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View Full Version : PVRs with DLNA Capabilities. Does Mezzmo work well with any?



paulorox
11-14-2012, 03:07 PM
I see there's a few PVRs on the market that also come with a DLNA client on board.

The Topfield TRF-2400 and Humax HDR7500T are examples. I think they may also support MKV and MP4 files.

I'm looking at replacing a HTPC with a PVR and would like one with steaming capabilities.

Mezzmo works fantastic with my Sony Bluray players and would also like to use it to stream to a PVR.

Do you have any knowledge of how they perform with Mezzmo? Are you aware of any models that are better than others.

Thanks in advance.
Paulo

Paul
11-14-2012, 03:32 PM
Mezzmo has device profiles for several PVRs/DVRs - Humax, Moxi, Technisat, etc. (see http://www.conceiva.com/products/mezzmo/devicesupport.asp). Mezzmo will stream to any DLNA-compliant PVR/DVR and we'll create a device profile if we don't already have one for the particular model you decide to purchase.

I cannot recommend any particular PVR/DVR since I have not tried them extensively - perhaps other users can add their thoughts. One thing to be check when deciding on one - when a PVR/DVR says it has DLNA, just make sure it is as a DLNA DMR (Digital Media Renderer) or a DLNA DMP (Digital Media Player) and not just as a DLNA DMS (Digital Media Server). A DMS is (like Mezzmo) a media server that steams media to DMRs and DMPs. PVRs and DVRs often are a DMS since they can record & store video. I know Panasonic has a few DVR models that are only DMS.

paulorox
11-14-2012, 03:43 PM
Thanks for the quick reply Paul.

Thanks for the tip. I'm pretty sure the two models I've listed are both a DLNA player and server.

I'd be interested in anyone else's comments.

paul49
11-15-2012, 11:28 AM
Hi Paulo,

I have a Topfield 2400. I installed the latest firmware a couple of months back to try out its DLNA facilities. To be honest, I got bored pretty quickly - the client doesn't seem to be able to fast forward or rewind (as reported on the forums). It did, however, connect to Mezzmo easily enough and played an mpeg ps.
I also played briefly with the DLNA server and didn't manage to make it do anything sensible. (I can't even remember if any of my Sonys could even connect to it.) There seems to be no way to set up profiles as Mezzmo does.

Happy to admit that I didn't give it any kind of a fair trial, however, as I had read that there were some shortcomings and was merely curious. I really had no motivation as I have Mezzmo working very nicely and there is a Sony BDP sitting under the Topfield which, as you've mentioned, works well as a Mezzmo client.

I haven't checked recently if there are any later firmware updates which might improve its capabilities so you might like to research that.

Having said all that, the Topfield works very well as a PVR (at least in my opinion).

paulorox
11-15-2012, 11:40 AM
Hi Paulo,

Happy to admit that I didn't give it any kind of a fair trial, however, as I had read that there were some shortcomings and was merely curious. I really had no motivation as I have Mezzmo working very nicely and there is a Sony BDP sitting under the Topfield which, as you've mentioned, works well as a Mezzmo client.

I haven't checked recently if there are any later firmware updates which might improve its capabilities so you might like to research that.

Having said all that, the Topfield works very well as a PVR (at least in my opinion).

Thanks Paul49,

I'm leaning towards the Topfield.

I'll will also have a Sony BDP sitting under the PVR so the DLNA features are not critical but a nice to have feature. The lack of fast forward and rewind will piss me off a bit I think so I'll probably never use the PVR for DLNA, unless I can get it working properly. One thing that interested me was that I read somewhere that MKV files play natively. At the moment these are transcoded for my Sony BDP. It's not a big deal as the transcoding works really well, but if a unit can play a file natively I'd rather play it on that.

Paul (from Mezzmo) what are the procedures for asking for a Mezzmo device profile? Is there any information from the unit that I need to provide, like a log from Mezzmo or something?

Thanks again
Paulo

Paul
11-15-2012, 12:01 PM
...Paul (from Mezzmo) what are the procedures for asking for a Mezzmo device profile? Is there any information from the unit that I need to provide, like a log from Mezzmo or something?

To create a new device profile, we need two things:


A set of logs when you connect to Mezzmo from your DLNA device. Turn on logging (see http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/419-FAQ-How-to-turn-on-diagnostic-logging) and restart your Mezzmo server. Connect to Mezzmo using your DLNA device and browse some playlists and play some video, music and photo files. Then, stop your Mezzmo server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up all the logs and send them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.
A list of the video, music, image and subtitle formats that the DLNA device supports. Check your device's manual or the product page on their web site.