If you playing Windows 7’s Play To feature please check and update the “Play To” wiki page created by Simon May. With the feature being new to Windows but with a whole range of devices supporting DLNA there is a need for a community created repository of Play To experiences.

I have I have tested Windows 7 with other Windows 7 PCs, a Roku Soundbridge 1000 and a HP MediSmart Extender. So far the only thing that worked flawlessly is Windows 7 to Windows 7, the other devices all seem to have there own quirks.

Window 7 to Windows 7 works great, I tried Play To with Recorded TV, a H.264 file and a WMV file. I tested it from a desktop PC to a Samsung NC10 netbook and the playback was great.

My old Roku Soundbridge 1000 worked ok as long as you connect the Soundbridge up to the host PC before hand and you only play content stored on the local PC, so I couldn’t play to the Soundbridge from content stored on my Media Center via my Netbook as you should be able to do. Apart from that issue it worked fine, I could play, pause and control the volume

The other device I tested was a HP MediaSmart Extender, this didn’t work so well with music. You can select a track to Play To (from any store) and the track will look like its going to play, the album art and the meta data displays but to actually get it to play you have to press play from the MediaSmart’s remote control. The transport controls didn’t work and play list didn’t work either. Video and Recorded TV content worked better, I could stream recorded TV from my Media Center PC via my netbook and that worked fine, this time the transport controls worked and I could even use the seek bar in Windows Media Play. Pictures also worked fine.

So from my limited testing you can see there are a range of features and quirks on each devices hence the need for the wiki, I am sure some of the manufactures will update there firmware and improve the DLNA support as Windows 7 becomes more widespread. So please test any devices you have and update the wiki

4 thoughts on “My Windows 7 Play To experiences on the Play To Wiki”
  1. I have a mediasmart connect too. I haven’t tried Windows 7 media center yet although I am running the beta.
    There are 2 sides (as I call them) to the HP MediaSmart Connect so I had a question. Are you saying you are playing the content to the HP Media (DLNA) side of the HP MediaSmart connect or to the Windows Media Center (Green Button) side of the MediaSmart connect ?

  2. ‘Play To’ allows me to send MP3s and WMAs to my SONOS Zones (ZP100s).

    Oddly one was initially blocked whilst the others were ready to go from the off.

    I’ve only had a little look around so not sure if this is of any use to (ie Sync all Zones).

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