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…

• MiniDLNA
• Mediatomb