[ubuntu-uk] DLNA Server and media recommendations

Rob Beard rob at esdelle.co.uk
Mon Jun 14 11:18:24 BST 2010


On 14/06/10 09:34, Alan Lord (News) wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I just got a new telly - A Samsung LC40C650 that, amongst other things,
> has a DLNA client :-)
>

<snip>


> So, Being a complete N00b in this arena I'm after some experienced
> people's advice.
>
> Stuff like:
>
> * What server app do you use and why?

I use PS3 Media Server.  I first tried it with Windows on my XBOX 360 
and surprisingly enough it worked well.  Now I have a PS3 I tend to use 
it for that.  It's possibly not the most efficient application out there 
but it tends to work okay, and it can transcode media on the fly when 
needed.

> * Best way to organise and catalogue stuff?

I tend to have my videos in different folders organised by title.  I 
have a separate folder for SD video and one for HD video, in there I 
have folders for TV shows that I watch and movies.

I also have a separate folder for music, photos etc.

I then tell PS3 Media Server to search these locations recursively.

It does mean that I can see the music folders when I select videos but 
I'm happy enough with that as the folders are clearly labelled.  It's 
also smart enough to scan the video files and create thumbnails so I can 
work out what is what.  I believe it can also get album art from 
Amazon.com for the music files.

Of course YMMV depending on the interface on the TV.  I know on the XBOX 
360 it is displayed differently to the PS3, IIRC it doesn't show 
thumbnails or album art on the XBOX 360.

There probably other neater ways of doing it which I haven't looked into.

> * Transcoding advice?

Well for H264 video with AC3/DTS/AAC/MP3 audio streams I transcode this 
on the fly.

This just requires tsmuxer which takes the stream out of the MKV 
container and re-packages it in a VOB which is then streamed to the PS3.

For AVI/MPG videos I believe it either streams them directly if they're 
the correct codec or uses mencoder to transcode into a format the PS3 
understands.

I've found that generally transcoding (either re-encoding or just 
changing the container of the media) works fine on my P4 3GHz server 
which also runs other things.  I haven't tried it on anything older or 
slower but I dare say it would probably run okay on an Atom PC or a low 
spec low power Celeron/Athlon.

Looking at the PS3 Media Server folder I have on my laptop (which I was 
using before putting it all on my server), it appears it has different 
configuration files for different devices such as the PS3, XBOX 360, 
XBMC, Popcorn Hour, Sony Bravia TVs etc.  So even if a config file isn't 
available for your TV, it might be possible to either modify an existing 
file, create one from scratch or download one from the PS3 Media Server 
site.

> Good linkies to educational materials.

For PS3 Media Server I'd suggest the official site and forums...

http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/
http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/

Also someone else has posted on the PS3 Media Server forums about 
another Samsung TV, might possibly help you out with your TV...

http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2806

Hope this helps.  I'd be interested to know how you get on.  Although 
we're not in the market for a new TV yet (we already have a 720p 32" 
LCD) in the future no doubt our next TV will have some sort of DLNA 
compatibility.

Rob



More information about the ubuntu-uk mailing list