Why use DLNA?

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

Many years ago, before EMBY (Media Browser) or Plex really existed I experimented with using DLNA for my media playback. I found that it worked but was clumsy and often less than reliable.

 

Since I was using a Roku and an Android box I kept looking for better and more reliable solutions.

 

A couple of solutions appeared that used different systems in the form of client/server for the Roku and those were RoxsBox (Which used Apache) and Chaneru (Which used a propitiatory server) and both worked OK and both worked better that the DLNA solutions that I had tested. But neither retrieved their own metadata so another tool had to be used to populate the database so metadata would show.

 

At about that time Plex and MediaBrowser appeared (or at least came to my attention) but the early versions of both solutions had major limitations in the form of bugs and speed issues but there was clearly the potential for one or the other or both to become the solution I would settle upon.

 

There was also PlayOn but I tested and found, for me, there was no advantages and a number of disadvantages.

 

At about this point I completely abandoned any attempt to use or even investigate DLNA.

 

As the various sources evolved and MediaBrowser became EMBY I decided on Plex for my streaming because it was more mature than EMBY.

 

A few years later the Plex ecosystem changed and they became almost totally unresponsive to their users and were moving in a direction that I could not support so I looked at Emby again and found a product and support system that was vastly superior to Plex so I am now using Emby exclusively.

 

Now we come to my questions. Emby retains DLNA support, which I have turned off, and I see many threads with questions and problems involving DLNA and I did not want to hijack any of those so I decided to ask separately here.

 

Why does anyone continue to use DLNA for streaming?

Is there any reason to use DLNA over the native EMBY streaming.

I noticed the DLNA is on by default I alwys turn it off. Is there any reason not to and why is it on by default.

 

Thanks for any answers.

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  The only reason to use DLNA would be to access your Emby media from a device without any other way of doing so.

 

If you don't need this then, yes, disable the DLNA feature in the server.

 

It is on be default because, if it weren't, people would just think we didn't support it.

 

Does that answer all of your questions?

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

Hi.  The only reason to use DLNA would be to access your Emby media from a device without any other way of doing so.

 

If you don't need this then, yes, disable the DLNA feature in the server.

 

It is on be default because, if it weren't, people would just think we didn't support it.

 

Does that answer all of your questions?

 

Pretty much. Thanks.

 

Are there a lot of "devices" that support DLNA but do not have an actual Emby app? If so what other functionality do those devices have that makes them desirable?

 

Is there a lot of overhead in the code dedicated to DLNA and does it in any way put any load on Emby if DLNA is turned off and does retaining DLNA support put any limitation on the continued evolution of Emby?

 

Thanks again.

[ebr 16169]

Are there a lot of "devices" that support DLNA but do not have an actual Emby app? If so what other functionality do those devices have that makes them desirable?

 

No.  These would mostly be things like a BluRay player.

 

DLNA won't hold us back from anything.

 

Thanks.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

No.  These would mostly be things like a BluRay player.

 

DLNA won't hold us back from anything.

 

Thanks.

 

Thank you very much. All my questions about this have now been answered.

 

I see there is no need for me to buy a device for use with DLNA and there is no reason for  me to turn DLNA back on.

 

You have been helpful and FAST. But you are no good at saying things that would start an argument. Now what can I do for fun?