PasTim wrote: > One of the enormous advantages of open and free software is that forums, > like this one, often work really well. One can comment on 'features', > and get answers. > I wholeheartedly agree. But a big part of the problem with UPnP, in my mind, is that it's mostly implemented in products with closed software/firmware.
I own a 4-5 year old Blu Ray player from LG which is DLNA certified. Since a firmware update which I got maybe 3 years ago, it reboots (!) whenever I try to browse one of my UPnP AV servers. It does that with all four servers I've tried (the one running on my current router, the one running on my previous router, LMS, and the one running on my Synology NAS). Googling reveals it is a widespread problem with that LG model. LG won't do anything to fix it. The device is out of its warranty and support period and they want you to buy a newer model. And, of course, the device is pretty much locked down so you can't just fix the issue yourself. And the latest firmware from LG has NOT fixed the issue. Then I have a Sony LCD TV which is maybe 3 years old. It's DLNA-certified as well. But apparently, they merely wanted to implement DLNA so that they have it as a checkbox feature. It can play hardly any format. JPEG, MPEG-2, MP3, that's it. Sony is still providing firmware updates for the TV. But all they seem to be doing is to work on their own VoD services and on Amazon VoD. You can forget about advanced DLNA/UPnP features. Lastly, I have Pioneer AV receiver. 2014 model. On paper, it doesn't look so bad. It supports many formats/containers. However, it completely sucks as a controller, the GUI frequently hangs and functionality is extremely basic. I haven't figured out how to play to it (except for initiating the playback from the AV receiver itself). And, as Pio has released the 2015 model, it's unlikely to receive any further firmware updates. After all, Pio wants me to buy a new model in a few years and accumulate suffiently many new features in the meantime. Compare that to a Raspberry Pi. I bought one in January 2013. It's been getting OS and application updates ever since. The community is so large that I predict I will receive updates (including new features) for at least another 3 years. Now, I could try to put custom firmwares on some of my proprietary, DLNA-capable devices (nowadays it's even possible to root some Sony TVs). But I certainly don't wanna brick a 47" HDTV which I plan to continue using for a number of years. Compare that to a Pi which is basically un-brickable. TL;DR: Most closed DLNA devices give you limited functionality and, furthermore, have a extremely limited support lifecycle. Sure, the Pi (or other suitable devices) constitutes yet another gadget. But it's open, configurable, and it's much more future-proof than any DLNA box you can buy off-the-shelf. > > I listen almost exclusively to classical music, which tends to have a > much wider dynamic range than other styles of music. I find it best if I > choose the volume I want rather than relying on software to do it for me > :) Ok, that makes sense then. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ dafiend's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=60637 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=101622 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
