[Eug]

What's the best Mac DLNA server?
What's the best free Mac DLNA server?

I have just purchased a Sony BDP-S370 Blu-ray player and it can stream from a DLNA server. However, I'm not sure which DLNA server to use, to stream files from my iMac. Transcoding support isn't necessary, but would be a bonus.

[cgc]

I transcode my videos and play them back on my USB thumb drive but hear good things about Twonky which is a paid app.

[slugslugslug]

I don’t know how well it works for generic devices, but I’ve had decent luck with Vuze, the free bittorrent client (formerly Azureus). Has transcoding support, but that might only be for known devices if it detects them. Interface isn’t super Mac-like, but not terrible for a cross-platform Java app.

Most other options, free or not, seem to be cross-platform and may also have ugly Java UIs. But the most paid ones seem to have trials, at least. It looks like people like the $40 TwonkyMedia okay, and some free options include PS3MediaStreamer and Serviio .

Eyeconnect from Elgato is Mac only and has a DLNA logo on its product page, but only mentions UPnP, which is apparently older. But I think I’ve seen mention of it as a DLNA server, so maybe it would work. NullRiver makes Connect360 and MediaLink, which are separate XBox 360 and PS3 servers. They may use DLNA underneath, but I wouldn’t count on them working with any old device, given that they have 2 separate server apps. Rivet is Mac-native and supposed to be good, but while they’re planning full DLNA compliance, they also say the timeframe is “very long”, so presumably right now it will only stream to PS3/XB360/iOS devices, though I suppose you could see what happens with the trial version.

If you find something that works well, please post back. I found this thread while looking around for solutions because I’m thinking about getting the same Blu-ray player.

[Chongo]

I use EyeConnect and Vuze with my PS3 and HR20-700 (DirecTV HD-DVR) Vuze manually transcodes files. I have used it to transcode file for the DVR, although I mainly use the PS3( with EyeConnect)since it is full DLNA complainant and supports more video formats than the DVR does (mpeg2 and .vob only)

[Eug]

Yeah, I've just been using a thumb drive. I bought a 16 GB Patriot Xporter XT Rage quad-channel drive and it helps for file transfer speeds on the Mac.

I installed Eyeconnect and the Sony BD player does see it but when I access the directories it doesn't seem to work. It says the directories has no playable files. I couldn't get Vuze to work either. Again, it can see Vuze but no playable files.

I'll have to try the others.

[slugslugslug]

I think I read somewhere that the player is annoyingly picky about file extensions, something like DivX .avis need to be renamed to .mp4 or .mov. Have you tried on files that are transcoded and/or appropriately renamed?

[Eug]

These file extensions all work via the thumbdrive:

.avi - DivX 6 + MP3 audio
.m4v - JVT/AVC H.264 + AAC audio
.mp4 - H.264 + AAC audio
.vob - Colour me surprised
.mkv - AVC H.264 + AAC audio

It seems the Sony BDP-S370 is not so picky, at least when using the USB drive. I'm using the latest standard Sony firmware, M03.R.694. I believe it was released this month.

[Eug]

I tried an old MS Silverlight demo trailer from 2007 and it works fine: .wmv with VC-1 and WMA9 audio

The two Animusic HD Quicktime trailers from Apple's site did not work: .mov with AVC H.264 and AAC.
However, they worked when I changed the file extension to either .m4v or .mp4.

[slugslugslug]

Is that latter post via thumb drive, or DLNA? Given that various codecs seem to work via thumb drive, I’ll probably just get this player regardless of your luck with servers. My house is tiny enough that a bit of sneakernet won’t kill us.

But I hope this thread stays alive since DLNA seems like it still might be useful for us folks who are passing on Apple TV for whatever reason. So to remain on-topic, there’s another option I hadn’t heard of when I posted earlier: Yazsoft | Playback

Haven’t heard much about it, though the screenshots make it look nice and intuitive. The site doesn’t make it obvious if there’s a trial/demo mode, and I’m at work on Windows right now, so I can’t check.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by slugslugslug 

Is that latter post via thumb drive, or DLNA?

USB flash drive.

Given that various codecs seem to work via thumb drive, I’ll probably just get this player regardless of your luck with servers.

Yeah, I'm told the LG BD570C Blu-ray player works better than the Sony with the network servers, but that player itself otherwise is a total piece of junk. I had it for all of one day before I returned it. I had problems with even just basic Blu-ray playback. The software for the player is unstable. I managed to kill all audio on a title simply by cycling through the audio. I had to reboot to get the audio back. The Sony is very solid for Blu-ray playback, as it should be, considering these are primarily BR players after all.

[cgc]

I finally got around to connecting my Samsung 52A750 DLNA TV to my network and have had nothing but problems streaming movies to it. I can see my movie folder from the TV but all the movies are "unsupported format" which is the problem I have when I use the USB stick. I tried Samsung's own software via VMWare, Twonky, TVersity, MediaStream, Nero MediaHome (or something like that), Vuze, and a few others with no success. Most can see my TV and my TV can see the movie folder but the transcoding doesn't take place. Twonky seems to be the closest to working but my Transcoding settings are grayed...even though I installed ffmpeg (via MacPorts) and edited the ffmpeg.location and coder.location paths.

Ironic I suggested Twonky earlier and then i can't get it to work...at least I'm getting plenty of excercise running up and down the stairs from computer to TV to check things

Thanks.

[sashen]

I have a BDP-S370 as well ... and discovered the following:

a) Sony says any USB drive has to be FAT32 formatted or it won't be recognized
b) I used A Free DLNA Media Server For Mac, Windows, and Linux -- a free DLNA server app -- and have the same problem where my DVD player can see all the folders I'm sharing, but I haven't been able to find one video file format that it recognizes.

[Eug]

Yes, FAT32 is required for the Sony, which is a problem if you have files over 4 GB.

Other brands of players can support NTFS formatted USB drives (and thus files over 4 GB), but since we're on Macs, that's not really a solution for us.

[ade_nn]

I have a Panasonic TV that is supposedly DNLA but hardly plays anything natively. I've tried a lot of media servers and the 2 that work the best for me are PS3 Media Server and Isedora Media Server. They are both not perfect, with PS3 being fiddly and un-Mac like, but they seem to transcode more than the others

[Eug]

Originally Posted by ade_nn 

I have a Panasonic TV that is supposedly DNLA but hardly plays anything natively. I've tried a lot of media servers and the 2 that work the best for me are PS3 Media Server and Isedora Media Server. They are both not perfect, with PS3 being fiddly and un-Mac like, but they seem to transcode more than the others

Isn't PS3 media server specifically for the PS3?

iSedora seems interesting, albeit expensive at $25. However, I did seem this comment on their site: "I have a Sony BD S370 and iSedora is the first and only DLNA server that works with this player in OS X! Worth the money." Oh wait... It's on sale right now for $17. Hmm....

I have Connect360 running for my Xbox 360.

[ghporter]

I wound up using Samsung's app under Boot Camp to stream some video on my Samsung LED TV. It would be great to find a DLNA server that runs properly on OS X.

Mac Rumors discussions from back in 2009 indicated a couple of interesting issues that may help, Eug. It seems that wired connections work well with a number of servers while wireless connections appear to work, but consistently give "unrecognized file format" errors. Does that sound like the problem you're running into?

[Eug]

My network is 100% wired for all the fixed stuff like Bluray players. (Gigabit backbone in fact, with minimum 100BaseT for all multimedia devices.)

I haven't tried iSedora (yet) though.

[mantaray]

I use Twonky Media Server with my Panasonic Viera HDTVS, a Panasonic wireless LAN adapter, and a MacBook using OS X 10.4. It works very well: I am able to stream movies, listen to my iTunes library, and view photos. It appears that the other DLNA media servers available all require at Least OS X 10.5.

[ADent1]

I tried iSedora and that works pretty darn well. Except I have two BluRay players, so that would be $69.

PS3 Media server barely works. I am sure if I applied a patch or tweaked it - it would work better.

Serviio works pretty well. A little jumpy after fast forwarding on my Sony S570, but good.

Twonky - works out of the box if all your files are supported. Transcoding is there, but not out of the box. Not sure how to enable, so of the 300 video files only 1 works.

[pauljohngriffin]

I've actually had great success with PS Media Server (1.50.0) and SONY AV devices.
Its freeware and streams wirelessly to both my SONY products; a Bluray home theater system and Bravia TV, with no problems.
For the price, its certainly worth a try.