back to article Nokia betas some DLNA love

Users of Nokia's Symbian handsets can now get some DLNA action. With Nokia Play To, from the company's BetaLabs, they can throw content onto the TV screen like everyone else. The software is only a beta release, but adds DLNA functionality to all of Nokia's Symbian^3 devices so they can stream video, audio and slide shows onto …

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  1. Alastair 7

    Those poor Nokia engineers

    I'm betting they've worked through the night for weeks to get this released- just so that they have something extra to add to their resume now that they'll be looking for new jobs.

  2. mafoo
    Facepalm

    icon

    How did el'reg miss adding an R.I.P. Nokia icon in the refit?

  3. Neil Hoskins
    Holmes

    Oooooo.....

    Like I could with my N95 three years ago?

  4. Rovindi
    Happy

    Funnily enough...

    Unlike a lot of Samsung software, Allshare isn't as shit as you'd think. I use it on Galaxy S to stream/access media clart, without the usual associated nosebleed-moments.

    Scary isn't it.....

    Ps why are there no cursors on the keyboard of G S? Frikkin' pain the arse, even if you're not fat-fingered... Grr

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge
      Thumb Down

      Shit enough...

      ...not to last more than an hour installed on my PC.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    DLNA: Doesn't Like Nearly Anything

    DLNA is a layer on top of UPnP - a layer that adds little value I can see. I have several DLNA devices, and a great deal of media. All of the devices will play the media IF it is local to the device (e.g. on a flash drive plugged in to the device), but will refuse to play the exact same media if served by DLNA. However, other media on the same server will play just fine.

    DLNA defines not just the transport layer (which is basically just HTTP) but aspects of the content: what containers are supported, what codecs, what bit rates, what resolutions. However, trying to find the exact points in the hyperspace of (container,bit rates,codecs, sample rates, resolutions) are supported by any given DLNA device is next to impossible - be off in just one dimension, by just a tiny bit, and the device will refuse the media, and won't tell you why it was refused. DLNA devices do not make a "best effort" to play anything - if it isn't EXACTLY what DLNA specifies, it won't play.

    Until the DLNA folks define, with rigor, what exactly will be accepted by any DLNA compatible device, AND modify the spec to say "Thou SHALT play these, thou MAYST play other formats, thou SHOULDST make a best effort to play anything", AND DLNA makes that document freely available, DLNA is more of a warning label than a feature, IMHO.

    1. BristolBachelor Gold badge

      Worse in fact

      I find that most UPnP devices that are not DLNA are well behaved (even if they only support a small subset of possible containers and codecs). However it seems that once you put a DLNA sticker on something it refuses to work.

      DLNA say that it is nothing to do with them, they just print the stickers. The manufacturer swears that their device is DLNA compliant; it must be the other guy. (Digital Lying Network Anarchy?)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Meh

      The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

      Yep, most manufacturers get some rudimentary implementation in there just to get another sticker on the box.

      Who really has MPEG 2 content on their home PC? And which TV manufacturers will tell you their TVs are certified Players *and* Renderers? And why should the user have to care? In fact, the consumer doesn't want to think about this stuff, they just want it to work. Certainly in Panasonic's case, it doesn't.

      DLNA *can* work and it could have potential, but right now it's a mess that means the consumer stands a more than considerable chance of immense disappointment.

      1. Craig Chambers
        FAIL

        DLNA org say it's not their fault... because they are powerless fools

        It really is as shit as all that. My experience is as stated above, DLNA renderers simply reject outright anything that is even slightly at variance from a very limited spec. Implementations of other formats than MPEG2, MP3, LPCM, and JPG are riddled with non-standard DLNA-PNs that cause the server vendors to have to handle every client differently.

        I *DO* have TBs of MPEG2 on my home server (rips of all my hundreds of DVDs), and it is all served to my DLNA rendering TV, and it works (very well thank you very much). I do appreciate that I am a lone voice crying out of the wilderness on this one. One of the few with an entire library of DLNA compliant media. The reason for this? I am geeky enough to have got in on DLNA early and in the days before transcoding servers. I also didn't really have any downloaded videos (except Red vs Blue series 1-4 in avi), so I could build my library from scratch.

        What the manufacturers behind DLNA and the DLNA.org seem to fail to appreciate is that mandating only MPEG2 video to get a compliance sticker is simply not going to wash with the general public. The majority out there want to see the mp4s that their phones have recorded and any number of other formats that they have created or acquired over the years, and they shouldn't have to jump through hoops because the device (which someone stated above can play the files locally) won't play that media type via DLNA.

        One solution is to use a transcoding server, but this is only possible on servers that have some grunt available to them, i.e. a desktop PC. It is not possible on an always-on, low-power DLNA server on a NAS, i.e. the sort of device likely to be on when you want to watch your videos in bed.

    3. Tim Walker
      Unhappy

      Sounds familiar

      Our Sony Blu-ray player with bolted-on network media capability (BDP-S370, does a decent-enough job if you stick to the BBC iPlayer and YouTube (the latter particularly well-implemented for a telly-based client, IMO).

      Try browsing a DLNA server on the S370, however, and you're very likely to hit trouble - especially if your video collection consists mostly or entirely of MP4 ("iPod-format") vids (which ours does)... as the S370 doesn't support streaming MP4 video over DLNA. Staggering, but sadly true - try browsing a folder full of MP4 vids on your DLNA server, and you'll get "there is no playable file".

      This is even more of a problem with my Nokia N8 running Play To, as the N8's native video format is... (drum roll) MP4. So, aside from being able to display photos, as long as the S370 is the only DLNA renderer plugged into our TV, I'd be better off HDMI'ing the N8 straight into the telly.

      Shame, as Play To itself works very well - it's just Sony delivering a product with a DLNA implementation with the practicality of a chocolate teapot.

  6. Test Man
    FAIL

    Hold on...

    ... but the Nokia N95 had this feature. So what in the hell happened to it since?!?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Devil

      It had it the other way around

      The other way around is also interesting, but this is more interesting.

      All mobile ops can now compete for content with Cable and IPTV on equal basis.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    6 years for v2.0

    The N80 had this in 2005:

    http://www.mobiledia.com/news/39020.html

    Actually worked fairly well (I used it to stream music from living room PC to an old N80 permanently plugged into some speakers on the bed side table for a while).

    Shame Nokia are so slow going from beta labs to an actual mainstream product.

  8. Dan 55 Silver badge
    WTF?

    Eh?

    My N79's got the option to play/show any file on a DNLA device.

    I can only assume some other dept been reinventing the wheel again. This is why the company is imploding. Damn Nokia management.

    1. David Beck

      E-Series have DLNA too

      My E52 has DLNA client, server and control node. It also has a built-in SIP client (I use SIPgate) that is integrated into "Contacts", GPS nav that does not require a connection (handy if you are travelling where the data costs £7.50/MB), a noise cancelling mic that makes calls from noisy environments understandable, wifi tethering (I did buy an app for that) and currently a four day battery life (I do have a spare battery to pop in if I have to). It does not have a "touchscreen", it has a keyboard, therefore it is not a "smartphone".

      I assume Nokia removed vast chunks of feature from the ^3 version of Symbian to try achieve that magical UI, so simple that anyone can use. This should be called "Appletizing", remove features until it's simple enough for your customer base, make it smooth and shiny, set an "exclusive" price point. This has luxury goods marketing written all over it.

      Some of the features get added back by "apps", not as good as doing it right but much cheaper to develop.

      1. Tim Walker

        The N8 has some of these available...

        ...though you sometimes have to install them yourself - the "Contacts"-integrated SIP-calling feature is one of these, as I've got it running on my N8. (Very handy, though one wonders why it wasn't present out of the box - operator intervention?)

        I also read somewhere (not sure where, sorry) that the software components to allow DLNA, have been present in Symbian^3 all along, but just lacked a front-end app like this to complete the picture. Make of that what you will...

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