Serviio

Hi folks,

I'm thinking of buying a Panasonic DMR-PWT520 PVR/Blu-ray player as I'm looking for a single device for the bedroom which will take care of PVR, Blu-ray player and streaming functions. The files I want to stream are MKV files with H.264 video and DTS soundtracks. Does anyone have experience of using one of the 2012 Panasonics to stream similar files? I just want to check that it's going to work before I take the plunge.

I'm running Serviio 1.1 on a Synology DS212j and everything is working fine streaming to my Cambridge Audio751BD via generic DLNA profile. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a novice at all this, and I've kind of muddled through to get things up and running so far. So if my question here seems a bit moronic, then I apologise and please take pity on me! I have tried looking through the other threads in the Panasonic section here, but I can't see anything which confirms one way or the other that the particular player i'm thinking of getting will stream the type of files I have

I'm hesitant because I've seen a review which suggests that it can only stream MP4 files, and in delving into the manual it specifies that MKVs (including with DTS soundtracks) can be played, but it only specifies that is possible via USB or disc.

If there are any users out there, then I'd appreciate a confirmation of what your experiences are.

Many thanks
Dan

Hi, I don't know if this can help you, but on my tv I can obtain Dolby Ex 5.1 audio in streaming with mkv....

HI - thanks for replying!

Is that streaming directly to the TV, or to the blu-ray player, and what DLNA profile do you use, transcoding on/off etc?

Since posting the above I got Richer Sounds to agree to let me buy a DMR-PWT520 with the option to return within 14 days for a full refund if it didn't work as I needed it to, so I took the plunge. So far I've got it working and playing all flavours of MKV that I have (variously SD/HD h.264 picture and DD or DTS sound), but only on the Sony Bravia 2012 DLNA profile with transcoding turned on (wouldn't play MKVs on any of the panny profiles even with transcoding on). It seems to be working reasonably well, with a the odd 'blip', which I now intend to establish whether it is related to my NAS not being able to keep up with the transcoding or wireless bandwidth, by rolling out my 15m ethernet cable and hooking it up with that.

The main issue I've seen is that letter-box format films are either stretched vertically to fill the screen, or positioned at the top of the screen with 2 black bars-worth of space underneath (if you get what I mean!). I'm going to continue playing with the various profiles available, but I consider this a promising start after one evening with it, because I'm already doing far better than I did with my previous Sony.

I was wondering whether the new Panasonic profiles on the other thread at the top of the Panasonic help forum would help me, but I'm not sure whether these are the ones included in v1.1, and if not then I don't know how to get them in to Serviio so that I can select them - if there's a guide somewhere of how to do that then if someone could send me a link then that would be much appreciated.

Unfortunately I'm a total novice at all this!

Cheers
Dan

Panasonic Viera G/GT/DT/UT/VT (2011/2012) will remux nly MKV with DTS/TrueHD audio, otherwise play the MKV natively.
Panasonic Viera E/S/ST/VT (2011) does the same, but also transcodes AVI
Panasonic Viera (2010) it the same as the first one, but also transcodes all MKV

so one of these should play your MKV.

Hi - I've tried all these again, but in each case I get 'file can't be played' or words to that effect (with and without transcoding enabled).

I've got success using the Sony Bravia 2012 profile and everything plays. The only hitch is that letterbox format files are either stretched vertically or the picture remains the right shape but is positioned all the way to the top of the screen.

I've got a mate who's going to help me to add some of the new Panasonic profiles that have been created into profiles.xml so I can try those. However given that the only problem is with the picture shape, does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks