In article , Johny B Good
wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jun 2014 09:44:44 +0100, Jim Lesurf
wrote:
[big snip]

I'm also curious about the role and point of dlna.


The point, afaik, is that it provides a searchable database of the
media content placed in its charge on the server for use by a decent
streaming client

Ah. I can understand the logic of that on platforms that don't already have
decent filing systems, etc.

and can be configured to transcode certain media file
formats to a form that _can_ be recognised and played by the dnla client
being used.

Ah. That sounds a bit like some of the 'streaming' re-encoders, etc, that
I've come across on Linux. And which I always avoid like a plague as they
so often foul up playback by applying presumptions I don't share with
whoever set them up. :-)

All too often I've found that they not only convert the format in terms
like mp3 to lpcm but resample down in fairly clumsy ways. Hence giving you
44.1k/16 output from a 96k/24 file, having also 'improved' the gain level
without bothering to use dither, etc. PITA. Another example of how
processes neatly hidden from the user can lead to conclusions like "files
of type A sound better than files of type B" in magazines, etc. Ditto for
claims about always playing from ram, etc, etc.

The more options and clever automations are involed without the user
knowing or understanding, the more 'failure modes' there are, and reasons
for 'changes' which end up being blamed on something they can see.

I can sympathise with all this. I've been fighting to understand how a new
NAS is behaving for the last 2-3 days. Slooowly making progress, but not
exactly simple when encountered with no prior experience. The manuals are
goldmine of clear information... not. :-/

[snip interesting example of a 'too clever' such system]

Jim

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