Stream to BRAVIA

mranderson · 28 Jan 2013 at 12:11

Is it possible to stream mkv files to a Sony BRAVIA TV? It is connected to the NAS (Synology) and will play music, photos and some video files but not mkv (getting only audio and occasionally a very distorted/pixelated image).

TheVoice · 28 Jan 2013 at 12:14

You'd need to transcode them on-the-fly, unfortunately I doubt that's something your NAS would be capable of.

mranderson · 29 Jan 2013 at 08:03

I would have thought that a 1.6GHz CPU (NAS) would be better suited for transcoding than whatever a TV has.

randomshenans · 29 Jan 2013 at 10:51

Get yourself a Boxee or similar? I found that TV playback of files in patchy dependent on the file type and brand of TV.

mranderson · 30 Jan 2013 at 16:29

They play fine when streaming from the NAS to ipad/phones so not sure why the TV is so picky

Confused · 30 Jan 2013 at 16:59

Probably because the TV doesn't have the right codecs built into it - you'll get this as newer codecs are released - these devices with playback built in will be unable to play them.

Yaayuh! · 30 Jan 2013 at 17:10

Good luck with that.
I don't think Sony have got the MKV codecs down yet with streaming on TVs. I have 2 and they can stream stuff fine except for MKVs, and that's using a range of transcoders. It's been a big issue for many owners. Don't hold your breath on updates to fix it either unless it's a new model released mid 2012 onwards.
If i were you, just get a boxee..

TheVoice · 1 Feb 2013 at 17:24

My Bravia is awful for media playback, though I've always used my PS3 anyway so it hasn't been an issue for me. If I didn't have a console I'd probably use a WDTV Live or something.

GSXRMovistar · 1 Feb 2013 at 17:49

Using ISedora here to stream to my daughters Bravia, seems to work okay if not the nicest of interfaces.

niggyg · 1 Feb 2013 at 22:21

Mkv is the container for the video file, there could be any any type of video inside the file. So more detail on the file and the TV model might help. A Boxee box was mentioned earlier. I'd cast my vote on a Raspberry Pi with XBMC, it's what I use and it works flawlessly for what you describe.

mranderson · 2 Feb 2013 at 14:23

Got already a quite powerful HTPC that streams everything without any sweat. The NAS also will play everything with VLC so I guess it is powerful enough.

TheVoice · 3 Feb 2013 at 11:48

It's not the NAS that's playing the file in that instance though, it's VLC. If the client (in this case the TV) isn't compatible with the file format, you need the 'server' to transcode the file from MKV into a format that the client can play.

If you have the HTPC though, surely you can just use that for viewing MKVs?