SMP-N100 Video issues

[YorkyUK]

Hi,

I have a Sony SMP-N100 and I'm having issues playing video files via Wi-Fi.

I have a Huawei HG533 Wi-Fi Router which has a USB input that you can connect a USB drive to with media files on it and play the files over Wi-Fi through various media players, Smart TV's, Tablets etc.

When I navigate the Video menus on my SMP-N100, I can find the folder structure for the USB drive, but when I try and play the videos it says "There is no playable file".

However, my SMP-N100 can access the same video files on my Laptop and play them with no issues, so the actual video format is OK. I also have a Sony TV (KDL-32CX523) which can access and play the video files on the USB attached to my Huawei HG533 Wi-Fi Router.

Can anyone suggest why my SMP-N100 wont play the video files on the USB attached to my Huawei HG533 Wi-Fi Router and how I can fix this, if at all?

Thanks in advance...

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Have you enabled SAMBA on your router?

http://www.talktalkmembers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80546&highlight=Samba+Instructions

Cheers

[YorkyUK]

Hi,

Yeah, I have enabled SAMBA on my router and set up an account and I have also enabled DLNA on it too.

Other devices as mentioned can access and play the Video files apart from my SMP-N100 and I'm not sure why?

Message was edited by: YorkyUK

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Lets rule out a couple of things.

1 - I believe that the USB Drive needs to be formatted as FAT32 for it to work via the HG533 router.

2 - Can you play the media files directly from the SMP-N100 itself (as in, plug the USB drive into the USB port on SMP-N100)

Cheers.

[abielby]

Hi,

yeah the drive is formatted as FAT32 and yes I can play the media files directly from the SMP-N100 itself (as in, plug the USB drive into the USB port on SMP-N100).

It's weird because I can stream/playback the Video files to the SMP-N100 from my PC but it doesn't work via the HG533 router.

[Anonymous]

Ok, so far we have confirmed

1 - Video files playback fine via direct USB on SMP-N100

2 - Video files playback fine streaming via laptop to SMP-N100

3 - Your TV can access the video files from the USB port on Router (and SAMBA etc has been enabled)

I was looking at the specifications of the SMP-N100, and have found conflicting information.

- In the Specifications it lists DLNA (Client) - YES (music only)

- In the Manual is say "You can play video/music/photo files on your home server, such as a DLNA certified PC by connecting the player to the home network."

Now there are two things here I think.

- Can you confirm if you can play music (MP3's) to the SMP-N100 via the USB port on the HG533.

- The HG533 USB port is may not be DLNA Certified. May need to conduct some more research on this matter. However there is very little information on the DLNA functions/certification of this router.

Update - I have found out that the HG533 is DLNA certified

http://certification.dlna.org/certs/REG13160146.pdf

But im not sure on the exact file formats

Message was edited by: Quinnicus

[YorkyUK]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for the info and help on this.

I have put some music, photos and videos (all varoius file formats for each class) on the USB drive and plugged it into the router.

My other devices (TV, Laptop) can access them but the SMP-N100 cannot.

I think we can safely say the issue seems to be with the SMP-N100, but I can't see that there are many options in the menu to play around with to make it work.

[Anonymous]

Sorry buddy, Im at a bit of a loss here.

I guess, the only two things left are to see if the firmware is upto date (Network update, p19 of manual)

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/SMP-N100/updates

And maybe perform a factory reset to see if it clears any settings that shouldnt be there.

Give those two things a go, you just never know.

If they dont work, maybe another forum member has any ideas (if they are reading this !!)

Cheers

[YorkyUK]

Hi Mate,

Thx all you efforts on this.

I've found a bit more research that says the SMP-N100 will only play DivX Video files over DLNA, which I have tested and it did work.

I mainly wanted to download Itunes Podcasts to the Router USB storage and then stream this to my SMP-N100 or other devices.

To be fair I find this a bit poor as MP4 is a popular format and the SMP-N100 won't play it over DLNA, despite Sony marketing it as a Network Media Streamer/HUB.

I contacted Sony to ask if they ever plan to update the firmware to allow more video formats to stream over DLNA and they said not for the SMP-N100.

I guess if I want it to work I will have to convert everything to DivX which isn't ideal.