[mythtv-users] dlna dmr frontend replacement.

[Nick Rout]

On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 1:19 PM, Michael T. Dean
<mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> On 10/15/2012 05:54 PM, HP-mini wrote:
>>
>> Has this idea been discussed here before ?
>>
>> The idea is to not have a separate frontend PC attached to TV but to use
>> a network connected combined BE/FE&  use dlna push rendering of the
>>
>> mythtv GUI to DMR devices.
>>
>> A smart phone or tablet (or long range remote IR/wireless keyboard etc)
>> is used to control. (BubbleUPnP for example)
>> The video compression/streaming of the mostly static GUI should not be
>> to taxing.
>>
>> The audio content could be streamed directly to AVR/HT-amp DMR.
>>
>> Benefits:
>> - no low power marginal FE boxes needed.
>> - one remote noisy server box.
>> - no good video card needed.
>> - integrates with gadget ecosystem.
>>
>> Downside:
>> - need lots of new shiny gadgets. (is this a downside?)
>> - rely on TV to do scaling/de-interlacing.
>> - might need to do transcoding for the DMR.
>
>
> If you're doing video and audio push, too--and not just the GUI--you'll
> probably have tons of CODEC issues (i.e. your Samsung phone is happy to do
> Ogg, but your Samsung TV refuses, so DLNA doesn't let you play those files
> through your TV--and possibly similar issues with the
> very-common-in-MythTV-recordings MPEG-2).  And, it seems that DLNA will
> never be user friendly, and will always require way too much technical
> expertise.
>
> Another option is to check out:
>
> Miracast: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracast ("open" (not buy-in)
> standard to replace AirPlay)
> Wi-Fi Direct: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Direct (underlying
> transport for Miracast)
> DASH: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Adaptive_Streaming_over_HTTP
> (standardized replacement for HLS)
>
> It seems to me that DLNA is something that promises much, but delivers
> little (due to the lack of good implementations (or differences in existing
> implementations)/lack of enforcement of "must support X CODEC," etc.)--not
> to mention the "club members only" approach to the standard, enforced by the
> cost of getting the specs so you can implement it.

I was excited when I first heard about upnp/dlna, but the experience
is less than exciting.

Unless you have a dlna server which knows about every connected
device's capabilities, and which transcodes accordingly, you are going
to have below par user experiences. The differences in implementations
of the actual standard are frustrating too. Take a look in the
mythbuntu forums at the thread(s) about upnp and various TV models for
the workarounds people have had to do.

Having said that my Samsung S3 using Bubbleupnp seems to work pretty
well with my playing to my LG Smart TV and with playing to XBMC. Hit
and miss though.