Many online streaming apps, they have options something like, play the video on phone/tablet itself or via those detected DLNA/AirPlay devices, for example YouTube, or PPTV app. It works very well on those Smart TV that has built-in DLNA, or Apple TV that has AirPlay.
One of my TV is not Smart TV, it does not have built-in DLNA support, it however has WD TV Live connected so I am thinking of using WD TV Live as a bridge.
It seemed to work, I meant, iPad app detected WD TV Live in the DLNA device list, however when I chose WD TV Live, on TV screen there was only emtry progress bar, nothing was shown. After loaded a while maybe 30s, TV screen showed message “This is sharing content from Windows”.
Did I do anything wrong? Or WD TV Live does not really work as a DLNA server?
it said “If your TV isn’t DLNA enabled, you can still stream to it from your phone by using a media player like the WD TV Live. The WD TV Live sits on the Wi-Fi network to receive the streaming content from your phone and gets it to the TV via a direct cable link. It means the TV doesn’t have to be on the Wi-Fi network or be DLNA enabled to receive the stream.”
On my own test, YouTube worked, play video from iPad YouTube app and choose “WD TV Live” from DLNA device list, the video started playing on TV.
But other streaming apps didn’t work, WD TV Live detected DLNA request sent from iPad app because I saw it started preparing playback (progress bar is shown on TV), but video didn’t start, no video length info too.
I can get a DLNA HDMI dongle in the market, $40 only I think. But why not WD TV Live supports this?
Keep in mind the WDTV is a DLNA client not a DLNA server. AS such whatever media file you send must be compatible with the formats supported by the WDTV and video resolutions supported by the TV.
WDTV Live Streaming Media Player. The only server function the SMP has is a Samba server you can enable (page 31 of manual) so that other devices on your network can see files on any external drives connected to the WD’s USB ports.
Then why iPhone/iPad YouTube app can send video to TV via WD TV Live’s DLNA?..
Because it is a client.
Mike27Oct wrote an excellent article on Twonky Beam you may want to take a look at. A great app for IOS and Android that allows you to beam (some) local and or web video and audio to you WD device
Streaming to the WDTV, from the iPad, the Kindle Fire (an Android device) and just about any other mobile device (phones included) is easy with the Twonky Beam app. Look in the app store for your mobile device for Twonky Beam. It’s free, so install it. Once you get familiar with it, then “beam” music, and video, and photos from the device to the WDTV and onto the TV.
You can also beam media from your server devices (e.g. PC, ) that shows up in Twonky Beam as a server. Just know that whatever you choose to beam TO your mobile device running TB must be able to be natively played by the mobile device, meaning most all can play mp3 and mp4 files, but they cannot play files such as ISO and MKV files. Mobile devices are not set up to use these sorts of complex files.
BTW, the drives on a WDTV are “shares” and not servers, so TB cannot retrieve their files and play them on your device, but if the same sort of files are on your PC, they can be beamed and played. Keep in mind that TB searches for files to play from servers, and it can play files to shared network devices.
Just about anything on your mobile device can be beamed to the WDTV, and even to a Roku (Roku needs the Twonky Beam channel from Roku site installed on it.) Check out the Twonky Beam website: http://twonky.com/ for info.
Thanks for introducing Twonky Beam, I will give it a try once I get home. But I am wondering if it works for me, this Twonky Beam, is to push downloaded videos on the phone/tablet to WD to TV right? How does it work with those online streaming apps such as YouTube, PPTV?
I guess I got confused on which one is DLNA server and which one is DLNA client… anyway my usage is as I described in #1, Phone/Tablet apps play online streaming videos, choose display at “itself / Smart TV (DLNA) / WD TV Live (DLNA)”.
Smart TV (DLNA) always works, no matter what apps it is, as long as Smart TV (DLNA) appears in the target display list, it works.
WD TV Live (DLNA) so far only works for YouTube app but not for others. Those streaming video format is mp4 most likely, should be able to supported by WD TV Live right?
Yes, media on your mobile device is pushed by TB to your DNLA device (e.g. a WDTV, Roku, a Smart TV). TB has built-in “apps” (actually, links to the websites) for YouTube, Vimeo, etc. and any other you want to type into the TB browser (that would allow you access their media with TB as Youtube and some others do), and TB will push the media (i.e. beam it) to the DLNA client device. TB can also push media from your PC that is part of the home network. Remember, you will be pushing media from say, a Win PC, and if the PC’s built in media player can’t play it, then you can’t push it out. (e.g MKV files cannot be played by Windows Media Player) FIles like MKV and ISO can be played by the WDTV itself, if it pulls the media via network shares, but then TB is not necessary.
After you install TB, take your time and go throught the brief tutorial steps (you can stop the tutorials in the TB settings menu anytime once you have the hang of it.) Look into the Settings and change any you understand right away, and you can go back later at anytime to deal with the other settings as you get used to using TB.)
Anyway, give it a go and learn your way around the TB controls, etc.
it supports only web based online streaming, not apps, as expected.
it did not detect WD TV Live… check the following screenshots, both youtube and pptv apps are able to see WD TV Live (2 units) and Smart TV, but TB only found Smart TV.
I guess the best for me is to buy a DLNA HDMI dongle.
Apparently you are not operating TB correctly, because you said you wanted to play content from your iPad , but your screen shot shows you have selected to play content from your home network! What you see in this instance is servers on your network, and not content on your iPad.
So, to play content on your iPad to the WDTV, you need to select from the TB main menu:
“Play media from this device.”
Then you can select a video from those on the iPad. Once selected, the video will begin playing on the iPad, and in the middle of your screen you will see a bar that says: Beam it. Tap it.
Then, you see “Select the device you want to watch this media on.” Select the WDTV (or any device on the list) and it will begin playing on your TV
This photo of my Kindle screen displays this last step.
After beaming a video, it plays for few seconds and then it displays “This is sharing content from Windows” on tv. I can hear audio , but no video … only the message …
