Best UPnP DLNA Streaming app for iOS?

Hi,

I bought my WD My Cloud 4TB for a month ago and think it’s great!

I’m now trying to find the “best” UPnP DLNA Streaming app for iPhone and IPad. 

I have tried PlayerXtreme, MediaConnect and ArkMC Lite and they all seem to have advantages and disadvantages.

I haven’t found any in depth test of the different UPnP DLNA Streaming app for iOS.

So, any suggestions?

Best regards

  Sorliden

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I’m partial to VNC.

Thanks for the answer but VNC isn’t realy the type of dedicated UPnP DLNA Streaming. For instance I want to be able to access videoes with just my My Cloud and my iPhone on (no other computers on).

I have tried ArkMC for a couple of weeks now and I’m not satisfied. The video isn’t smoth enough and the quality of photos has been poor.

So any other experience of UPnP DLNA Streaming apps for iOS would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Ooops, I think autocorrect bit me.  that should say VLC, not VNC.

I’ve been searching for a decent DLNA client for iOS for years only to find constant **bleep**. Even the ones you would normally believe to be solid (VLC) are subpar. I went through so many and finally lately I have found the one, I think: Infuse 2.

It plays everything the others lack in one or the other… MP4, MKV, WMV, FLV, AVI and other obscure **bleep**. For audio tracks, it does AAC, MP3, FLAC, OGG, AC3 etc.

It loads indexes and thumbs quickly and the video is smooth and the best and most consistent I’ve seen yet. I’m finally satisfied.

See their site for a rundown of it all:
http://firecore.com/infuse

There’s two caveats only that I should tell you. It is free, but it is crippled until you buy the full version via in-app, and it’s a bit steep, about $7. What you won’t be able to do in the free one is stream. :frowning: you can only download first then play. But at least you can get a feel of the interface and feel of it. I was very apprehensive about paying the $7 or whatever without even being able to know if the steaming sucked like the rest or not.

I took a blind chance and I’m pleased that I did. It was worth it to me to finally have a DLNA client that actually worked.

The other caveat is it only plays video. It doesn’t stream audio. But I presume that is “for now”, since it’s still kind of new and they are still adding features. I trust they will add that soon enough. So it’s a video only streamer. But I am fine with that.

Failing that, there’s another one that is not nearly as good as infuse, but it still works better than the other **bleep**.

It’s VidOn, here’s the site:
http://www.vidon.me/vidon_player.htm

It’s free actually, and detects/navigates the NAS smoothly and quickly as well. Pro: it also does audio. Con: it may require one of those **bleep** servers you’ve gotta install to transcode for full format support.

On the other hand, Infuse takes care of any needed codecs or format handling natively, so there is no middleman. You can play any video basically, directly from the NAS, no go between **bleep**.

So try both of those. If you’re cheap and are willing to sacrifice some quality for a free app with more limitations, VidOn might be fine.

Either way definitely download Infuse, even in crippled form it’s worth inspecting and checking out. And in my opinion, I bit the bullet and just decided finally having an end-all to the eternal DLNA client struggle/search was worth the few dollars they wanted. And I don’t regret it.

But overall I definitely recommend Infuse despite the cost and VidOn worked ok until I found Infuse. The rest just fail. Too much buffering, choppiness, not supporting the formats I needed, constant crashes, slow navigation, need for “helper” software installed on your computer etc. I almost gave up on it. To me, that was one of the most difficult, frustrating “trial and error to just get it to do what I freakin want” app hunts of all my time.

Buy Infuse and be done with the BS, I say.

Btw— don’t confuse your terminology. The steaming app SENDS the video. (In our case the NAS is the streaming server) What you’re technically searching for is a DLNA CLIENT, which receives the video and plays it. You could confuse others if you don’t use the right terms for what you want.

Or, at times they’re called DLNA streaming CLIENTS. The distinguishing factor / keyword being CLIENT or SERVER. That’s all.

Hey, respond and let me know what your impressions were of those two I suggested and what you decided on. I’m curious to see if you feel the same after trying those, for my own curiosity. Thanks! Good luck!

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Lol. You’d think I was Andrew dice clay with all the bleeps!! Jeez. All over the word C- rap!

I wanted to clarify something that I was unclear sounding on. I said it only streams video and not audio. I did NOT mean to imply that the videos do not have sound. They do.

I only meant STRICTLY audio files like mp3’s can’t be streamed yet. Videos work like a charm. Just wanted to make that less ambiguous. bleeepppppp!!

Now if only all of these apps were able to add support for AC3 audio…

Registered just to post this. VidOn is hands down the best (DLNA streaming CLIENT), and it’s free. Plays everything accept AC3 and DTS, but I can always use ffmpeg for that. Thanks for this.

PS: I am using Minidlna on Arch Linux to stream DLNA. Plays Blu-Ray @36 mbps from (802.11n @72mbps) easily with subtitles on my iPad Air 2 (802.11ac @866 mbps). No question when laptop is connected via Ethernet.

Have been using AVPlayer HD from EPlayWorks for years. Never fails me and works perfectly with MyCloud. Decodes everything I can throw at it, smooth as silk.

Allcast (Paid app)
Belkin Media Play (free app)
Yuppit (free app)
Zappo tv (Paid app)
Fusion Stream (free)
Mediaconnect (free)
MCPlayer (free) Pick your best for ur needs!!! If u can let me know which is your favourite.

Buzz Player. Best I have found so far.