Universal Media Server | Forum

[Forum admins : Please forgive me if this post sounds naive and / or originating in some fundamental lack of knowledge or information. That being the case don’t hesitate to let me know and remove it from the forum]


I am brand new to, and until recently a perfect layman in, all things DLNA.

As I have now started connecting a lot of objects in my house I needed to understand the capabilities of DLNA and acquire the basic operating concepts of the scheme. After several days of intensive googling I became acquainted with the basic principles and the first practical thing I did was to select UMS to make our iMacs behave as DLNA servers on our wireless home network.

Soon after I was beaming with pride when my wife congratulated me for having managed to make our iTunes libraries wirelessly accessible from our SONY TV, our PHILIPS TV or SAMSUNG Bluray player. (The fact that we have a SONOS multiroom audio system makes it perfectly pointless to access our iTunes libraries from the TVs or the Bluray but I was nevertheless happy to see my first practical configuration of DLNA in action).



UMS allowed me to access the iTunes libraries on the Macs just out of the box. No configuration was needed after installation. (The warm congratulations of my wife were therefore a bit undeserved but I chose to pass that).


Other things I have not managed to do and this is where I am seeking help, please :

1. The TVs will not display any .jpg file (photos), in particular those sitting in our iPhoto libraries *. This is something that I need to make work because it is the main purpose of linking the Macs and the TVs (and is essential for the congratulatory talk to continue, not to mention for it to finally find some genuine justification). When, on the TV, I navigate to a folder containing .jpg files, irrespective of whether they are part or not of the iPhotos library, the TV says there are no files to display. The UMS log says
“WARN Unhandled exception while resolving iPhoto Library : null “
“WARN Unhandled exception while resolving <.jpg file with photo> : null “
and sometimes
“The file <.jpg file with photo> could not be parsed. It will be hidden”

* Note : however, the Photos libraries can be displayed, no problem.

Any help available please ? Migrate from iPhoto to Photos ? What about .jpg files ?


2. Is UMS capable of making available internet content to a renderer ? For instance, can a YouTube video that I am watching in a browser on the Mac be accessed by the TV ? If yes, how ?

3. Is UMS capable of making accessible by the TV the screen of the Mac ? If yes, how ?

4. I have a Chromecast plugged into one of the TVs. To pull content out of the Macs and push it into the Chromecast I tried to use the BubbleUPnP UPnP/DLNA app on my Android phone as a controller. I didn’t obtain any results but feel I have not yet tried it sufficiently hard. Meanwhile, if any help is available …

5. More generally, in DLNA terms, I understand UMS is a server. As such, renderers and controllers can PULL media content OUT of the device where UMS is installed. But UMS cannot (correct me if I’m wrong) PUSH content to a renderer. As a Mac buff I don’t use any Windows stuff. But some reading on the internet about the DLNA capabilities of Windows Media Player made me a bit jealous. It looks like WMP is capable of detecting what renderers are around (as UMS does) and, after you select some media, you can say “Play To … <renderer>”. Wouldn’t that be nice if after installation of UMS on a Mac when you select a source the right-click contextual menu gives you a command “Play To … <renderer>” ?


Thanks in advance for any help / guidance you may be willing to pass to me on these topics.

1. Don't know sorry, if you follow the steps mentioned here: Problem reporting guidelines, maybe one of the developers can give you a qualified answer. (Or maybe as you say, migrate to Photos (isnt that the "new" photo app by Apple?))
2. No, well.. it's possible but it's not very well integrated..and youtube via DLNA is most likely not what you want. ( some may disagree )
3. No
4. I havent used Chromecast, but i think you should be able to access UMS directly from it's user interface.
5. The most common method is requesting the media from the renderer/player, but it is infact possible to "push" media on to a device aswell, and that can also be done by a 3rd part controller (as you mention BubbleUPnP)
You can also do it from UMS, go to status tab and click the icon of you renderer. A popup window should appear, and here you can send a file to the renderer.

Regarding your "Play to <render>" idea. Not bad, i think that is worth posting here: Feature Suggestions

Thanks for the clarification and suggestions

UMS web interface can already be used for "play to renderer" function.