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DLNA server for Sony NAS-Z200 IR
Last week I've ordered the multi-talented music system NAS-Z200IR, as Sony nicely named it. It's just one flat panel with loud speakers and remote control with 3.5 inch LCD screen. You can plug your Ipod to the system, an USB-stick, play internet radio, ordinary FM/AM-radio. It is actually that ancient that it still can play CD:s, if you recall what they look like.
Another feature that I found interesting was the support for DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance), ie being able to stream media from a DLNA-compliant computer or NAS (Network Attached Storage) at home via WIFI. As I have some music in my Ubuntu 9.10 box I thought it would be nice if I could stream music from that to the new sound system. In order to get going I needed to install a server supporting the DLNA standard.
minidlna seemed to be the right choice, a server program developed by an employee at NetGear, DLNA-compliant and lightweight. The server was very easy to compile, install and configure. As I connected to the server from the Sony piece everything showed up and I could browse the music. But for some reason, when trying to play the music, nothing worked, I just got the "Cannot play" error message on the Z200. I tried messing around with different configuration options, and they are actually not that many, but without success.
I decided to give another software a chance and as I wanted something lightweight I headed for uShare. This was even easier to setup as I choose to install using aptitude. Then by doing a
dpkg-reconfigure ushare
and specifying the music dir and setting the PS3 compatibiliy to yes (as it is a Sony I assume this will be needed also for the Z200, but I haven't tried to set to no) I started uShare. Voilá! It just worked, music from my Ubuntu 9.10 laptop just flowed out of the speakers.
// John
Comments
Nice! ..but, what about MS windows?
John: I have exactly the same problem as you BUt my computer runs under Vista... do you know any nice DLNA soft compatible with our NAS-Z200? Of course that I´m using the Vaio Media Plus soft that came with the unit but I don´t like it very much... Thanks in advance.
PS3 Media Server
I know the feeling, the Vaio software was never an option for me. Who knows what is to be installed, another Sony root kit perhaps?
Anyway, you could take a look at the PS3 Media Server. It's a free, open source alternative written in Java, so it will run on nearly all platforms. I don't think it is as lightweight as uShare, though, but it is supposed to be DLNA compliant. There is even an Windows executable for easy installment on Windows.
I must admit that I haven't tried it yet but I've been thinking about testing it for a while, so if you go for PS3MS please respond if you find usable.
http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/
Good luck and cheers!
// John
Not succesfull
Hi there! I´ve tried out the PS3 server and it cannot find the NAS-Z200, I mean: it looks for the PS3 and says NOT FOUND.
I´m trying other commercial software and will tell you my results if you are interested in.
BYE.
Sorry!
Sorry to hear that it didn't work.
Before buying any software you might try Windows Media Player 11. It has
a DLNA server built in. Click Library -> Media Sharing.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx
I've tried activating Media Sharing on my son's Vista and it showing up on the NAS and music is streaming fine.
// John
Don´t mind...
Thanks for you suggestion about WMP 11. I will give it a chance but at this moment I´m having problems with IP addressing. Seems that my router changes IPs whenever system is restarted... Anyway, Vaio Media is not bad at all, specially streaming lossless wav audio...
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