How to choose a DLNA Media Server for Windows, Mac OS X or Linux
With so many new DLNA media receivers emerging on the market, including the PS3 and X-Box 360, there are many options for media server software to run. Each server application has its own set of pros and cons. I researched all of the known products and listed out prices, supported operating systems and features. I also took the time to make a few notes and award best-in-class to a few select products that are the easiest to use, have the best features overall and provide the best end-user experience. Read on to find out how to choose your media server software.
The products are listed in alphabetical order.
All servers are UPnP compliant.
The Server column is the name of the server and a link to the vendor's product page.
The Price column is how much the server costs.
The Windows, Mac and Linux columns show support for those operating systems.
The Music column indicates that the software can stream at least 1 type of music.
The Photo column indicates that the software can serve at least 1 type of image.
The Video column indicates that the software can stream at least 1 type of AV.
The Transcoding column indicates that the software can transcode from one format to another.
| Server | Price | Windows | Mac | Linux | Music | Photo | Video | Transcoding |
| Allegro Media Server | 39.95 | X | X | X | ||||
| Cidero Internet Radio Station Server (Java) | Free | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Cyber Media Gate (Java) | Free | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Cyberlink Digital Home Enabler Kit | 79.95 | X | X | X | X | |||
| Elgato Eyeconnect | 49.95 | X | X | X | X | |||
| Fuppes | Free | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Geexbox | Free | X | X | X | ||||
| GMediaServer | Free | X | X | X | X | |||
| JRiver Media Center |
39.95 |
X |
X | X | X | |||
| MediaTomb | Free | X | X | X | X | X | X |
|
| MythTV | Free | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Nero MediaHome | 79.99 | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| On2Share | 19.95 | X | X | X | X | |||
| Rhapsody | 12.99/month | X | X | X | X | |||
| SimpleCenter Premium | 19.99 | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Tversity | Free | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| TwonkyMedia | 39.95 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| uShare | Free | X | X | X | X | |||
| Windows Media Connect | Free | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Yahoo Music Jukebox | Free | X | X |
What is transcoding?
The average consumer doesn't care about what technology is used to encode their media. They just want it to play. The problem is that many devices only support certain types of encoding and much media circulating around is in other formats. The solution? Transcoding. Transcoding means to convert a potentially unsupported encoding into a supported one for the receiving device on the fly. Wikipedia has more details on transcoding.
Analysis
While basic functionality is indicated on this chart, there is no way of knowing how many types of music, photo or video formats are supported. It is also difficult to tell what formats can be transcoded. Most of the informational pages for these products don't give enough details, so without setting up every single product and testing all formats against a variety of devices, it's very difficult to know for sure what the level of support is.
Four products support every operating system: Cidero, Cyber Media Gate, Rhapsody and TwonkyMedia. Both Cidero and Cyber Media Gate are Java-based ports of their original C++ open-source counterparts. They appear to run on any Java 1.5 platform.
TwonkyMedia not only supports every operating system but has every main feature covered as well. Their transcoding support is new, as last time I looked into their tech specs I didn't see support for it, so time will tell how good it is.
Geexbox has no OS listed because despite being Linux-based, it runs its own distribution to work. To get similar DLNA server functionality in Linux, uShare can be compiled and installed, which is what Geexbox uses for its own server.
SimpleCenter has a free version without transcoding support.
The Winners
After reading user feedback all over AVS Forum and Sony's Playstation Boards, researching the product specifications and performing some basic tests of the products, I can say definitively that for Windows, Nero Mediahome and Simpecenter Premium offer the best ease-of-use, transcoding and overall functionality. Neither product is free, but as of right now they are currently the best in class. I have not been able to test enough products for Linux or OS X yet to give a good recommendation for those, but the chart provided should give you at least an idea of what may or may not suit your needs best.
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» How to set up media servers for your PS3 or Xbox 360 from Robert Green's DIY
(Sony Playstation 3) The most recent Playstation 3 firmware update (1.80) from Sony not only gave us HDTV owners great new resolution-scaling options, but they slipped in support for media servers as well! I don't run a Media Center... Read More
Excellent excellent post. I always shy-ed away from purchasing DLNA MS's because I wasnt sure EXACTLY what I was getting with each..
Kudos.
Excellent post. I would like to clarify that, because a server is UPnP compliant, that does not mean it is DLNA compliant. DLNA specifies other layers of networking that are not covered by UPnP as well as media formats. DLNA does this to further improve the interoperability between devices. DLNA also has certification program, and on the DLNA website you can search for certified products, that should help with regards to Stephen's comment.
http://www.dlna.org
http://certification.dlna.org/products/
-Glen
Glen,
Thank you very much for this very insightful post.
Although nero media home is very nice, the problem I have run across with both it and twonky is that if you have too many songs they eventually crash. I do not know if this is true of the other programs, and i will try simplecenter next to find out.
Twonkyvision only transcodes picture formats, not video.
Thank you for the clarification. I'd update the graph but it would require adding several more columns so hopefully people will see your note here.
Azureus now works as a media server. just download it, and check the boxes in the media server plugin preferences. works instantly, and is free. as far as i am concerned the other programs can twonky off :)
Windows Media Center (WMP11) does not really support transcoding, I think. At least I did not find any information on it on the net.
I does transcode media when you upload it to mobile devices, but not when you share it over the network.
I cannot support the Nero Mediahome statement as being "Best in class". When I tried it, it crashed frequently and video playback was poor. It stuttered and could not understand a number of my video files.
For Windows, I have been using TVersity and highly recommend it particularly for PS3 client usage.
I haven't built a mythtv system myself, yet, but I've heard many good things about it, and plan on setting it up in my house one day to prevent the kids from scratching the dvds.
I downloaded SimpleCenter and the basic version seems to work fine, but I've noticed the CPU runs up to 100% if you even click around the application.
TVersity is next on the list...
Great list for reference but VERY strange conclusions.
Tried SimpleCenter: Very easy to install and run but my C54WMP media player lost fast forward function.
Nero MediaHome: Couldn't even make it work.
I tried TVersity and is was great. Appart from working flawlessly it allowed my C54WMP to read any file that I could read with WMP in my computer. That means suddenly I could use .ape (monkey's audio), .flac and divx (without subtitles) which are not supported by the media player.
I'm perfectly sure there had to be a way to make Nero work, but TVersity worked immediately and added formats to my media player - now which one would you consider best?
I tested them all with just one folder full of different media. Don't know if any could use my full collection of 500 GB of media.
I have been playing with a number of DLNA servers for Windows XP. After downloading and installing every conceivable codec. I was able to download just about any movie in any format a stream it to my DirecTV HR-20 set top box so that I could watch on my HDTV.
I ended up with TVERSITY, but I have to say that they all have ups and downs. Still have to attempt starts a couple of times. The RTSP stuff really still doesn't work well. I can start and stop, but no ff, rev or pause. Could be my STB, but at least it is working.
Now if I can get faster broadband connection, I can stop going to Blockbuster.
Great comparison, Robert. Just to add my recent experience. I've been using Mezzmo (http://www.mezzmo.com) and I'm finding its great. I have a large collection of music (~60K tracks) and Mezzmo handles this real well. Easy-to-organize and very flexible. It streams my music (and the few video and photos I have) in my home without any problems thus far. DLNA and UPnP compliant. Windows only. No transcoding though. Its definitely worth a look.
I have been back and forth with several of the servers,(I own both a 360 and a PS3 and am running XP), ORB and Simple Center constantly hung and CPU usage skyrocketed. I have not tried TVersity, but recently installed the 30day trial of Twonky, and must say, I like free programs as much as the next guy, but Twonky works like a charm with both the PS3 and the 360 (the only weird caveat being that streaming .avi to the 360 it shows pixel for pixel resolution on my TV where the PS3 scales to fill the screen, but its also a new tv and A/V setup and this may be due to the fact that I am running the 360 through the PC input and the PS3 through HDMI). Anyway, I will give TVersity a quick spin, but unless it runs as quick and with as little overhead as Twonky I am totally going to pay for this program when my 30 days runs out. I have heard Twonky is not so great for Macs but on XP it does what you want a program to do - simply work.
SimpleCenter will only transcode video files, not audio or photos.
I love Orb but as one user as stated it does hang alot and usually disconnect from my PS#. I will try Twonky and see if its worth it. But as of now I'll just still to ORB for my photos and such. Thanks.
WTF? Why are you listing Windows Media Connect as free? You can't get it without getting Windows, and last time I checked, that wasn't exactly free...
TVersity and Yahoo Music Jukebox only run on Windows too,
so you could say as well that it's not free...
Upgraded (!) from WindowsXP to OS X 10.5.2 and was looking for a dlna implementation for my PS3. I tried VMWare Fusion and ran Windows Media Player 11 in a virtual machine. It worked fine but I was looking for a more elegant solution.
Paid $20 for Medialink from Nullriver which does a very good job. My PS3 is getting the information faster than I was with WMP11 and it does transcoding, integrates with iTunes and iPhoto (but you don't have to).
http://www.nullriver.com/products/medialink
SimpleCenter Premium doesn't even support dvr-ms. It's NOT best in class if you don't support the most popular Media Center Application's format.
TVersity is good if you don't want transcoding, but extremely difficult to get setup if you. Most users will likely never get it working. You just don't get what you don't pay for.
although not using DLNA, here is another (audio) media streaming server software that you may be interested. please see: http://us.raidentunes.com/
RaidenTunes network music station software