I have been using PS3 media server for all of my videos and I've found that when its run over a wired connection it runs pretty flawlessly. Music though is a little more difficult with PS3 media server. I'm really looking for something to stream iTunes or my music (especially playlists) to the PS3 that is better than what PS3 media server has to offer. I would love to be be able to run Nullrivers MediaLink software, that looks absolutely perfect for what I'm looking for but unfortunately I don't have a Mac. Does anyone know of another Media Server software that integrates iTunes like MediaLink does but can be run from a PC?

Thanks

thats how its done,

open source, platform independent, full featured, set up in 1 minute.

The link for the Nero Media home page has changed. The current link (as of 6/15/09) is:
http://www.nero.com/enu/mediahome4-introduction.html

The link for SimpleCenter Premium has changed. The current link (as of 6/15/09) is:
http://ez4media.com/simplecenter_premium.php

The link for mezzmo.com has changed, but the old link has a forwarder for the moment (6/15/09)
The current link is: http://www.conceiva.com/products/mezzmo/default.asp

The link for twonkymedia is incorrect: Recommend just going to http://www.twonkyvision.de/

The link for Winamp Remote is outdated, but there is a forwarding page.
As of 6/15/09, the correct URL is: https://winamp.orb.com/orb/html/login.html

The link for Yahoo Music Jukebox is outdated, but there is a forwarding page.
As of 6/15/09, the correct URL is: http://new.music.yahoo.com/

Best regards, and thanks for putting up a great site.

Bob

Helle

ihave a sony 32w5500 tv there have dlna builtin audio/photo/video function

ihave alot of mpeg4 files what dlna server do i need to use to get it to work i can see the tv dont under stand mpeg2/4 yet but sony says it will work if renderer are being used ,is that correct ?

also where can i find some mpeg1 files to test with

TVersity was a nightmare to setup for me. Two days of trial and error, reading, and asking questions. I was trying to get it to work with my DirecTV HR-21 without much luck. I had picture but no audio, then no picture, then a bunch of different error messages, then I would lose the signal from my box to the TV, having to reset the box.

Getting frustrated I decided to try it out on my xbox360. Re-installed TVersity, ran the xbox360 and presto works with no issues. I don't have the fastest network, nor the fastest computer, however I have no problem streaming HD content.

Had I not had the Xbox I surely would have given up completely on TVersity, and I understand other's frustrations. However with the Xbox there was no configuration needed. Just install and access.

Now my biggest complaint with TVersity is the lack of Hulu support, but it sounds like that will be added in a near future release. After that I will have no reason to use anything else. Can't beat the price! I would love to get it to work with my DirecTV box but oh well.

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.orghttp://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

Allegro Media Server is not DLNA 1.0 compliant! (and thus can't be used for PS3, among others). And thus really has no place among the recommended servers.

OK! I'm sold on DLNA. I've now got a DLNA Certified Buffalo Linkstation NAS, and it's filling up with a zillion JPEG photos, a bunch of music (lossless WMA), and a few videos (WMV, MOV). I'm about to buy a DLNA Certified HDTV with an Ethernet port (Samsung 7-series). Some early reviews describe it as having a built-in "media hub".So all I have to do is run an Ethernet cable from my home network router to the TV, and I'll be happily playing my music and watching slide shows of my best photos on the TV? Maybe even watch a few videos?Somehow I doubt if it's going to be that easy. There are no reviews yet that discuss the network capabilities of this new TV; I've seen hints that the DLNA may only apply to devices connected locally via the USB port, but no real knowledge. There are hints that the Ethernet connection will only support a couple of very specific live Internet information services, but again no real knowledge.Would I be better off getting a slightly cheaper TV (e.g. Samsung 6-series) without the DLNA and buying a separate media hub, connected to the home network and talking to the tv with HDMI?Comments? Suggestions?