WHS 2011: FLAC and DNLA to audio receiver

I have a large FLAC collection stored on a WHS 2011 box that I would like to have available via my network connection to my Onkyo receiver. I also want lossless to lossless transcoding if transcoding is needed. And it is my understanding that DNLA does not support FLAC, so if I wanted Lossless that the FLAC files would need to be transcoded to WAV. I also want these files to be available from my WHS 2011 box without having to be logged in a user account, as i run my WHS 2011 box headless in the closet and don't want to keep the Admin account logged in for security reasons.

Will Serviio serve my needs?

[atc98092]

I believe I've read that transcoding on the fly to WAV is not available. That's not a limitation on Serviio, but the underlying transcoding function (ffmpeg).

That said, I believe that FLAC can be sent through DLNA. I recall using MakeMKV to rip a DVD and make the audio track FLAC, but I was using an older player at the time and I don't believe the player supported it. Someone else may have more accurate info here, but I think you may be OK, as long as your DLNA player itself will support FLAC playback.

I believe I've read that transcoding on the fly to WAV is not available. That's not a limitation on Serviio, but the underlying transcoding function (ffmpeg).

That said, I believe that FLAC can be sent through DLNA. I recall using MakeMKV to rip a DVD and make the audio track FLAC, but I was using an older player at the time and I don't believe the player supported it. Someone else may have more accurate info here, but I think you may be OK, as long as your DLNA player itself will support FLAC playback.

I do hope someone is able to clarify this info. But I have read that DNLA via Windows of any kind does not support FLAC. That the FLAC does indeed need to be transcoded on the server side for the player to see and access it.

And yes, my Onkyo receiver does play FLAC by USB.

[atc98092]

I believe I've read that transcoding on the fly to WAV is not available. That's not a limitation on Serviio, but the underlying transcoding function (ffmpeg).

That said, I believe that FLAC can be sent through DLNA. I recall using MakeMKV to rip a DVD and make the audio track FLAC, but I was using an older player at the time and I don't believe the player supported it. Someone else may have more accurate info here, but I think you may be OK, as long as your DLNA player itself will support FLAC playback.

I do hope someone is able to clarify this info. But I have read that DNLA via Windows of any kind does not support FLAC. That the FLAC does indeed need to be transcoded on the server side for the player to see and access it.

And yes, my Onkyo receiver does play FLAC by USB.

That reference may be about the DLNA streaming server that is built into Windows 7 and later. Serviio is independent of that functionality, and does in fact do things that the Windows server function doesn't.

A file format may work fine from a USB connection, but still not work via DLNA. That's up to the manufacturer, unfortunately.