software that will run on 98. Thanks. (also I tried videolan but it won't run on 98 apparently)


EDIT

I've tried Windows Media Encoder. After a few false starts I finally got it working. I have it encode off my tv card on my desktop and then play it off the url on the laptop via windows media player. Pretty sweet!! I haven't got the audio worked out yet but the video looks pretty good. Can this simply play files off the computer and then stream??

EDIT 2

I found out how to do just a mp3 file. I started up the windows media player and played some songs. Then I configured windows media encoder to broadcast live with just the audio and set it to what u hear. That way it broadcast exactly what the windows media player was playing. Awesome!

[redwudz]

I access my video server computer over a LAN. It was easy to set up with XP and the Networking Wizard. Not so sure about W98, it's been a while since I did any networking with that OS. I don't really stream the media, just play the files using player software on my HTPC in the front room. This worked fine with a 100mb/s LAN, but I switched to a gigabit LAN to speed up the transfers of the files to the server. Since my laptop is plugged into the LAN it can play the files also.

One reason I like this setup is I can use any program on the HTPC to play the files. Then I don't need any remote control of the server PC. I'm mostly just using the hard drive on the server, it doesn't have any player programs installed. I use VLC on the HTPC most of the time, sometimes Zoom player. For audio I use WMP at times. I also use a small freeware program that turns on the server computer remotely from the HTPC or my laptop.

But you might look into the XP Network Wizard and see if it will help you set your systems up.