Samsung LN52A750 DLNA Wiselinkpro -Sorting it Out
Last updated 06/03/10
A few weeks back I replaced my broken LG Plasma TV. As a replacement I purchased the Samsung LN52A750 52-Inch 1080p DLNA LCD HDTV with RED Touch of Color
After numerous attempts with various DLNA servers and a lot of Googling, getting use out of this feature would prove to be a real challenge. In this article, I detail my experience, testing and results and a final solution. To be honest I used PC Share manager only to sort out what video works than concentrated on getting Twonky working. Twonky works beautifully. However, I am currently working on moving to fuppes as my FreeNAS server uses this server.
After days and weeks of installing configuring and running various DLNA servers including Samsung’s own PC Share Manager I concluded that in most cases it had more to do with video codecs that anything else. The DLNA client Wiselinkpro is very picky about the codec being used. Disregard any officall list that Samsung has published; it will only add to the confusion.
“Compatible files: DLNA-supported file types and extensions are listed below.
Music – MP3 (.mp3)
Photos – JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg)
Video – MPEG1 (.mpg, .mpeg) MPEG2 (.mpg, .mpeg, .trp, .ts, .tp) DIVX (.mpg, .mpeg, .avi)
MPEG4 AVC (.mpg, .mpeg) “
Taken from samsung dlna_guide.pdf
While some things on this list are true, the video portion is very misleading especially the MPEG AVC portion (read on to see what I mean). Also you may have found in the TV’s manual as well on the internet a more thorough list of files and extensions supported by WiselinkPro. These list are refering to Wiselink pro USB only. Please keep in mind that Wiselink Pro DLNA IS NOT the same as Wiselink pro for usb. Samsung does not make this very clear in their writings. They also seem to use the WiseLink moniker interchangeably.
Before I dive into the video codec, let me provide a run down of the DLNA servers I used. I will provide a detailed setup later in the article.
1. PC Share Manager
- Shows up on TV works as expected.
- Video Plays (with the right video!!!!)
- Pictures work
- Music works
2. Twonky Media
- Shows up on TV
- Plays Video (with the right video and settings in client.db)
- Plays music
- Displays Pictures
3. Tversity
- Shows up on TV
- Video -unclear on what the problem is -update later
- Music
- Pictures
4. Fuppes
- Shows up on TV
- Plays video (with the right videos and settings)
- Music OK
- Pictures OK
- ****Fuppes on FreeNAS must be installed on Hard drive not in embedded fashion to edit fuppes.cfg
5. Mythtv Media Server UPnP
- Shows up on TV
- Plays recordings (Mythbuntu 9.0). recordings play well
- Video NO. (I could not find a config file to adjust, just simply does not work)
- Music NO
- Pictures NO.
6. EyeConnect
- Shows up on TV
- Video OK (with the right video!!!!)
- Music OK
- Pictures OK
- ***This turned out to be easiest to use -no setup needed and divx extensions supported
There are others I have tried with no success. These include:
The Biggest problem first. Video.
. If you have fought any with WiseLinkpro you know that it will present you with one of 3 errors when it encounters a file it cannot play.
- “Not supported video format” unrecognizable extension
- “Not supported video codec” the extension is acceptable but the video encoding is not.
- “Not supported Audio Codec” the audio encoding is not acceptable. MP3 AC3 and ACC are acceptable. MP3 (Lame) and others are not.
Finding which codecs it supports was ridulously hard. In order to solve this problem I made well over 100 different encoding of a small clip in various formats. Another interesting discovery I made during this process is that once you have the right codec it does not matter what extension (so long as it is one that wiselink supports) you put with it because wiselink pro will read the internal file container. What I mean by this is that you could encode a divx file and use .avi, .mpg or .mpeg. It will work.
Here is what works.
1. DIVX
- If you want a codec that absolutely works this is it. It works from any (that I have tried) front end GUI that uses this codec. example is Divx’s own DIVX Converter (Windows and Mac) and Roxio Popcorn.
- it must be presented to the client with a .avi extention which means that in PC Share Manager it must have a .avi extention. However in others such as Twonky or fuppes you can configure it to present a .divx file as a .avi through mime type definitions (see Twonky setup below). EyeConnect does not need any changes. You can use the .divx extension and it will present as .avi to Wiselinkpro. Read more in the Twonky and fuppes setup below
- As a note if you are encoding standard DVDs the best setting is as follows
Using these settings will give you a full screen view with optimal settings. Increasing the bitrate will increase quality but will result in larger file size. Be mindfull of the 720 x 400 resolution as anything larger will play but will result in pretty bad distortion. Using the HD settings for Standard DVD’s is not good.
- Xvid does not work.
2. The .mp4 mess. H.264 Here is were the frustration begins.
- You would think this would be simple but it is not. If you think anything with a .mp4 extension will work you are wrong. When Samsung refers to MPEG4 they are referring to MPEG4 AVC thus h.264. Only .mp4 encoded with h.264 encoder works and specifically Apple h.264 codec through quicktime.
- all h.264 codec containers are not the same and all GUI’s that use the same working codec do not produce a working file. What?????? OK let me try to sort this out. The Apple supplied codec through the Quicktime export function works. However, Roxio popcorn uses the same codec, but does not work. Why?. I can only assume that there is something placed in the final .mp4 container file that WiseLinkPro does not like.
- Only the .mp4 extension is allowed
- The .m4v extension does not work but some video’s encoded with a .m4v extension can be changed to .mp4 extension and will work. Example is Apple supplied coding headstart video’s. Why? I have no idea
- Handbrake and FFmpegX h.264 (x264) produced files do not work. These two offer either ffmpeg or mencoder or a combination of the two.
- I was unable to find a windows software (very long list) that could encode a working h.264 file.
- If you want to encode to a working h.264 .mp4 file use the quicktime export function as follows
Again as with divx using resolutions higher then 720 x 400 for standard DVD’s does not work well. They will play but be unacceptably distorted.
3. MPEG2
- works
- .mpeg, mpg extensions work.
all mpeg2 encoders seem to work fine. As a side note mpeg2 does not support meta tags so that could be the reason the tv is so picky about h.264 video. It could be that the various GUI’s for the same working codec produce unrecognizable files.
Video_TS to Divx or Apple h.264
- For Video_TS to Divx use Roxio PopCorn
- For Video_TS to h.264 MPEG2 Works 4 Advanced with instructions here. This is really a great piece of software and highly recommended. Or you could use mplayer to open video_ts then export to mpeg2 then use quicktime to export to h.264. (Time consuming)
- Windows Users can purchase the mpeg2 plugin for Divx Converter and it will be able to read Video_TS folders.
DLNA (UPnP) Server Setup
1. Twonky
- Runs on OS X.
- Commercial application cost $29.99
- Configuration file = clients.db (Go to applications control click on TwonkyMedia and select Show package contents then MediaServer then resources. Open in text edit.)
- Tries to automatically id client. It works for LN52a750. Identifies as Generic DLNA 1.5.
- for divx change the file extension to .avi or add MT:avi,divx video/x-divx under ID :052 (near the bottom of file) Generic DLNA 1.5 in the client.db file.
- for MPEG4 h.264 add MT:mp4 video/MP4V-ES under ID :052 (near the bottom of file) Generic DLNA 1.5 in the client.db file. My entry looks as follows.
ID:049
NA:Generic DLNA 1.5
HH:DLNADOC/1.50
HP:chunked
XM:DLNA15
DB:AUTO
MT:avi,divx video/x-divx
MT:mp4 video/MP4V-ES
- VERY IMPORTANT Run only one instance on a network. Starting Twonky on another system on the same network will block the other one.
2. Fuppes
- ***More to come****
3. EyeConnect
- Mac OS X only. Comes with a trial period ***after the trial period it will not share video***
- This is by far easiest to use. No config files to edit. It just works.
4. MediaLink
- Designed to work with ps3 and xbox. Does not work with Samsung
5. iSedona
- Expensive. Does not work with Samsung
Conclusion
Twonky really works well. PC Share Manager works well if you are a Windows user. The TV maintains and updates server connections very quickly. This article will be updated as I explore more into other servers.
If you are reading this and have any info to add please post a comment and I will update the article.
UPDATES
- 02/26/09 One of the Servers that I did not pay a whole lot of attention to was EyeConnect. In the beginning I could not get it to play videos. What I discovered just before writing this article was that the video sharing was not enabled because the trial period on the software had expired. I must have installed this thing a while back when I was trying to get my Directv HR21 Plus DLNA client working. Now that I have purchased the license It works beautifully.
Interesting article. I have a LN40B750 that I have been using Zyxel’s NSA-200 NAS as a DLNA server. All of your observations are true with this server. If the H.264 issues could be addressed by Samsung, we would have nirvana. ce
Sir,
You seem to know what you are talking about (unlike many others). Ihave a Samsung LED TV UE46B7070.
Using Samsung’s own PC Share Manager sort of works, but not very well. I’ve tried to use a number of other DLNA servers, including Twonky, Tversity and Fuppes. They all behave exactly the same way: “Fileformat Not Supported”
FInding files works OK, but the above error message is a constant result independant of wether it is a JPG, MP3 or AVI, or MP4 file.
I have not been able to determine the cause of this. Can you help?
Oyvind
Unfortunately it has to do with the container format of the video file. The easiest way to resolve this problem is to encode in divx format. I am to guess that this is the file format the the DNLA client was written to support. Judging from the documentation for Wiselink, it seem to me that samsung really has no intention of following through any more that it has done. They probably were headed in many different directions with the DNLA implementation; that is why there are different pieces of documentation that samsung has out there.
Hello Tom,
very interesting article. I’ve tried so many DLNA servers. All have the same behavior. With the help of your article i think i should go the other way – encode the video in a way that my samsung UE40B8090 can understand. I’m interested in the QuickTime h.264 settings in your article, but the links to the pictures are no more available. Can you help me?
Hello,
Great article! I work for a company called Conceiva and we’re the authors of another DLNA server that works well with Samsung – Mezzmo. Give it a try if you’re having issues with other servers or just want another alternative and let me if you have any troubles.
Thanks for consideration.
I just bought a 55″ LED from Samsung and am having serious issues getting it to work with my NAS. I get the audio format error with AVI files! AVI FILES!!! WTF!
Bryan
It depends on the audio encoding of your file. Just because it has an avi extension does not mean it will work. The easiest way to get this to work is to use Divx encoding.
wow, what an article!
i had a chance to test Samsung UE55B7000 – didn’t display JPG files from Canon EOS 1000D photo camera connected via USB. Didn’t display certain files from WD passport, but played 1080p video nicely.
i’m looking to buy a TV and dnla was a major feature, but now it seems that it’s not so great afterall.. i’m instead headed into WD HD TV LIVE media player direction, which plays most of the video files and has a easier to use menu.
Great write up!
I have this same TV and found the DLNA support VERY disappointing.
So I use my XBox360 instead.
The best media server I’ve found for my both my SamsungTV and XBox360 is ps3mediaserver (PMS for short). It’s coded in Java and completely cross platform (runs on Linux, Mac, or Windows). It’s very easy to configure from the GUI or even from the PMS.conf file (search the forums for info). The default settings work for me.
I’ve run it on ArchLinux (from the CLI) and Ubuntu (with GUI). It transcodes unsupported formats on the fly depending on the client profile. If you get the new v1.20.xxx-BETA it comes with a client profile for Samsung (which worked great on Ubuntu, but not on Arch; something missing on my server I guess). It automatically detects the client type and loads the profile for it.
The only thing I don’t like about it is how it handles music on the 360. But I suspect this has more to do with the 360 than PMS. I would imagine PMS would be even better when used in conjunction with an actual PS3.
Its all FREE. I suggest you give it a whirl.
http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/
http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/
Hello everyone.
First wanted to thank you for this wonderful article and especially for sharing. Ahh, and congratulations for sufficient time for all tests you have taken and also to prepare for the post.
I’m going to change the tv in my bedroom and drawing in Spain, the company Mediamark back your money if Spain win all football game of the next wold cup, I thought making the purchase and instead to wait after the summer. Disadvantage: they can lower prices and the time can help me to have the clearest ideas and not wrong. Advantage … being told to customers who bought their TV with a similar offer for the European Cup (Spain was the champion!).
To the point, I’m rolling: DLNA or a player (without hard drive) that can play all (or 99%) formats.
After reading your article I think the best is to save money and NOT buy DLNA and instead buy the WD LIVE TV. I have both system, the traditional way we connect (ip, dns …) and DLNA client and server with which we can use either of two ways. Simply select a good server software for our PC.
I have only until tomorrow before the end of the supply of Mediamark.
The maximum size I can use in my bedroom is 32 ‘. Now I just choose the manufacturer and I think it will be Samsung TV since it is my classroom and I am very happy with it.
Thanks again and hope that my opinion you can help someone.
I am getting an error message “no external storage device found” when I select media player on my TV. I am trying to access my files wirelessly using a router in the room with my pc, and a wireless bridge that is connected to my Samsung TV. I am using PC Share Manager. Can anyone help me to resolve this? Thanks in advance.
I’m trying to get fuppes on freenas to talk with my new Samsung TV but couldn’t find any answer (besides change the mkv mime-type. On your article you said that works fine, could you give more details?
Thanks
Hello Brenda,
In PC Share Manager you must accept your TV under the Set device policy(beleid apparaat instellen)-option in the share(delen)-menu. After that it will work fine.
Great article. I’m interested in your fuppes experience for streaming video. I’ve got fuppes on a Freenas server that I’d like to use with a Samsung Blu-Ray player that is DLNA compatible, Right now, fuppes crashes when I try to connect with it. The Samsung PC software works well – not too picky when it comes to video formats, but I’d prefer to use the freenas server.
After purchasing a new Samsung Series 8 TV mainly because it had DLNA I then spent around a month trying many different DLNA servers on my Mac mini. Pretty much all of them including Eye Connect, PS3 Media Server, Twonky etc all suffered the same issues, TV could see the Mac however movies were either reporting unsupported format or the movie would play but only for a few minutes. Needless to say this was extremely frustrating.
Solution: Use Vuze. It has a DLNA plugin. The interface is a little clunky but it is free and it works. Occasionally I hit a problem playing a movie but this is generally due to the audio codec embedded in the mkv container not being supported by the TV. I now stream 8-9GB HD (1080) movies via a cabled network to the TV without issue. Currently using Vuze 4.4.0.4.
Hope this helps
Fuppes also doesn’t work on my ‘Samsung TV, it Crashes when I try to connect
ushare and minidlna work, but doesn’t support mkv (unknown filetype)
any idea what to do ?
thanks
VERY detailed tutorial there. Now if only I can this whole thing to work with my new Samsung TV
Just wanted to say a big thanks – this is precisely the information I’ve been looking for for several hours, and you’re the only one that doesn’t just parrot the official “supports MP4″ line. Given my large collection of handbrake-encoded MP4s, I’ll be revisiting my previous decision to pick up a Samsung TV.
It’s a shame manufacturer support for any type of video that doesnt’ come over HDMI or an aerial continues to be a joke, even in 2010….
One thing that has not been mentioned yet is that Fast Forward and Rewind do not seem to work with most (all) of the DNLA servers out there. You may notice that FF and RW do work if you play your files directly from a USB stick. Over at the SamyGo website there is a method to stream to your TV from your computer with those functions intact. You do not need to go as far as hacking your firmware (which is alot of what that site is about and you can do it that way if you wish) but can run an extension which creates a Samba Server and allows the TV to see your PC (as long as you leave a USB stick plugged in to it).
Start your reading with the post from DD4Ever found here… http://forums.tversity.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10992&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=120
Instructions can be found here…
http://forums.tversity.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44535
Note: Use SamyGO-All-Extensions-v0.03.0 or 3.1 I first tried 3.5 and could not get that one going.