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Samsung forum: Advice to Samsung for DLNA

by: netmind February 15, 2009 2:09 AM PST

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Advice to Samsung for DLNA

by netmind - 2/15/09 2:09 AM

After many hours of frustration I have been turned from a very excited new customer and burgeoning loyalist to someone who is on the verge of never buying Samsung again.

If you are reading this thread you probably have read many others reporting how bad the DLNA support is that Samsung has implemented within its A750 and higher TV lines. You may have even read a few postings from the Samsung moderators who have very tactfully stated DLNA is an emerging standard hence all the problems....

I say that's a cop out. Its true that DLNA is still evolving but Samsung's mistakes are their own and to misdirect the blame onto DLNA is doing yet another dis-service to their customers. There are plenty of other vendors who have successfully implemented DLNA or other standards like UPnP.

IMHO Samsung has not done a proper job of understanding the market that they tried to enter and didn't make a sufficient investment in product dev & testing - which has resulted in a close to unusable product (at least in terms of the DLNA).

I would urge Samsung to take a look at what has been done with other successful digital media products/devices and more importantly what customers are looking for.

Firstly, to ship a digital media product that doesn't allow you to fast forward, rewind, or resume when watching streaming movies is insane. This is basic functionality that shouldn't have been compromised. I think if Samsung had asked a customer, they would have been told this before trying to build such a product.

Second, why invest in developing proprietary streaming software?? Seems to me that most people have been trying to use something that is feeding other connected devices in their network, such as tversity, twonky, etc, and only trying Samsung's software as a last resort - only to be frustrated by technical issues or finding that it doesn't meet their needs.

Samsung needs to understand that their TV will not be the only media device in the "connected home". It doesn't make sense for customers to run 8 different media streaming servers... They are likely running one of the decent solutions out there already.

I see value in having software bundled with the TV as an out-of-box solution for those that need this. However I would strongly recommend the Samsung sunset their own software and bundle twonky or another proven solution that is out in the market already. This would allow Samnsung to bring a solution to market more quickly and save development costs that could then be redirected towards areas which would make a real difference to customers such as improving & testing the firmware.

Another better approach to developing proprietary software would be to partner with the existing streaming software solutions. Why not collaborate with them and enable them to support Samsung TV's? This would be cheaper than building software in house for Samsung. For guys like tversity & twonky, this is good because their software is more relevant. For customers they get a TV that delivers on its DLNA promise and is compatible with their existing home media environments. This is a proven strategy in the software business. Why not employ it here. Its a win for everyone.

Samsung has 2 choices 1) pretend the problem doesn't exist and let the growing negative sentiment & brand erosion continue or 2) acknowledge the problem, learn from the mistakes, and turn disgruntled customers into loyal fans.

Hopefully Samsung will chose #2 and release appropriate firmware updates.

I may have sounded harsh but think that Samsung needs a bit of a wake up call. I haven't seen any indication from Samsung that they are doing anything to address the DLNA issues.

I invite other Samsung owners to respond to this thread and add their opinions.


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DLNA Advice

by AterValeo - 4/10/10 2:09 PM

In Reply to: Advice to Samsung for DLNA by netmind

I really would just like to say that FF/REW or some time of time skip feature or checkpoint flagging so you can resume watching from you left off in movies for the DLNA Media Play functionality would be HIGHLY desirable and I am very upset this hasn't been addressed by a firmware update. I just bought my TV last month...


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FF/RW

by Britinva - 4/13/10 6:21 AM

In Reply to: DLNA Advice by AterValeo

They is a crude way of going to a specific place in a movie. This is for the C5500 Blu-ray player but think its same on TV's

While watching movie select the tools button -> playing time -> type in the playing time you want to go to and hit enter.

Also try the directional keys (left & right of the select button)..... not a true ff/rw just skips about 10s


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My decision

by mad_reaper - 4/21/10 4:31 PM

In Reply to: Advice to Samsung for DLNA by netmind

I bought a Samsung LN52A850 with DLNA and, later, bought a Samsung PN63B550 without DLNA and other features.

While I did get DLNA to work on the LN52A850 as well as it could work, I voted with my dollars for my next TV but got hardware with no high end gimmicks. I don't miss them and get them through other devices.

I don't think that Samsung's high end will be anything but gimmicks from now on. They are a hardware, not software, company and just can't keep up or be competitive with other devices.


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To Mad_Reaper

by in2insight - 4/27/10 7:27 PM

In Reply to: My decision by mad_reaper

You took the words out of my mouth.
Same here, looking for a new TV for the bedroom, and I can say this much for sure, it's not going to be a Samsung.
Nice TV. The company, however, needs to be a little more forthcoming and in tune with it's customers.


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Samsung DLNA renderer sucks

by Britinva - 4/28/10 5:43 AM

In Reply to: To Mad_Reaper by in2insight

Similar situation hear.

I'm looking for a resonable DLNA renderer for all the bedrooms. The Samgsung BD-C5500 seemed to fit and had Blu-ray as an added plus. But the DLNA renderer is really bad - worse I believe than the Samsung TV's.

Going to wait to see what the Sony S370 renderer is like when they realease the DLNA firmare update in the summer. But fear they will be similar.

Probably better to pay extra and get something like the Popcorn Hour C-200. At least thats made specifically for DLNA and a customizable interface but its $300+


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Another option...

by mezzmo - 4/28/10 4:30 PM

In Reply to: Samsung DLNA renderer sucks by Britinva

is something like WD TV Live, which is a very decent DLNA media player and well priced too. Or Seagate Theater+ Agent.


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Do any of those ...

by Britinva - 4/28/10 5:40 PM

In Reply to: Another option... by mezzmo

do Netflix?

Thats a must for me too


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Yes, Seagate does

by mezzmo - 4/28/10 5:45 PM

In Reply to: Do any of those ... by Britinva

WD TV Live: http://www.wdtvlive.com/products/wdtv_live#highlights
Seagate: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/home_entertainment/freeagent_theater_plus/


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And now, WD Live Plus too

by Zeek-the-Geek - 6/21/10 2:04 PM

In Reply to: Yes, Seagate does by mezzmo

I understand that WD Live Plus has added Netlix, making it about as attractive as the Seagate now. Pricing for either one is better than Popcorn Hour, and real hardware vs. the PopBox.
I think it often comes down to the interface. The hardware and codec can all be just great, but if you end up with a GUI that looks like a three ring circus, don't buy it! Stated another way, I think most of these products have too much flash and not enough common sense operational smarts.


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is there any news on this?

by lievenv - 6/19/10 7:45 AM

In Reply to: Advice to Samsung for DLNA by netmind

Pc share manager 4.1 is out in the mean time
Any improvements (C-Drive only, ff, REW, formats supported, etc.) ?


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Have you tried Win Media Player instead

by shersarf - 1/7/11 11:06 AM

In Reply to: Advice to Samsung for DLNA by netmind

I know this isn't the best answer, but I found an acceptable workaround by sending my video to the TV with WinMediaPlayer, which, if I am sitting at my desk, or have my laptop close by, I can fastforward, rewind, move the slide to a specific point in the video, pause, etc. (any of the things you can do with WMP, basically). I hate PC Share Manager, finding it clunky and the remote is useless for moving through a vid, but the WMP interface works well, and you can also Send To several together so they play one after the other. To control it, just click the playing one and use the WMP controls.

It would be nice if the buttons on the remote worked for the DLNA, though.


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Over a year later, and nothing much has changed

by KeithRhodes - 1/24/11 4:56 PM

In Reply to: Advice to Samsung for DLNA by netmind

Well, except for the fact that the Samsung employee has stopped posting replies...

I bought a UA32C5000 in December 2010, and I have been struggling with it ever since.

I set up DLNA on my Netgear ReadyNAS, and set up wireless networking on the TV easily, and the TV even managed to play back an AVI that I had encoded a couple of years earlier.

But trying to play back other films has been a disaster.

Even browsing the directories is hit and miss. I made a directory,made a subdirecory, and put eight MPEG files in there... the TV didn't see the directory (but saw all the other directories in there). I renamed this directory, and the TV saw it with its new name, but could not see the subdirectory. Crazy.

Now, not really on the topic of DLNA, but hitting on the right encoding parameters seems to be even more difficult than getting DLNA to work.


I wish I had found this forum earlier... I would NOT have bought a Samsung TV!

K.


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This is funny

by Jwerner2 - 1/24/11 6:18 PM

In Reply to: Over a year later, and nothing much has changed by KeithRhodes

This thread started in 2009, Samsung reps attempted to justify the situation by saying its new tech. It is now 2011 and not a damn thing changed with this DLNA. Thats a bunch of bull sh*t considering allshare and the DLNA capabilities is something Samsung still uses to gas up its products. Customer care is not any help at all and have no experience with any of the products and blamed my network which does not drop a single other device running on it.

However, the DLNA problems alone are not enough for me to say I wish I bought a different TV. Thats just childish rhetoric. It is the software itself, not so much the devices but PC Share alone. It sucks and is a resource hog which is why I kept getting my connection dropped. It was also causing a blue screen crash on my windows 7 machine. Its annoying that the TV recognizes more formats then the software doing the delivering. Thats a load of sh*t also. This is still a great company but I wish they would either update the tech they incorporate or just get rid of it all together.


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Funny? The software clowns are running the circus...

by KeithRhodes - 1/26/11 7:55 AM

In Reply to: This is funny by Jwerner2

"However, the DLNA problems alone are not enough for me to say I wish I bought a different TV. Thats just childish rhetoric."

But to say "I'm not buying Samsung again" is a statement on the lack of customer support.

A few years ago, I was about to buy a Samsung YOPP player, because of claimed support for OGG audio... but reading around I found many reports of people unhappy that support was incomplete. In the end I got a Sansa player, installed RockBox, and have been as happy as a sand boy ever since.

Samsung has built whole families of products that on the whole are quite good; the image quality on my TV is good, the sound is good for 7.5 Watts (TV speakers are usually too small to be great, anyway). But the ergonomics of the on-screen interface are *terrible*. It is like using the Chinese no-name IDE hard-drive playback device I had five years ago... even the icons look the same.

So for me, Samsung is a good hardware company with a *terrible* software division and a *hopeless* user interface design team and which provides documentation and support that are not worth a fig. A good enough reason for me to never buy another Samsung device until things improve. Next time I'm in the market for something similar, I'll look at LG, Panasonic/JVC, some others and maybe even go into a brick and mortar store to try out other models. Those places never carry the items I'm interested in, but at least I'll get an idea of the manufacturer's commitment to developing a user interface worthy of the name.

On a slightly more encouraging note, I've found that if I copy all my recent files to a portable hard disc and connect that directly to the USB connector of the TV, I can watch the video... with pause, FF & REW, and resume from last stopped position. But the same videos will not play over DLNA. So this now makes me wonder if not only Samsung, but also Netgear has also dropped the ball on DLNA implementation. That would not surprise me, either. : rolleyes :

K..


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..

by Jwerner2 - 1/26/11 12:02 PM

In Reply to: Funny? The software clowns are running the circus... by KeithRhodes

"So for me, Samsung is a good hardware company with a *terrible* software division and a *hopeless* user interface design team and which provides documentation and support that are not worth a fig. A good enough reason for me to never buy another Samsung device until things improve. Next time I'm in the market for something similar, I'll look at LG, Panasonic/JVC, some others and maybe even go into a brick and mortar store to try out other models. Those places never carry the items I'm interested in, but at least I'll get an idea of the manufacturer's commitment to developing a user interface worthy of the name."

What have you been doing the last 10-20 years then? I assume saving money. No one has anything in customer support. To each his own I guess.


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saving money; because all corporations are as bad

by KeithRhodes - 1/27/11 11:08 AM

In Reply to: .. by Jwerner2

"What have you been doing the last 10-20 years then? I assume saving money. No one has anything in customer support."

Yes... I buy very few big items like TVs (this is the first in my life) or DVD players (I've bought one in my life, about four years ago).

I often find that I research things for so long, that the item has gone obsolete before I get around to deciding.

K.


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Agree

by leopold55 - 6/6/11 2:22 PM

In Reply to: .. by Jwerner2

<i>"a *terrible* software division and a *hopeless* user interface design
team and which provides documentation and support that are not worth a
fig"</i>

Have to agree, the DLNA client is appallingly primitive and SmartTV cr*p is schoolboy lesson in poor design


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Just one (DLNA) thing.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 6/6/11 2:26 PM

In Reply to: Agree by leopold55

I've yet to see a decent DLNA client. Almost all fail in one way or another.

Fix? Stick a PC or such on it.
Bob


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