Possible to stream FLAC to BDP9700 using DLNA/UPnP ?

[hellochishing]

Im not familiar with UPnP/DLNA. Is it possible to stream FLAC (24/192) to BDP9700 ?

I have tried to setup my Mac Book with XBMC and add FLAC and m4a files to the music library. I could stream m4a to BDP9700 but no luck with FLAC. If I copied the same FLAC file to a USB flash drive and connect the flash drive to BDP9700's front USB port, it plays with perfect sound.

It will quite a waste of the nice 24/192 DAC and UPnP/DLNA capability of BDP9700 if we couldn't stream FLAC, as FLAC is the only lossless format supported by BDP9700. Thank you.

[Stormen]

I think xbmc handles all kinds of formates. But it could be worth a check so that the streaming software doesnt do anything with the file. Sry if I offended xbmc developers here ;-)

[hellochishing]

I was not clear in my first post.

I put the m4a and FLAC file into the same folder of XMBC. BDP9700 could lookup the directory, however only the m4a file is listed in the directory but the FLAC file is not found, so the FLAC file cannot be streamed to play.

If i use the Philips MyRemote iPad App, the FLAC file can be found in SimpleShare (even the album artwork is correctly displayed), if i use MyRemote App to control BDP9700 to play the FLAC file, "Playback device error" is returned.

In addition, I have a ASUS RT-N16 router, which is also has DNLA capability. And the same behaviour is observed if I use my router as the DLNA server.

So it seems it is a software/firmware problem of BDP9700 rather than XMBC problem.

[Toengel]

Hi,

as far as I know, FLAC is not supported via DLNA.

Toengel@Alex

[hellochishing]

Thank you, Toengel.

It is a pity.

[Toengel]

HI,

the DLNA standard does not support all formats.

DLNA Media formats for Home Devices

Imaging
- min: JPEG
- additional: GIF, TIFF, PNG
Audio
- min: LPCM (2 channels)
- additional: MP3, WMA9, AC-3, AAC, ATRAC3plus
Video
- min: MPEG2´
- additional: MPEG1, MPEG4, WMV9

Source: http://www.dlna.org/dlna-for-industr...nical-overview

As lossless you can use LPCM - your DLNA server needs to transcode the FLAC to LPCM on-the-fly.

Toengel@Alex

[hellochishing]

Thank you for the clarification.

[Toengel]

Hi,

however, I cannot find any document which is in more Detail... I'm not sure, if companies are allowed to add more codecs...

Toengel@Alex

[rb2024]

Hi all,

the DLNA standard is an excuse. The standard specifies the minimum DLNA devices have to support and gives additional optional extensions. However, there are lots of DLNA devices out that handle much more, e.g. Twonky servers bundled with some of the Philips equipment. Even Philips implemented such an extensions and e.g. the Streamium MCi8080 plays FLAC provided by a Twonky server (the MCi8080 identifies itself as generic DLNA client with the Twonky server!).

Interestingly, the BDP5500 displays the content of a directory containing FLAC files and even the cover embedded in a FLAC file properly when using SimplyShare over the iDevice MyRemote with a MCi8080 as media server, but refuses to list the FLAC files when browsing the content of a Twonky server directly using the menu of the BDP.

At the end I have a question. Does the "high-end" DBP9700 stream FALC gapless, i.e. without additional gap between track, allowing attacca play back?

Best

rb2024

[hellochishing]

Interestingly, the BDP5500 displays the content of a directory containing FLAC files and even the cover embedded in a FLAC file properly when using SimplyShare over the iDevice MyRemote with a MCi8080 as media server, but refuses to list the FLAC files when browsing the content of a Twonky server directly using the menu of the BDP.

-> Yes the same observation with BDP9700 + my DLNA setup.

I'm not sure, if companies are allowed to add more codecs...

->I think the dlna.org web site only specify the minimum requirement, on the same web page it also said dlna.org encourages companies to include other codecs. So, it seems dlna.org does not limit manufacturer to add additional codecs, it all depends on the product manufacturer.
BTW, I'm still looking for a free DLNA server that support FLAC to LPCM transcode on Mac OS, may be to test sometime later.

[rb2024]

Exactly, extensions to the DLNA minimim are "standard", and Philips implements extensions themself, but apparently just not for the BDP series. Probably they forgot on the DLNA side of their firmware that they added additional CODEC support on the DAC side, as FLAC was added only in the 2012 models. Unfortunately, I fear there is little hope for improvement, as they never fixed the gapless issue solved by most competitors with firmware updates.

[hellochishing]

HI,

the DLNA standard does not support all formats.

DLNA Media formats for Home Devices

Imaging
- min: JPEG
- additional: GIF, TIFF, PNG
Audio
- min: LPCM (2 channels)
- additional: MP3, WMA9, AC-3, AAC, ATRAC3plus
Video
- min: MPEG2´
- additional: MPEG1, MPEG4, WMV9

Source: http://www.dlna.org/dlna-for-industr...nical-overview

As lossless you can use LPCM - your DLNA server needs to transcode the FLAC to LPCM on-the-fly.

Toengel@Alex

Thank you Toengel, I finally found a free DLNA server that transcode the FLAC to LPCM (wav) on Mac OS, "Minimserver".

Interestingly, BDP9700 and the Philips IPAD app unable to find MinimsServer in my home network.

However, an IPAD app from another vendor "Linn" (sorry to mention another brand in this forum) could find both Minimserver (as DLNA source) and BDP9700 (as DLNA client) and I could use the Linn app to stream FLAC to BDP9700 with wav transcode.

The "Linn" app allows me to construct a play list from files on Minimserver to play on BDP97000 but the "Linn" app is unable to control BDP9700 to stop, skip tracks on the play list since it is third party.