3. Choosing A Media Server

I didn't really want to use a full computer for a multimedia server, but these devices also typically had support for the UPnP protocol. The Audio/Video portion of this protocol is designed to standardize the communication required for a client to index, fetch and playback multimedia files. An additional benefit of support for this protocol is the ability to use third-party multimedia servers.

During my tests, I typically ran a UPnP server on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device for accessing my library. This satisfied the desire to access my digital library without having a full-fledged PC in the loop. The downside to this protocol, which all the manufactures seemed to realize, was simplicity. Evidently the protocol only supported fairly basic functionality, which lead to dull user interfaces (Figure 4) and limited functionality.

Figure 4: A not-so-interesting user interface

For example, in one case, I could play a slide show or play music, but I couldn't do both at the same time (Figure 5). To remedy these issues, or at least differentiate themselves, all of the manufactures supplied their own server, which seemed to use a custom protocol in addition to the UPnP protocol. These servers were all designed to run under Windows on a PC, so when using these servers I once again needed a full computer in the loop. The server situation wasn't optimal, but I soon found a way to deal with it.

Figure 5: Only one function at a time

For my own day-to-day use, I eventually settled down with the LinkTheater and abandoned both the supplied server, and the UPnP server in favor of an open source server, wizd, that implemented the LinkTheater's custom protocol. With this combination, I could run wizd on my NAS devices and get more functionality than a standard UPnP server provided.

Wizd's interface (Figure 6) was only slightly more interesting than a UPnP display, but it had some additional functionality and gave me the ability to build it for any of my NAS devices.

Figure 6: The wizd interface

Interestingly enough, the one feature of the LinkTheater that I didn't end up using, was its DVD playing capability. The LinkTheater billed itself as a "Networked DVD Player", but over time, I found its standard DVD playing capability falling short. For one, it couldn't be completely operated from the front panel. You had to find the remote in order to play a DVD.

Secondly, since the LinkTheater has neither a DVI nor HDMI output, it will play retail DVD's only at 480p resolution because of rules imposed by the DVD Forum and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).

Finally, my family complained that it had occasional lip-sync issues, i.e. Sometimes the audio was slightly out of sync with the video. So for my entertainment center, I ended up with both an ordinary DVD player and the LinkTheater. But for my other uses, the LinkTheater fit the bill.