Impressed by the 'Throw' function.............but

[dkersley]

I finally took the plunge and bought the Sony S last Friday. I'd spent loads of time researching ( far too much !) and was wary of some of the reported issues. I know its only been one weekend but I'im really pleased with it so far and I've had none of the reported issues ( connection fine, wifi great, syncing great, etc)

I'm impressed by the fact I can 'throw' pics, music and videos to my Bravia TV and the picture sound quality is great

But..I have a question. Not all of my movies can be 'thrown' to my TV , is this function dependant on the movie format? If so, are there any android apps/movie players that support/have the 'throw' function?

[Watashiwateshdes]

The "throw" function is essentially a more user friendly way of something called "Push content". It has been around for a while now but not really harnessed by many manufacturers on a big enough scale. One of the reasons for this is formats. Every DLNA device must support a core of standard file formats but then the rest are optional which is where the problem may be.

When using a computer, it is not a big deal. If a file format is not supported by the TV, there are programs which convert on the fly or transcodes it into an acceptable file format. The problem with Tablet devices by any brand is that they are not capable of performing such an advanced operation so what you may end up having to do is convert a file into a format which is compatible with both the Tablet and your TV. From previous enquiries on here, Samsung TV's seem to have a smaller file format compatibility window which made it difficult to stream video if any at all until in the right format.

It could be possible that some programs may do what you want. I have provided an example below.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dvbstudio.dlnaplayerfree&feature=search_result#?t=W251...

To be honest DLNA is a mental minefield when it comes to getting everyting to work in harmony but once you get the hang of it and the file formats, it is not so bad.

Hope that helps.

[dkersley]

Thanks for the reply, helped me realise i needed to check what 'formats' could be sent to my Bravia model, so think im getting my head around it now. I guess my next step is to see which formats are compatable and then look for softwareto convert non-compatable movies/videos.

Thanks again

[yellowshark454]

Hi if I could add to the 1st post as there is may be a way around it if you have a PC.

If you do ,then you can use the PC as the DLNA server, the smart TV as the DLNA renderer and the Tablet as the DLNA controller - . I have a Sony smart BDP - which is very poor on the audio formats it will play  - ie over DLNA it will only play .mp3 format files. However, the DLNA server software I have on the PC knows this and converts my FLAC formats to .mp3 on the fly. If my memory serves me right the BDP is also poor on the video formats it will read over DLNA. I would assume that the DLNA code in my BDP is very similar to the DLNA code on a Bravia TV.

Anyway it may well be possible to get a DLNA video server for the PC that will convert video files on the fly. It may well be that the software I use, J River Media Centre does but I bought it for audio distribution - brilliant - and have not delved into the depths of its video processing.

If you do go this route then get (free) BubbleUPnP app rather than using the Sony DLNA app, as it will read (and render on your smart TV) video file types that the Sony DLNA software will not read from the DLNA server - just tried it so I know!

Cheers Pete

[dkersley]

Thanks Pete for your reply

Really helpful advice ,although the only PC I have access to at home is a very good work laptop but with limited freedom to add or configure software.

DK

[Huey-Norway]

I found the "imediashare" app priceless for just such things too. Not only will it send pics and movies etc but you can also stream youtube vids straight from the tablet (amongst other things).

[dkersley]

hi huey

Ive tried the imediashare appand I cant seem to get it to work!

Any tips?

DK

[yellowshark454]

Ah yes I know the problem. Sometimes chocolates, beer, flowers, depending on the recipient can help to get Support to massage these things through

[firionicable]

With regards to this issue, is it possible for you to contact the video files to the compatible format before using the throw function?