Stream Videos Music and Photos to Smart TV Using DLNA

This post tells you how to stream your stored Videos, Music and Photos to Smart Tv Using DLNA , from you rmobile devices like Windows 7 PC or an Android Smartphone, besides explaining you what is DLNA, to use your DLNA certified device and if your DLNA device isn't certified how to make it DLNA complaint.

What is DLNA?

DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance,it doesn't makes any sense but it's basically a standard which was developed to interconnect and share digital content wirelessly between different digital devices of different brands. It brings everything together like a cloud giving you the freedom to transfer files to different digital devices no matter on which device it's currently present. With DLNA you can stream videos files from pc to smart tv, see photos from your smartphone on your tv or watch fling your photos to your wireless printer hassle-free.The core aim of DLNA is to simplify networking across device types and manufacturers.

What does it takes?

All you need is a DLNA media controller on one side from where the content would be sent and a DLNA media Renderer i.e. viewing screen on the other side. Think of it as a sender and a receiver (of your digital content).To make it simple what you have in market is DLNA certified devices, these devices are able to share content in between them. To add, DLNA complaint devices need a network between them either wireless or wired. But what is DLNA media controller and Renderer? 

Here are Some Terms related to DLNA :

• Digital Media Server: These are a kind of storage devices like hard drives, network attached storage where you store your media, but not necessarily where you play it back. But It’s possible for a Digital Media Server to also act as a player as well.
• Digital Media Player: The device; where you can play back your media files, whether they’re music, photos or video. A digital media player can be a tablet, smartphone, set top box or television set itself. The player gets its content directly from a digital media server.
• Digital Media Controller: Assume it's in between the above two, Digital Media Controller push content from Digital Media Server out to other devices.
• Digital Media Renderer: Media renderer technically does the same task as the player, i.e. to Display your media in some way, but the difference is that it doesn’t seek the content but has the function to display the content only.

What is DLNA Certified?

DLNA certified devices are those which have been tested to be compatible with other DLNA devices and be able to play content nicely between them. However non-certified devices can be made DLNA complaint with some Soft wares in pc and apps in smartphones.

( Note: It has been assumed here that your Smart-tv is DLNA Certified because there is no way to make it DLNA complaint via any software. To check is your device is DNA Complaint check for DLNA certified logo on product box/ User manual or Find your product support on this page.)

To share Videos, Photos and Music from Android to Smart-Tv

Type 1 : To Connect a DLNA-authenticated Smartphone

The TV and the the smartphone should be on the same network.

1. Ensure that WIFi is enabled on the smartphone.
2. Install/Run the app to share content on the smartphone.
3. Run "Share my mobile phone Content".
4. Select the kind of content(video / music / photo) you wish to play.
5. Select the video, music or photo file to play on the TV.
6. Select Add to Play List.
7. Select TV model name on the device you want to play content from.

Type 2 : Using 3rd Party Apps

If your smartphone is not DLNA Authenticated you can make your device DLNA complaint with these 3rd party apps. These apps have DLNA server built in.

iMediaShare Personal

Access your digital content from anywhere. iMediaShare automatically discovers any connected devices around youAll you have to do is choose the one you’d like to play on, and your videos stream instantly on the big screen. iMediaShare also serves as the ultimate remote, so you can adjust volume, playback, or switch videos with intuitive touchscreen gestures.
Supported players:

• Internet-connected TVs by Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG & Philips 
• XBox 360, Xbox One, DISH Hopper, Apple TV

To stream videos, photos and music from PC to Smart-Tv

If you have a PC with windows7, you can easily fling the media content to your Smart-tv, this is so because windows 7 media player has built-in DLNA server in it to make your laptop device DLNA complaint and hence can easily share content on television.

This is how to do it :

Connect smart-tv and PC on the same network. Configure Windows 7 and PC on the network.

Right-click the music/ video / photo file that you want play and select Play To > Tv Model name( the one on which you want to play the file on )

Note: When it’s working properly, DLNA devices should see each other across a network seamlessly without requiring any kind of user intervention at all.

What can go wrong?

1. In case of DLNA malfunctioning , check your network settings.
2. Technically, File formats are important; not every DLNA device will handle transcoding if you’ve a file in a format that player or renderer doesn't support.
3. A 5-GHz access point is needed to view 1080p videos via DLNA. A 2.4GHz accesspoint may cause frequent buffering or other problems.
4. When playing video in DLNA mode, Multi Audio and Internal Subtitles are not supported.
5. External subtitles may or may not be supported on DLNA devices.
6. If more than one TV is connected to a single server in DLNA mode the content may not play depending on server performance.D
7. DLNA feature cannot be used with some access points that do not support multicasting.
8. Check compatible resolutions of your DLNA renderer. Some files with higher resolutions than supported will not play on the DLNA Media Renderer. For example, Ultra HD file is not supported on Full HD TV.
9. Play Speed can vary depending on Network Speed.