Mediatomb vs. MiniDLNA
I have been using Mediatomb for nearly two years now but I decided to give MiniDLNA a whirl since it is a fully fledged DLNA server whereas Mediatomb is UPnP only. I am currently running both Mediatomb SVN and MiniDLNA CVS. So, how does MiniDLNA compare to Mediatomb?
- MiniDLNA is easier to compile, configure, uses less RAM and has less software dependencies than Mediatomb.
- MiniDLNA doesn’t currently support music play lists or Last.fm scrobbling. Mediatomb supports .m3u and .pls playlists but requires a 3rd party patch to add Last.fm scrobbling.
- MiniDLNA doesn’t support dynamic video thumbnail creation, which would be nice to have but is not essential, cover images are supported. Mediatomb supports video thumbnailing via ffmpegthumbnailer.
- MiniDLNA doesn’t currently have any transcoding support. This is of little consequence for me since I import video content into my library in a format natively supported by the PS3, either MP3, MPEG-2 TS or MPEG-4. Mediatomb does support transcoding but it is somewhat fiddly to setup and you can’t pause transcoded content.
- MiniDLNA works “out of the box” with the PS3 (and other DLNA clients) while Mediatomb requires some tweaking.
- Mediatomb’s default video import script doesn’t suit how I organise my video library, but MiniDLNA fit my video library perfectly.
So, as of today I am running both Mediatomb and MiniDLNA. Mediatomb is exclusively handling audio since playlist and Last.fm support are essential for me. MiniDLNA is now handling video exclusively. I’m very happy with the results but should MiniDLNA add .m3u/.pls play lists and Last.fm support I will switch everything to MiniDLNA 
I’ve written up my notes on installing Mediatomb SVN (including Last.fm support) and MiniDLNA CVS on Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 Server, get them from the links below…
In: Audio & Video · Tagged with: comparison, DLNA, Linux, Mediatomb, MiniDLNA, server, UPnP, versus
on December 23, 2009 at 4:25 am
· Permalink
Great review and very timely!
We were looking to test this app for Amahi. Based on a user suggestion and your review, we just tried it.
I’m happy to report that we just got MiniDLNA running on Amahi (which is Fedora based) and it has all the advantages you mention and more, so we’re going to package it as a one-click app!
We are using it with the WV TV Live (this is here in the US, not sure if it’s available in your country).
Thanks for your review!
on December 23, 2009 at 9:51 am
· Permalink
@cpg: Thanks for the feedback, glad you found my summary useful. I hadn’t heard of Amahi before, looks like an interesting project. I see Webmin is available for Amahi, maybe you should include the MiniDLNA webmin module too?
http://sourceforge.net/projects/minidlnawebmin/
on December 23, 2009 at 10:26 am
· Permalink
The MiniDLNA author is adding playlist support
Currently only available as a patch, see the tracker below for details…
Music playlist support
on January 9, 2010 at 7:55 pm
· Permalink
I am starting to create a DVD video library for the purpose of streaming to the PS3. I was wondering how you organized your video library and how you got cover art to work with MiniDLNA.
on January 12, 2010 at 1:35 am
· Permalink
@Marcus: Well I use my IMDB-to-MPEG script to organise my video library. As for cover art of video files, I have investigated that for MiniDLNA yet. It is something I am interested in but it a nice to have. I’m currently working with the MiniDLNA author to added .m3u/.pls playlist and Last.fm scrobbling support.
on December 26, 2010 at 4:47 am
· Permalink
[...] Media Tomb vs minidlna [...]
on April 18, 2011 at 7:58 am
· Permalink
Trying to stream a avi + srt to my ps3 using minidlna without any luck… any suggestion?