Whathifi & DLNA vs Airplay

[admin_exported]

I'm confused.

DLNA is technically superior and is included as standard in mid to top range kit, yet this magazine seems to always promote Airplay, Airport Express which is an additional expense, etc with no mention of DLNA.

What is the reason for this?

Using DLNA I can stream a wide range of video/audio formats wirelessly from my computer or NAS to my TV, AMP, media streamer, phone whatever - yet we never get to hear about it. I know many of the WhatHifi staff use Apple yet surely u have a responsibility to enlighten people about the best technology.

Over 350m DLNA equipped devices shipped during 2010, and this is expected to rise to 1 Billion+ by 2014.

I suggest a feature on DLNA in the mag.

 

[The_Lhc]

I don't think I've ever seen the magazine "promote" Airplay. They mention when it's available on a device because it's new and shiny and that's what them out there (the public) think they want, look at the number of idio^H^H^H customers asking Sonos to support Airplay, even though Sonos themselves say it would be a step back in functionality.

DLNA gets mentioned in the same way if a device supports it. It's more or less ubiquitous now though, ie old news, so it isn't going to get trumpeted any more than blu-ray player supporting, I don't know, CDs, would do.

 

[Anonymous]

Just the other day I was asking questions about streaming to my AVR and Andrew suggested I looked into DNLA methods / software rather than going to the expenses of buying Apple TV for Airplay.

 

[Andrew Everard]

I think you've answered your own question, TechMad: DLNA is an established technology, and widely used, whereas AirPlay is new, and thus also the subject of some interest to readers.

 

[Petruchio]

I have DNLA connectivity on my amp, and use it to stream movies, flac files etc from my PC and network storage to the amp, ps3 and BD player.

However, I also have Airplay as that way I can stream from my iphone to my amp. It's very cool.

 

[professorhat]

Petruchio:However, I also have Airplay as that way I can stream from my iphone to my amp. It's very cool.

Exactly. Many people use iTunes and have iPhones / iPod Touchs. It's very easy to stream to an Airplay device with these. So Airplay is being heavily marketed towards these people, because it's so simple.

DLNA is okay, but in my experience it's quite fiddly to get working and thus I wouldn't recommend it to any of my friends who aren't tech savvy. And I've also found it doesn't work brilliantly. Perhaps it's better implemented now, but it was a struggle to get my Onkyo amp to play music I'd copied on to my NAS and the experience was pretty bland. It's a heck of a lot easier and more intuitive to stream to it via an Airport Express and control everything from my iPhone.

 

[axman]

Like a lot of people, my first MP3 device is the ipod. Once you start with Apple and iTunes, you are bound to be stuck with some Apple-only media format.

So when I tried DLNA, some media can be played, some not. Access to my media was therefore sketchy. But then came airport express, Apple TV2, Airplay... now I have access to all my media files again.

So I started with Apple and yes, I know, it is all Apple's fault that I have to stick with Apple. But at the moment, I am happy that everything is working.

 

[kaledi]

I have the Marantz SR7005, which has both DLNA and airplay capabilities. As I see the benefit of Airplay is that you can stream music directly from an apple device (e.g. ipod touch) to the receiver, and it will switch the amp on, control the volume etc. The same thing can be achieved from iTunes.

A DLNA server application can do the same from a PC and presumably (not tried) from a DLNA compliant mobile application (e.g. Twonky). The key benefit I see for a device like an AV amp is that you can browse and select your music from the AV amp using DLNA, whereas, with airplay - as far as I can tell - you cannot.

For me DLNA is superior, and frankly speaking Apple should have implemented DLNA compliant functionality in Airplay (why not) rather build yet another standard. The only reason I upgraded my amp to Airplay is for the wife who has an ipod touch and therefore she can easily play her music, rather than accessing a computer, and for friends who have iphone to play their music when they visit...

 

[professorhat]

kaledi:The only reason I upgraded my amp to Airplay is for the wife who has an ipod touch and therefore she can easily play her music, rather than accessing a computer, and for friends who have iphone to play their music when they visit...

As I said earlier, you've hit the nail on the head as to why people like Airplay...

 

[kaledi]

professorhat:
kaledi:The only reason I upgraded my amp to Airplay is for the wife who has an ipod touch and therefore she can easily play her music, rather than accessing a computer, and for friends who have iphone to play their music when they visit...

As I said earlier, you've hit the nail on the head as to why people like Airplay...

I agree, but as I point out, any mobile device with a DLNA server app installed e.g. Twonky mobile should be able to acheive the same effect, and from a PC the experience is no different.

Moreover, shame on Apple for not adopting an industry wide standard that is finally being adopted by everyone else.

 

[Anonymous]

professorhat:
kaledi:The only reason I upgraded my amp to Airplay is for the wife who has an ipod touch and therefore she can easily play her music, rather than accessing a computer, and for friends who have iphone to play their music when they visit...

As I said earlier, you've hit the nail on the head as to why people like Airplay...

Its just as easy with DLNA and the only limit of formats supported is whether the player can play them.

My droid phone can stream anything direct from my NAS to my TV, AMP, media streamer whatever I choose.

Just select the source device from a list, the target device from a list, and then the tune(s) or playlist I want to play, and yes the droid can act as a remote.

Set up a transcoding media server and u can literally play anything.