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SMB streaming is a pain because you have to deal with whatever formats you might encounter, plus you have to maintain a local index of content etc if you want to provide any decent kind of UI. Every SMB based streaming device I've used (including very expensive ones) has sucked. DLNA is a much better bet as the server can abstract away all the complexity, and there are a bunch of dlna client apps for ios.

Thanks, I'm glad someone replied, and more so at seeing something to look into. http://www.dlna.org/consumer-h... says: "DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance®) strives to provide more convenience, choices, and enjoyment of digital content through DLNA Certified® devices."

It seems this misses the point. Obviously it requires NEW hardware, and from your own response, clients are not very well known or built in (like say, fat32 disks and SMB shares). I do not blame you or the industry around it. What I fail to see is how there is not even a shadow of a niche to re-use even the most basic format --our own home mp3s:
1) every major mp3 player since Winamp 2 in the nineties has had streaming decoders, (including the OSS Linux players, which would translate to Android ports being just a few code ports away)
2) The world runs on Windows by sheer numbers, SMB is already there holding our music collections. AND it works seamlessly from one Windows PC to the next.

Whatever clever ideas did come up turned into cloud solutions. It is horrible to (pay|lose-privacy) to be forced to reach out with our metaphorical arm all the way around the internet just to bring that arm around to touch our own noses.
The fact that nobody talks about Windows 7+'s' weird "Homegroup" shares and other "Discovery" daemons built around Windows Media Player is a tell-tale that something is forcibly wrong with our expectations even for those half-assed non-mobile solutions. Since we need third party streaming software, boxes like chromecast and clouds to use our own stuff, it's almost like a reality distortion field was erected before we realized we SHOULD be able to enjoy our own music or pictures without duplicating our giant collections.

It doesn't even come with a remote, you have to supply one yourself!

This is a feature, not a bug. I have too damn many remotes as is. I've taken to using my Android phone as a remote for my XBMC boxes and a couple of TVs.

The only feature I see missing on this is playing local networked media. DLNA compatibility would do it.

These days all you really need is a powerful laptop & a smart HDTV connected to it

Except nobody* wants to connect a computer to a TV.

And these days you dont need too, My TV has an enternet jack and DLNA means I can pull or push any media i like to/from it

Grab a cheaper bluray player that supports DLNA, or if you have DirecTV the newest updates for some of the units with ethernet jacks support DLNA.. hell even a lot of TV's now do.. Plug bluray/tv/directv receiver into your LAN, setup a DLNA server, and you're done. Period.

http://www.obsessable.com/feature/home-media-streaming-101-dlna-explained/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance

http://www.dlna.org/digital_living/how_it_works/

http://www.rbgrn.net/content/21-how-to-choose-dlna-media-server-windows-mac-os-x-or-linux

There's a few helpful links for you. No need for a PC for the client side, and can setup the DLNA server on a choice of OS's. Don't over-complicate things

I use a PC with PlayOn to stream to my PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, and an XBOX with XBMC. It will actually stream to any device that is DLNA compliant. There is an active plugin group where you can request or submit plugins for different sites. Since I am seeing many of the newer Blu-Ray players come with DLNA baked in I would look for one of those if a gaming console isn't what you have or want.

Hey! I have countered the entire list before. Let's go!

1080p BluRay movies over component
1080p Games over component
BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies

Very few people care about HDTV. The install base for HDTV is fairly small and it's dubious what the overlap between console gamers and home theater enthusiasts really is. In a couple of years that might be more of a feature, but at present, HDTV is still in the early adopter stage.

Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony

Big deal. Nintendo and Microsoft both offer this.

DLNA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/

Learn to link. Big deal. Microsoft and Nintendo offer similar features. My TiVo offers similar features at half the price, and I've never used them. (For people who have no clue WTF this is, it's essentially a "view your pictures and play your music from your computer over your network" system. Not terribly useful.

Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3

Wrong. You'll need an adapter to use PS1/PS2-style memory cards, and the PS3 controller ensures that full backwards compatibility is impossible as it removes controller features that the PS1 and PS2 support.

Linux

Again, no one cares. PS2 had Linux on it, XBox got hacked for Linux, it's simply not a selling point worth mentioning.

Online movie and music store

Sort of like the free online movie and music that I get through my cable service? The stuff I never use?

Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
Tilt controller

Guess what? Nintendo does them both at less than half the cost!

Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3

Actually, Capcom has apparently pulled DMC4 from the PS3 and is instead going to release it on the XBox360 and Wii instead. Plus there is large developer support for both the XBox360 and Wii. Finally developer support will center around whichever console is most popular. It's not a big deal at this point.

All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives

For more than it would cost to just blow the $100 (cost of a single game, natch) and buy the full version.

For 100 dollars more you get:

60 gig harddrive
WiFi
HDMI

Stuff that should be standard. I'd love to know where Sony's getting thier hands on old 20 and 60 GB harddrives, the smallest sold in most stores now is 80GB. Or are these the 2.5 inch (laptop) drives? In which case the "buy them in stores and upgrade them yourself" market just got a hair smaller.

Hey! I have countered the entire list before. Let's go!

1080p BluRay movies over component
1080p Games over component
BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies

Very few people care about HDTV. The install base for HDTV is fairly small and it's dubious what the overlap between console gamers and home theater enthusiasts really is. In a couple of years that might be more of a feature, but at present, HDTV is still in the early adopter stage.

Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony

Big deal. Nintendo and Microsoft both offer this.

DLNA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/

Learn to link. Big deal. Microsoft and Nintendo offer similar features. My TiVo offers similar features at half the price, and I've never used them. (For people who have no clue WTF this is, it's essentially a "view your pictures and play your music from your computer over your network" system. Not terribly useful.

Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3

Wrong. You'll need an adapter to use PS1/PS2-style memory cards, and the PS3 controller ensures that full backwards compatibility is impossible as it removes controller features that the PS1 and PS2 support.

Linux

Again, no one cares. PS2 had Linux on it, XBox got hacked for Linux, it's simply not a selling point worth mentioning.

Online movie and music store

Sort of like the free online movie and music that I get through my cable service? The stuff I never use?

Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
Tilt controller

Guess what? Nintendo does them both at less than half the cost!

Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3

Actually, Capcom has apparently pulled DMC4 from the PS3 and is instead going to release it on the XBox360 and Wii instead. Plus there is large developer support for both the XBox360 and Wii. Finally developer support will center around whichever console is most popular. It's not a big deal at this point.

All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives

For more than it would cost to just blow the $100 (cost of a single game, natch) and buy the full version.

For 100 dollars more you get:

60 gig harddrive
WiFi
HDMI

Stuff that should be standard. I'd love to know where Sony's getting thier hands on old 20 and 60 GB harddrives, the smallest sold in most stores now is 80GB. Or are these the 2.5 inch (laptop) drives? In which case the "buy them in stores and upgrade them yourself" market just got a hair smaller.

The $499 PS3:

1080p BluRay movies over component
BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies
DLNA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/
1080p Games over component
Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony
Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3
Linux
Online movie and music store
Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
Tilt controller
Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3
All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives

For 100 dollars more you get:

60 gig harddrive
WiFi
HDMI

27 playable games are going to be shown at the upcoming TGS. HD-DVD sales are in the toilet, while Sony has been stockpiling hundreds of thousands of BluRay drives to launch in a couple million PS3s in November. 1080p sets are dropping in price like mad right now. Every electronic store is pimping 1080p sets with older sets getting pushed into the back. You will almost certainly be able to get a 1080p set for less than a grand by the start of next year. And here comes Sony with the cheapest 1080p HD BluRay player...

Pre-orders are stronger than the 105+ million selling PS2 - and the demand is greatest for the 60gig/HDMI PS3.

Falter? There are only two places Sony and the PS3 is faltering...the daily Zonk tirade here on Slashdot and teamxbox.com.

And it's aendeuryu.

Congrats nimrod! You're Slashdot's Idiot of the Day!

With Microsoft's 360 dead in Japan. Dying in Europe. And selling worse than the first 360 in the US. And selling a miserable 3 million units worldwide after 8 months on the market - worse than their first 5 billion dollar marketplace fiasco with the first Xbox.

And with Nintendo giving up trying to compete technologically by coming out with an overclocked GameCube with a pointer bolted on.

And with Sony selling 100+ million Playstation consoles on their first foray into the console market.

And with Sony selling 106+ million Playstation 2 consoles in their second entry in the console market.

And now with the PS3 Sony is about to put out:

The $499 PS3:

1080p BluRay movies over component
BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies
DLNA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/
1080p Games over component
Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony
Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3
Linux
Online movie and music store
Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
Tilt controller
Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3
All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives

For 100 dollars more you get:

60 gig harddrive
WiFi
HDMI

Yep, aendeuryu, poor liddle Sony...

I wonder when Myth will support DLNA. It's a really cool way of streaming media off a server to be viewable by a television, basically. And all the big manufactureres are getting certified for it RIGHT NOW.

The $499 PS3:

1080p BluRay movies over component
BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies
DLNA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/
1080p Games over component
Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony
Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3
Linux
Online movie and music store
Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
Tilt controller
Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3
All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives

For 100 dollars more you get:

60 gig harddrive
WiFi
HDMI

Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo, Ratchet and Clank, that Naughty Dog Jungle Game, Lair, Heavenly Sword, God of War...

Internal power supply.
The PS3 is supposed to be as quiet as the new model PS2 - very quiet.

The $499 PS3:

1080p BluRay movies over component
BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies
DNLA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/
1080p Games over component
Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony
Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3
Linux
Online movie and music store
Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
Tilt controller
Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3
All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives

For 100 dollars more you get:

60 gig harddrive
WiFi
HDMI

Pre-orders are already being taken a stores in all three major territories - Europe, Japan, and the US.

Wow, it's only July and the anti-PS3 hype is already at a fever pitch. Those latest abysmal 360 sales figures must have stung...

Your company sold 100+ million consoles on its first effort in the console market.
Your company sold 105+ million console so far in its second effort in the console market.
Your company is outselling one of your 'competitors' newest console for 6 of its first 7 months on the market with your six year old current console.
Your rival Nintendo has given up trying to compete technologically with you in their next console and is turning to gimmicks like the Wii's pointing device.

And your third console looks like this:

The $499 PS3:

1080p BluRay movies over component
BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies
DNLA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/
1080p Games over component
20gig hardrive
Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony
Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3
Linux
Online movie and music store
Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
Tilt controller
Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3
All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives

And the $599 PS3:

60 gig harddrive
WiFi
HDMI

Arrogant? No.

Confident.

> 1080p BluRay movies over component

Check. People have been running 1080p sets over component for some time now. The number of 1080p sets with component support will continue to grow.

> BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies

This sounds very cool, but will have to see an actual real life demo before drawing a final judgement

> DNLA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/ [dlna.org]

This is pretty shocking news - DNLA is the hot new home tech - if the PS3 really is fully DNLA compliant then units are going to fly off the shelves just from the home AV crowd. DNLA is something that is going to get better and better over time.

> 1080p Games over component

Yep. The PS3 is the only system powerful enough to handle 1080 games.

> Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony

Yep. Sony has confirmed this fact about a thousand times over the past few months.

>Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
> Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3

I think the confusion over this one is that Sony has a background project working on a pure software only PS2 emulation solution - but it has been known since last year straight from Kutagari that they were going with including the necessary PS2 chips in the PS3

> Linux

Yep. Known for a long time. The details remain to be set forth.

> Online movie and music store

I've heard Sony talk about this but I'm not sure if they have talked about their PS3 plans - don't doubt that they will regardless.

> Webbrowsing and other desktop apps

I'm not sure if you will be able to do this from the normal PS3 boot or only when you have Linux running.

> Tilt controller

Yep. Reports from people who've used it sound very promising.

> Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3

Yep. Obvious from the release lists of games.

> All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable

It sounds like this is true.

> Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives

This is probably one of the coolest features we've learned about recently.

> All PS3 games are going to be region free.

And this too, very, very, very cool. And confirmed.

Compared to the meh looking Wii games with the pointing device gimmick and the 360 trainwreck the PS3 at 499 looks mind boggling cool.

There are about four more months until the PS3 hits the shelves and Zonk Microsoft's prime FUDster is running out of material.

The $499 PS3:

1080p BluRay movies over component
BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies
DNLA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/ [dlna.org]
1080p Games over component
Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony
Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3
Linux
Online movie and music store
Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
Tilt controller
Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3
All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives
All PS3 games are going to be region free.

For 100 dollars more you get:

60 gig harddrive
WiFi
HDMI

The anti-PS3 FUD isn't even fun anymore. It has become boring.

There are about four more months until the PS3 hits the shelves and Zonk Microsoft's prime FUDster is running out of material.

The $499 PS3:

1080p BluRay movies over component
BluRay Live support - additional dynamic content updates and information for movies
DNLA compliance - http://www.dlna.org/home/
1080p Games over component
Free online play for all non-MMORPG titles - confirmed over and over again by Sony
Full backwards compatibility for all PS1 titles
Full backwards compatiblity for all PS2 titles - PS2 chips included in the PS3
Linux
Online movie and music store
Webbrowsing and other desktop apps
Tilt controller
Every single developer that supported the PS2 onboard with their games for the PS3
All parts of the system except the HDMI port are upgradeable
Harddrive upgradeable with stadard store bought drives
All PS3 games are going to be region free.

For 100 dollars more you get:

60 gig harddrive
WiFi
HDMI

The anti-PS3 FUD isn't even fun anymore. It has become boring.

That's the real catch. After years in a coma, UPnP is getting more popular in NAS that can advertise and stream multimedia content to Digital Multimedia Adapters directly connected to Home Theater gear, whithout the need of a controlling PC/media server.

I recently tested Maxtor's Shared Storage Plus with a 37" Acer LCD TVwith integrated media gateway. Just plug the two devices to the same network (or hook them to the same wireless router) and you get on the TV a list of photos, videos and music you have on the hard drive. You can choose the desired content using the remote control - in a Media Center/MythTV-like interface - and enjoy the show.

This kind of technology is likely to receive a big boost after the release of the next version of the Intel's Viiv platform, which will include some media server capabilities, based on Digital Living Network Alliance and Networked Media Product Requirements. Such features should be available without the need of booting Windows XP. That's what will really make Viiv stand out from normal multimedia PCs.

I'm an Apple fanboy, and love Bonjour, but I think that it needs a big push toward non-PC and consumer electronics devices to compete with UPnP and Viiv. Or maybe Apple should try to join the DLNA and steer it toward Bonjour (unlikely).

DLNA, the digital living network alliance, http://www.dlna.org/about is a group working on standards to make it streamlined for your TV to grab files off your windows server, linux server, mp3 player, et cetera. Basically makes all your devices share the media together. I know nothing about it other than the roughest overview, but if anyone else knows of it please comment.