I have Live Hub connected to my local network. On this network, I have Sony TV attached which is DLNA compliant. I am trying to stream pictures/music/video from the Live Hub to the TV. The TV shows the pictures/MP3s and M2TS files (AVCHD camcorder) and plays them happily. But it does not even list avi, mpg, xvid, etc… files. If I fire up PS3 Media Player on my laptop that has the same content, the TV picks up this media player and lists all the files and plays them without a problem. I believe the PS3 Media player transcodes these files. I would assume the Live Hub is meant to do the same? I know for a fact the TV only supports MPEG1 and 2 files natively which is why PS3 Media Player needs to transcode other files before sending to TV.
try connecting to the TV through HDMI and see if you still have the same issue
Everything works fine through the HDMI cable. I want to move this TV to a different room but the Live Hub will stay where it is. I have a network connection in that room so was hoping to stream content to the TV through the network.
No, the Hub does NOT transcode.
Thanks for the response. Streaming to the TV directly is pretty useless then as most TVs will not have support for all the possible CODECs out there. Is there any other way to do this without involving PCs?
Desi_Sher wrote:
Thanks for the response. Streaming to the TV directly is pretty useless then as most TVs will not have support for all the possible CODECs out there. Is there any other way to do this without involving PCs?
Well, most people transcode their media to what their hardware supports when they first rip it.
If you’re downloading stuff off the network, well, then you’re getting what you pay for. ;)
I know of no “standalone” transcoders.
I suppose that will depend on what your hardware can do. You wouldn’t rip a blu-ray to a crappy MPEG1. I wished I knew the pitfalls before buying a h/w MP. I had been using PS3 Media Server on my PC to stream stuff to the TV and never realised the h/w MPs might not be able to do the same. On the Sony site, it lists other media servers (WMP 12, WMP PS1, PS3 Media Server and TVersity 1.9) that can stream to this TV (apparently without transcoding) and most have ticks for almost every file type. Utterly confused now. If other MPs can stream the file types I am having trouble with, why not Twonky? I might need to talk to Sony about this.
Well, twonky CAN transcode. But not the way WD implemented it.
WD disabled transcoding because it would put such a severe load on the CPU, and the CPU wouldn’t likely be able to handle it.
OK. Thank for all your help. I talked to Sony as well. Their site is giving different information to their support staff. In fact different parts of the site is giving different information. The TV spec says it only supports AVCHD and MPEG1/2 videos via DLNA. The support staff says it supports what the spec says plus Divx/AVIs. The support part of the site says it supports what the spec and support staff says plus MPEG4.
I think the spec seems to be the most accurate. The TV does play AVCHD. As for MPEG1/MPEG2, I will need to look at how my mpg files have been encoded (these play fine via the USB port of the TV so should have worked via DLNA). It definitely does not recognise MPEG4 or Divx/AVI files.
Don’t assume that a file that will play from USB or file share will work over DLNA. Several DLNA TV/BD Player manufacturers produce devices that are VERY restrictive about what they can play over DLNA. Some manufacturers document this (but well hidden in their manual) others don’t.
You need to discover the file types that will play via DLNA on your TV.
Technically, to be DLNA-compliant, the ONLY formats a Server and a Home Device Renderer _ must _ support are:
- Picture: JPEG
- Audio: LPCM
- Video: MPEG2
DLNA also allows for optional support for:
- Picture: GIF, TIFF, PNG
- Audio: MP3, WMA9, AC-3, AAC, ATRAC3plus
- Video: MPEG1, MPEG4, WMV9
RoofingGuy is absolutely correct. I now know for a fact my Sony TV supports only AVCHD and MPEG2 over DLNA. When I mentioned USB, I meant my TV has a USB port that allows playback of media files from a USB key. I tried some of the MPG files from the USB key and they play ok. I am guessing these MPEGs are not MPEG2 compliant hence why the TV won’t play them over DLNA. I will try and check these files.
Yep, the MPEGs are MPEG1 and the TV will only play MPEG2 over DLNA. That explains everything. No MP4s/MKVs/Divx over DLNA for me from the live Hub. Thank you everyone for all the information and suggestions.
