[Guide] A Galaxy S and other androids DLNA

Note: This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide, but rather a starter's guide to get you on your feet. If you want to add more contents to this thread, feel free to do so. If you want to post this guide somewhere else, also feel free to do so, but do give credit where it is due.

Wikipedia's definition of DLNA: The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is a non-profit collaborative trade organization comprised of more than 250 member companies[3] in the mobile, consumer electronics, PC, and service provider industries. Alliance members have stated the common goal of using standards-based technology to make it easier for consumers to use, share and enjoy their digital photos, music and videos.

What this mean is that DLNA allows you to stream videos, pictures and music across multiple platforms without the need to actually transfer the file itself. Streaming between hardwares that comes with the DLNA label is easy. However, if you do not have a wifi capable TV, the next best option would be to stream to a computer screen instead. And here is what you need:

A Galaxy S (or a Captivate for our dear U.S. buddies)
A wifi capable computer - which can be a laptop or a computer connected to a wifi router.
Windows Media player 12 (Windows 7 only) or XBMC.
PC Share Manager is no longer necessary for streaming to Galaxy S. Hurray
Samsung PC Share Manager. Download HERE. Click on Software.

Streaming to computer

Step 1 :

Connect both computer and Galaxy S to the same wifi network router. If you are using a Desktop, plug it into a wireless router, and then connect the Galaxy S to the router. If you are using a laptop, either connect wirelessly to the router or plug it in, and do the same for the Galaxy S. (Windows 7 Only You can also connect the Galaxy S to your laptop directly using Connectify. In practice, this works the best for streaming large videoes. )

Step 2 :

Launch DLNA on your Galaxy S. Wait for it to finish loading. (when the spinning circles stop.)

Step 3 :

Launch Windows Media Player 12. Go to library. You should see Galaxy S under "Other Libraries". Choose whatever you want to stream from your phone, and it should work.

Alternative:
Launch XBMC. Now this is a little more tricky. You will have to add the folders yourself. E.g. Go to video -> add source -> Browse -> UPnP Devices -> Galaxy S. Here you see 3 folders with messed up names. You will have to figure out which is which by trial and error. On my laptop, the first one is picture, the second is video and the 3rd is music. Yours might be different. Once you have added the folders in, you can play them normally.

Streaming to Galaxy S

Step 1:

Unfortunately, neither WMP nor XBMC supports this. Instead, you will have to use Samsung PC Share Manager, which you can download above. Download and install it.

UPDATE:
c2k from AndroidForums and ssj4Gogeta1 from xdaDevelopers found a way to browse media files through WMP 12. Thank you guys.

Quote:

Open Network and Sharing Center. Click on "Change Advanced Sharing Settings" in the left pane. Expand "Home or Work" Make sure Network Discovery and File Sharing are turned on. I've also turned off password protected sharing, don't know if it makes a difference. Click on "Media Streaming Options" on that page. Make sure your phone is connected to your computer via a network. The network type should be set as "home" ("work" should work too), not "public". Streaming only works on home networks. Select "All networks" from the "Show devices on:" dropdown list. My phone was listed as "unknown device". Select "Allow" next to it. (You need to turn to DLNA on your Galaxy S first, and it might take a while for your PC to detect the phone. Patience, my young padawan.) Now open Allshare on your phone. Select "Play file on a server through my phone", select the server (your computer), and you should be able to browse your music library. If you want to push songs from your phone to WMP, you can open WMP and from the "Stream" menu select "Allow remote control". You can then push songs/videos/pictures from your phone to WMP by selecting the "Play file from my phone on another player" in Allshare. If you can't set "Media Streaming Options" on your computer, you probably have "Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service" disabled. You need to set it to Automatic start. Open start menu, type in "services.msc", hit enter. Find the service and set it to automatic by double clicking on it. For some reason I still can't push songs from WMP to my phone using the "play to" option in WMP, even though I have "upload from other devices" set to "always accept" in Allshare settings. Browsing the computer's library in Allshare works fine.

Step 2 :

Launch Samsung PC Share Manager. Use the left panel to select the folders you want to share, then press the icon with a “tick” on top of a folder to share the folder. Once you have added all the folders you would like to share, go to share, set device policy. If your Galaxy S is connect t the same network as your laptop, you should be able to see it here. Click Accept.

Step 3 :

Restart PC Share Manager.

Now you should be able to browse the folders on your Galaxy S.

Q & A

Q. Can I choose what to play on my laptop by browsing through my Galaxy S, instead of through WMP or XBMC?
A. No. For some reason this doesn’t work on a laptop/computer. However, there is sort of a work around for XBMC. I will explain this later in a different thread.

Q. Apart from WMP and XBMC, what other programmes can I use?
A. Check this page for details. I haven’t had time to try the rest yet. But do know that XBMC supports its own android remote app natively without the need to install another server app on your computer, and can be run at the same time as DLNA.

Q. Help! Some of the files cannot be played on my computer.
A. No idea. Try using another program.

Q. Help! Some of the files won’t appear on my Galaxy S
A. Files that cannot be played on your Galaxy S (as in if you have the file in the phone) won’t appear.

via androidforums.com