NP3900 and SimplyShare?

[jdthood]

Philips has released the SimplyShare Android app which appears to be a DLNA control point. Advertising materials for the app and the app's "Intro" screen show among other things a picture of what looks like the NP3900 music player.

I downloaded the app onto my Android smartphone and started it. The app asked me for an activation code. In the materials I have for my NP3900 I do not find such an activation code.

I guess the app is considered by Philips to be a feature of some of its products, not including my NP3900.

I now wonder if Philips is prepared to furnish owners of the NP3900 with an activation code so that they can use the app to stream content from DLNA devices to the NP3900.

The app looks as if it has similar capabilities to Samsung AllShare. Samsung AllShare is also available on the Android Market, is also free, but does not require an activation code. Samsung AllShare unfortunately has shortcomings serious enough to make it useless to me, and the same is true of all other DLNA control point apps I have tried out so far. I'd like to try SimplyShare. But for that I need an activation code....
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Thomas Hood

[Toengel]

Hi,

as far as I can see, this app is the Twonky Mobile App with Philips customisations...

I'm still waiting for a new SimplyShare subforum, cause I also have some questions.

However, I got a code for the GoGearConnect3 - and I tested this app already...

The NP3900 is shown, cause it has a DLNA client. My TV is also shows, but at the moment nobody knows, which products allow to get such code (only the press release of the GoGearConnect 3 states that SimplyShare App is included).

Toengel@Alex

[Philips - Gary]

I downloaded the app onto my Android smartphone and started it. The app asked me for an activation code. In the materials I have for my NP3900 I do not find such an activation code.

Hi jdthood,

The code will not be in the materials supplied with the NP3900 as the activation code is for the app and does not relate to any specific model of product, also the app was not available when the NP3900 was released.

I have sent some further information to you in a private message regarding the activation code so please check your notifications inbox, we will also look into how we can make the code easier to locate.

Kind regards,

Gary

[smart]

Hi,

is it also possible to get such a code with owning a 42PFL7695K/02?

Is there the plan to release SimplyShare app for iOS?

Seems that Android is getting more and more most supported platform. More and more apps are first available on Android and also I have seen Android only apps where there is no one for iOS.

[Toengel]

Hi,

I think Apple needs to much time to check, if the App corresponds to their rules...

Toengel@Alex

[Paradiddle]

Toengel makes a good point; Apple usually take a long time to certify apps and products as they have many different rules surrounding what they allow into their App Store, etc.

I would also suggest that Philips could be targeting Android as Apple already have their AirPlay feature, perhaps this app is intended to give parity to the 2 platforms ?

[Philips - Gary]

Hi smart,

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm not sure of the exact reason why the app is Android-only at present but we will look into the option of introducing an iOS version.

Unfortunately I cannot confirm at present whether this will be introduced in the future.

Kind regards,

Gary

[jdthood]

Today I tested SimplyShare with my Synology NAS (which includes a DLNA media server) and Philips NP3900. SimplyShare is a nicely designed app. Unfortunately it does not work properly with the Synology box.

Details: After dragging a line from the Synology icon to the NP3900 icon a list dialog pops up. I click on "Artist" and the artist names are listed. I click on an artist name and the list is replaced by the message "Content is not available" (in my local language). Once in a while it does work, but not often enough for the app to be useful to me.

I should add that this problem does not occur when accessing the same server with, e.g., the Android Philips MyRemote app. That app has a different problem, namely, that after scrolling down several pages the content starts to repeat... so I am unable to get past the artists names beginning with 'B', for example. There are DLNA control point apps that have no problem at all listing the contents of the Synology media server.

I am disappointed that SimplyShare does not work under the circumstances in my home network. But I am not surprised, because I have tried about ten other DLNA control point apps and have only found one that works well.

[kwinnie]

i think the simplyshare is a rather nice app. I like it better than the myremote app.

i have a Xperia Play ...I tried Simplyshare with my NP3700... it first showed no files found.... and then i realized that my mp3 files are not in the "music" folder.... then i drag all the songs in the "music folder" ... it then ables to show all...

quite nice if you know the tricks...
also...i tried a stupid experiment... i tried to walk with my phone when it already connected to np3700 via simplyshare for >10m far, there are absolutely no intermittent or anything....you can even control the songs/ volume etc .... well connected

[smart]

Toengel makes a good point; Apple usually take a long time to certify apps and products as they have many different rules surrounding what they allow into their App Store, etc.

Yes, this is true. I have heard of that. Nevertheless, some time ago, Apps were first available on iOS. So the observation is still true. As you can see this one app more which is missing on iOS at the moment.

I would also suggest that Philips could be targeting Android as Apple already have their AirPlay feature, perhaps this app is intended to give parity to the 2 platforms ?

This does not make sense to me. AirPlay is not available within Philips TVs.

[Philips - Gary]

Hi jdthood,

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with the app and your Synology NAS drive.

Do you experience the same issues with other storage options via DLNA, such as from your PC?

Kind regards,

Gary

[Paradiddle]

This does not make sense to me. AirPlay is not available within Philips TVs.

Very true, smart. I was thinking more of the audio products e.g. Fidelio.

[jdthood]

Hi Gary,

I am willing to do more testing if it will help the Philips engineers with debugging.

As I mentioned, Philips SimplyShare cannot list the contents of my Synology DS111 running the latest firmware, DiskStation Manager 3.2. And Philips MyRemote can list some of the contents but not all, as I described above.

The UPnPlay app on the same Android 2.3.3 smartphone lists the contents of the server reliably. So does the 2Player app (which is altogether the best DLNA control point app I have found so far).

Other Android apps such as Samsung AllShare can list the contents but do so excruciatingly slowly (on a Samsung Galaxy S). Other apps that, IIRC, list the contents correctly are: AndroMote, Eyecon, and Skifta. I don't use these apps because they malfunction in other ways.

Other Android apps that fail to list the contents correctly are: Eminent UPnP Player, aMedia Control.

iTunes running on a Mac works flawlessly with the Synology box, but I believe the content is served to iTunes by a distinct server application running on the DS111.
--
Thomas

[Philips - Gary]

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for getting back to me, we will look into the issue reported.

To help with our investigation can you check whether the same issue occurs when accessing your music with the SimplyShare app from a different DLNA source e.g. PC? This would help in determining the cause of the problem.

Kind regards,

Gary

[k1200rs]

What should I do to get the SimplyShare activation code?

Is SimplyShare a rebranding of Twonkymobile? (in that case, I don't need, I have it already).

As far as remote control of DLNA devices, I would also advice all to try Skifta.