[Wolves] minidlna streaming to new Sony TV on ethernet

[Adam Sweet]

On 24/04/2014 11:30, John Rose wrote:
> Adam,
>
> I'm contacting you directly as the domain for the LUG is not found when
> I try to post to the mailing list.

I believe the DNS for lug.org.uk had some problems last night. I'm CCing 
the list in, perhaps the mail archive will help someone in future.

> I can now run minidlna from Precise: I had to create a minidlna
> directory in /var/cache & change ownership to minidlna. I have my TV
> connected to my router using a fixed NAT ip address.  I'm able to view
> (on the TV) that it is connected to the router.

I'm not sure what that last line means. You're able to view what?

> However, I'm baffled how
> to play a video (.flv downloaded from iPlayer using my Gambas iRecorder
> GUI app which calls get_iplayer command line app). Do I have to do
> something in minidlna (e.g. specify the TV's ip address in minidlna)
> even though I've successfully started the minidlna server? Or is it
> something that I have to do on the TV? I've googled without success: a
> Sony webpage merely says that a connection is required to a dlna media
> server without saying what to do.

DLNA is really that simple. That was the hard thing for me to fathom 
when I couldn't get it working, it's too simple for it to be not working.

There are two parts to working UPnP/DLNA. The source (your DLNA server) 
and the target or renderer (your TV). The source is pretty dumb, it just 
keeps track of your media files and serves them when requested.

The target either needs a means to browse for UPnP servers, or it needs 
an intermediate device which will locate the source and then direct 
media from the source to the renderer.

Have you tested watching a video using VLC from inside your network to 
prove minidlna is working and serving media? The problem I had on 
Precise was that minidlna would start but not serve any media, even 
after I created that directory and changed ownership. It would just hang 
on importing metadata. I left it for 12 hours to be sure... If you can't 
then minidlna isn't working.

Have you looked for errors in /var/log/minidlna.log?

Does your TV have a UPnP/DLNA browser or do you need to use an 
intermediate device to direct the media at it?

If you need an intermediate device, have you tested using an Android 
DLNA app like BubbleUPnP or MediaHouse UPnP? It should detect any 
sources and targets on your network.

If you can play videos using VLC over UPnP and your TV can see the DLNA 
source but just can't play the video then it's likely that your TV 
doesn't support the codec. Check the codec in VLC and then see if your 
TV supports it.

Regards,

Adam Sweet

-- 

http://blog.adamsweet.org/