Noob Questin: Content Pull from DLNA TV

[wassy]

Hi all,

please excuse my general ignorance. Im fairly adept with networking but have never used any DLNA / media server software/equipment. So i have a new job and a new apartment and obviously the first thing to do is go out and buy a big ass TV. I am thinking of getting the Sony Bravia K??40W5500 which has embedded DLNA support as i have most of my videos on my laptop. I would like to know, if i run TwonkyMedia Server on my laptop. Can my TV pull shared content from the laptop such as AVI DivX files with some kind of graphical interface which allows me to select the content to play. Or can content only be played by pushing it from the Laptop to the TV? I realise for most people here this is a very simple question, but i havent been able to find adequate answer from searching the forums.

Does the TwonkyMedia server present a content interface to simple devices such as DLNA TV's which you can then scroll through using the TV remote (similar to the GUI on windows media center) to select content? I would have thought this to be one of the principles of a "SERVER" but i just wanted to make sure.

Thanks

Si

[fero]

Hi,

AVI/DivX video format is not suppoted by DLNA on Sony Bravia. Only very limited video format are supported. I suggest you to check DLNA FAQ for Sony Bravia TV (see chapter video):
http://support.sony-europe.com/tv/faq/f ... f=dlna_faq

only supported video formats are:
AVCHD, HDV(MPEG2-TS), MPEG2-PS.

best regards
Fero

[wassy]

Hi, thanks for the info, ill check that out tomorrow. I take it then that TwonkyMedia can't re-encode the AVI format on the fly

[PeeBee]

The LE40B650 is the Samsung equivalent of the W5500 and it does support DivX, XVid and MKV files.

PB

[wassy]

Thanks for the info. I will definitely check out the Samsung TV as it wil probably be a lot cheaper than the sony. Does anyone have an answer on the "content pull" side of my original question, or can you only push content from the laptop running TwonkyMedia Server?

Regards

[fero]

Thanks for the info. I will definitely check out the Samsung TV as it wil probably be a lot cheaper than the sony. Does anyone have an answer on the "content pull" side of my original question, or can you only push content from the laptop running TwonkyMedia Server?

Regards

Wassy

Sure, if I understand that what do you mean by"content pull" then it is provided by Twonky Media Server. By TMS running on your laptop you can share your media from disks (or also usb) devices on the laptop. On TV you can browse through content database provided by TMS and select music, picture, video files you wish to play... (media formats have to be supported by TMS and the client).

"Push functionality" is provided by Twonky Media Manager or Twonky Beam.

Fero

[PeeBee]

The Sony uses its XMB menu system to navigate the content on the media server which you then pull to the TV.

The Samsung does the same through its Medi@Play functionality.

In both cases you set up the navigation structure on the server and it is seen on the TV.

The new Twonky Beam IE browser add-in allows you to push web content from a PC to a media player such as either of these TVs.

PB

[wassy]

That answers my q's precisely, thanks to both you guys

Think im gonna go for the 46" Samsung LE46B650 or whichever 46" LCD model has the DLNA component to it. If it supports DivX without the need for Transcoding then that trumps the sony in my view as most of my digital content is in DivX format. Plus its a lot cheaper.

Cheers for the help guys, really good support, cant wait for this baby to arrive and test it out. Just went out and bought a wii yesterday as well, so looking forward to big screen gaming