Think for a minute about all the video, movies, music and photos you have on your PC or Mac, and imagine what it would be like to watch and listen to it all on your big flat-panel TV with surround-sound. If you have a video game console, you can easily make it happen.

Assuming you have a wireless network at home, you can connect the Playstation 3 and/or Nintendo Wii to that network without plugging anything in because both have built-in Wi-Fi, just like laptops do. Only the Xbox 360 needs a wired connection, unless you go out and buy the wireless adapter to make it Wi-Fi compatible.

Once you've made sure the network knows the console is there, the next step is to get the right software. 

Starting with PC users, there are several options to consider. The first, and most popular, is Orb.com, a free downloadable streaming application that will work with all three consoles and Windows XP and Vista PCs. Orb uses a feature it calls "MyCast" to stream over folders of video, movies, music, photos and even Internet radio stations to your console so that you can see and hear them on a TV. 

Part of its appeal is that it likes all kinds of different file formats, so that you're not left wondering why it'll play that home video of you falling on your ass, and not the episode of Family Guy you just downloaded.

Ditto for programs like tversity.com and x-oom.com. TVersity is also free and can work with all three consoles, but seems to work best with the Playstation 3. If you have a Sony PSP (which has built-in Wi-Fi), you can watch your movies or rock to your tunes using that instead of the console and the TV.

X-OOM ($40 to buy) works with the Wii, and requires that you have the Wii's Web browser. You'll probably have to drop $5 or 500 Wii Points to get it, but once you have it, the process is so easy the content on your computer starts flooding over to the Wii. The only problem is that music in the AAC format, like the ones you bought off iTunes, won't work with X-OOM.

For those who have a Mac, a program called Wii Transfer will do the trick. Pay $19 (plus provincial taxes) and you get the software for life. It will convert video files into a format the Wii understands, which can take up a lot of time if you have a lot of movies and shows. But it's cool to be able to play your music and use your Safari or Firefox bookmarks when surfing the Web on the Wii. Plus, if you're running out of space to save games on your Wii, you can backup saved files to the Mac.

Connect 360 is a great application for you Xbox 360 and Mac owners. For just $20, you get the software and it instantly recognizes your iTunes, iPhoto and Movie folders, along with the 360 connected to your home network. Go to the "Media" blade on the Xbox Live dashboard, and you'll see your Mac with all the files in those folders.

MediaLink is from the same software company and pretty much works exactly the same for the Playstation 3 (it also costs the same). The same folders are recognized and streamed over to the PS3, though you can also watch and listen to your content on your Sony PSP if you have "Remote Play" activated.

A couple things to remember about all this is that you may need to re-encode music or video files so that they play. Files like MP4, AVI and MPEG-2 are usually good bets, while WMV is a sure bet for the Xbox 360.

And if your video looks small on your big flat-panel TV, try dropping the resolution on your console to 720p or 480p, as opposed to 1080i or 1080p.