Tue Dec 27, 2011 3:16 pm
Panasonic ST30 with Viera link success with Serviio
Hi there,
I wanted to say thanks and I have a happy story to share:
As a DLNA newbie, I just bought a plasma smart TV (Panasonic ST30 with Viera link) for the sole purpose of trying to go completely digital with my media. When I found out about "DLNA" , I got really excited at the thought that I could put all my media on a hard drive and then have it sent to my TV conveniently.
So I started with the PS3 Media Server for Mac (because of friends that use their PS3 for watching movies and reading that the Media Server software Sony offers actually works for other devices other than the PS3, like smart TVs with built-in media players like my Panasonic ST30) and quickly discovered that although my new TV could read the PS3 Media Server, and recognize the files, it could only successfully play some of my files. Most of them were glitchy and would freeze up, some the sound would not match the video, most would stutter and stammer, or speed up and slow down, or not even play at all...even though they played on my computer. Even files that wee not terribly glitchy were still to the point where watching the files were not enjoyable. I was very disappointed, because the whole point of this TV was so I wouldn't need a DVD player any more. I thought perhaps the files just were too big to stream wirelessly, but my laptop played movies fine with the file share, and hardwiring the TV to my computer wasn't really an option without running a mile of cable under the floor. I didn't want to fall back on settling for a makeshift solution - I wanted it to work like it was intended.
I tried reading up about transcoding, but I am not a programmer, so my hope was to find a format that worked well without the need to transcode the files. Still, nothing seemed to work for me. With PS3 Media Server/Panasonic Viera link, I could play MP4 files only, but for some reason, only the ones that the PS3 Media Server would read as MP4s (sometimes, the Server would read the MP4 file as an MPEG2-PS file, perhaps because of the way the containers were encoded. Any inconsistency could make the difference between whether I could play a file, or if it would glitch-out) MOVs, AVIs, and MKVs would never play at all either.
That's when I thought maybe my problem was not the files or the TV, but finding the Media Server that works well with my device (ST30), that was when I discovered Serviio Media Server (and this forum) when doing a search for DLNA forums.
Wow. Thank you! After installing Serviio Media Server, about 75% of the files that I could not play before on PS3 Media Server, could now be played on the TV with no problems. All my MP4s play (and they all read as MP$s, not MPEG2-PS). MKVs now play. There are still a few glitchy files, but now that I know what formats work, I will just always rip content with settings I know will play properly. AVIs still don't play, but maybe I will get lucky if I play with transcoding them. But like I said, worst case scenario, I just rip content in the format I know I will have success with.
Speaking of ripping content - I also highly recommend WinX DVD Ripper for Mac. I was having tons of problems with free apps - success only part of the time - so after reading about the features of WinX for Mac, the $35 seemed very reasonable. It will convert to any format or quality and has little trouble with decoding even newer DVDs http://www.winxdvd.com/dvd-ripper-for-mac/
I don't want to jynx it (knock on wood), but I think I finally have things working wonderful thanks to Serviio! Thank you for offering your time and efforts to this program. I will be making a donation to keep updates happening.
Ryan
I wanted to say thanks and I have a happy story to share:
As a DLNA newbie, I just bought a plasma smart TV (Panasonic ST30 with Viera link) for the sole purpose of trying to go completely digital with my media. When I found out about "DLNA" , I got really excited at the thought that I could put all my media on a hard drive and then have it sent to my TV conveniently.
So I started with the PS3 Media Server for Mac (because of friends that use their PS3 for watching movies and reading that the Media Server software Sony offers actually works for other devices other than the PS3, like smart TVs with built-in media players like my Panasonic ST30) and quickly discovered that although my new TV could read the PS3 Media Server, and recognize the files, it could only successfully play some of my files. Most of them were glitchy and would freeze up, some the sound would not match the video, most would stutter and stammer, or speed up and slow down, or not even play at all...even though they played on my computer. Even files that wee not terribly glitchy were still to the point where watching the files were not enjoyable. I was very disappointed, because the whole point of this TV was so I wouldn't need a DVD player any more. I thought perhaps the files just were too big to stream wirelessly, but my laptop played movies fine with the file share, and hardwiring the TV to my computer wasn't really an option without running a mile of cable under the floor. I didn't want to fall back on settling for a makeshift solution - I wanted it to work like it was intended.
I tried reading up about transcoding, but I am not a programmer, so my hope was to find a format that worked well without the need to transcode the files. Still, nothing seemed to work for me. With PS3 Media Server/Panasonic Viera link, I could play MP4 files only, but for some reason, only the ones that the PS3 Media Server would read as MP4s (sometimes, the Server would read the MP4 file as an MPEG2-PS file, perhaps because of the way the containers were encoded. Any inconsistency could make the difference between whether I could play a file, or if it would glitch-out) MOVs, AVIs, and MKVs would never play at all either.
That's when I thought maybe my problem was not the files or the TV, but finding the Media Server that works well with my device (ST30), that was when I discovered Serviio Media Server (and this forum) when doing a search for DLNA forums.
Wow. Thank you! After installing Serviio Media Server, about 75% of the files that I could not play before on PS3 Media Server, could now be played on the TV with no problems. All my MP4s play (and they all read as MP$s, not MPEG2-PS). MKVs now play. There are still a few glitchy files, but now that I know what formats work, I will just always rip content with settings I know will play properly. AVIs still don't play, but maybe I will get lucky if I play with transcoding them. But like I said, worst case scenario, I just rip content in the format I know I will have success with.
Speaking of ripping content - I also highly recommend WinX DVD Ripper for Mac. I was having tons of problems with free apps - success only part of the time - so after reading about the features of WinX for Mac, the $35 seemed very reasonable. It will convert to any format or quality and has little trouble with decoding even newer DVDs http://www.winxdvd.com/dvd-ripper-for-mac/
I don't want to jynx it (knock on wood), but I think I finally have things working wonderful thanks to Serviio! Thank you for offering your time and efforts to this program. I will be making a donation to keep updates happening.
Ryan
