Just got a TP-Link router with a built-in DLNA server, but it's not working with my Roku 2 XS (build 9044) Roku Media Player app (4.1.1507); I'm not sure which device is the problem.

First off, I've got a couple of MP4 video files on the router's USB storage. Roku Media Player app can see the router's DLNA server, but it thinks that they are audio files. That is, when I select to view video files on the Roku, it says no compatible files found; when I switch to audio there they are.

If I change the file extensions to M4V, now Roku Media Player properly recognizes them as videos. But when I click to play, it just says "retrieving" for a while, and then "server connection error".

Any tips or insights?

I don't use DLNA, but I do some basic networking debugging at work. I would need a wireshark network trace file to debug your problem.
If that does not mean anything to you then hopefully someone else likely RokuDale can offer some ideas?

How about a network test of some mp3 audio files. That should tell you the process is good.

dgrace wrote:

How about a network test of some mp3 audio files. That should tell you the process is good.

In my tests, mp3 and jpg files do stream successfully from the router to the Roku, so the basic DLNA functionality is good. It's just video files that are a problem. From other discussions out there it seems that it is the router that is mis-identifying the MP4 videos as audio files. But I've not yet been able to isolate the source of the bigger problem, that I can't successfully stream video files (at least the MP4/M4V files that I've tested) even when they are correctly identified by both the router and the Roku. I am going to keep testing with other video file formats, but I've got a bad feeling that this isn't easily fixable.

I wonder if its something about those video files. Can you download mediainfo and check a few? Not all mp4 files are created equal. Maybe its something about a codec used. To get video on my roku I make certain to only use audio in aac (if stereo), or ac3 for stereo or surround. The video codec should be avc h.264. Alternatively I could get a link for a test file for you to download and try, but mefiainfo is small download.

dgrace wrote:

I wonder if its something about those video files.

I have played these files without problem by plugging the USB directly into the Roku, so they're generally okay. I checked the codec info in VLC; pretty sure it's H.264 with aac audio. But it's true that there might still be something about them that the router's DLNA server, or the Roku's DLNA client, doesn't like.

mc510 wrote:

dgrace wrote:

I wonder if its something about those video files.

I have played these files without problem by plugging the USB directly into the Roku, so they're generally okay. I checked the codec info in VLC; pretty sure it's H.264 with aac audio. But it's true that there might still be something about them that the router's DLNA server, or the Roku's DLNA client, doesn't like.

If you want to try a small test video (only about 3mb), here's a link.
http://download.wavetlan.com/SVV/Media/ ... 4100Hz.mp4
As you can see, its AVC h.264 and AAC audio.

I think we have your issue isolated. See this on TP-Link site. They list MP4 as an audio file.
http://www.tp-link.com/en/FAQ-506.html
They may have to remedy with a firmware update.

dgrace wrote:

I think we have your issue isolated. See this on TP-Link site. They list MP4 as an audio file.
http://www.tp-link.com/en/FAQ-506.html
They may have to remedy with a firmware update.

Right, I've come to the same conclusion, and found that if I rename MP4 to M4V (which actually IS more correct for video) then it gets recognized as video. But it still won't stream correctly! I'll give a try with that test file, see if I get any different result.

That link shows that mkv files are supported. I can send you a link to a 20mb mkv, if you'd like.

Okay, I copied the video files to Win7 and used Windows Media Player to successfully stream them to Roku via DLNA, so I think I've confirmed that the problem is not the Roku and must be a shoddy DLNA server implementation on the router. When I've got the time, I'll put OpenWRT and miniDLNA on the router and see if that's any better.

Be a lot quicker to remux the MP4s into MKVs. Look for MKVToolNix. Basically it takes MP4s or any H.264 based format (FLVs you have to demux first) and muxes them into MKVs. No re-encoding, no loss of video quality or audio quality.

Okay, just checking back in to say that I put OpenWRT on my router, with minidlna, and it's now working fine with the same MP4 files. So, no problems with the DLNA client on the Roku; the whole problem was the wonky DLNA server in the default TPlink firmware.

Sweet! Glad to hear you got things straightened out AND that it wasn't the Roku.

Which model was it exactly? I'm sure the firmware features differ through the wide range of TP-Link routers.