Review: DVBLink for Android

Last year I reviews DVBLink for iOS and DVBLink for Windows Phone and now that I have Android phone (Samsung Galaxy Note) I thought I would take a look at the Android version of DVBLink. As with the other DVBLink apps the Android version is free and can be found in the Android Market.

The Android version has the same features as the Windows Phone and iOS version but has subtile differences. In the Windows Phone version there is only one setting for the DVBLink server which meant that if you setup DVBLink connection via your local network IP address you would have to manually edit the IP address to your internet facing IP when you want to stream TV over the internet. With the iOS version you can specify multiple servers to get round this limitation and the Android version address it a different way by having settings for local connections and internet connections so you can switch between profiles as you need also the bitrate can be set independently for each profile so you can set a lower rate for the slower internet connection.

Apart from the connection settings the main functions work the same on all platforms. You can browse the Media Center EPG, schedule recordings (including series recordings) and watch live TV. When you browse the EPG you get a grid view of the TV shows, you can scroll up and down the channels and scroll right to go through the time line.

Pressing on a TV shows takes you to the information page where touching the on the menu button gives you the option of recording the show or scheduling a series record.

You can also search for a TV show by typing in the TV programme name.

When I reviewed the Windows Phone and Android version I noticed that each version’s look and feel was specifically designed for the operating system it was running on, so the Windows Phone version has the metro design and the iOS version has a familiar iOS style. The Android version follows the same pattern and has the look and feel of an Android app, in fact this means that I found the Android version a little less intuitive than the Windows Phone version due to it using the menu button to get around the app.

When I used the Windows Phone version I found a problem with standby:

One issue I did find and this problem happened on the other Windows Phone apps is that if phone goes in to standby then you turn it back on the phone will display a connection error and you have to reconnect to the server

This isn’t a problem with the Android version, I found you could go off and do other things with the phone and switch back to the app with no issues.

Using it on the Galaxy Note works really well, the big screen is ideal for watching TV and the Android version of DVBLink works as well as the iOS and Windows Phone version. It good to know which ever platform you use there is a great DVBLink client.