As such, in time, it becomes difficult to know where the DLNA spec ends and the manufacturers' customizations begin. Like many alliances, vendors grow weary of debating the merits of their enhanced feature suggestions in hopes of gaining formal ratification in the published standard. Unfortunately, not all DLNA devices are built the same. We even managed to sneak a Galaxy S in to share some photographs. And the fact that we could use the Desire Z to select compatible media from our Windows 7 laptop (Microsoft built DLNA support into the OS) and Mac running the Twonky Server (sold separately) was just icing on the cake. Nothing to get too worked up over, mind you, because when it worked (which was most of the time) it was fantastic and dead simple to operate. Other issues that frustrated the experience included the occasional WiFi dropouts, and our inability to ever get the Media Link to work with our home theater projector. We were disappointed to discover the lack of album art support on streamed music and our inability to fast forward or rewind our streaming audio or video - you can only skip to the next or previous items in the playlist. Foibles ranged from the wrong picture being displayed when selecting individual images from a photo album, volume controls not responding, unexpected delays or resets, and large videos unceremoniously quitting (and requiring a restart from the beginning) while trying to scrub forward or back. In general, streaming content that the Media Link recognized (more on that later) stored on our HTC Desire Z worked most of the time - we'd say about one in ten uses resulted in some kind of unexpected behavior. Same with our on-device audio collection and the images and video captured by the Desire Z's camera - it just worked. ![]() This worked perfectly, whether the Media Link was setup as its own WiFi hotspot or as a member of our home WiFi network (located about 30 feet from our wireless router) without any hiccups in performance, thus erasing our initial frustration with the projector setup. ![]() You won't be regularly streaming 1080p Matroska Blu-ray rips from your storage constrained handset so we began our testing with a real-world scenario: using the Connected Media app found on the Desire Z to stream The Engadget Show podcast video already synchronized to our handset. Situations ideally accompanied by a set of small but powerful portable travel speakers. The Media Link is so portable that you're bound to pack it up and use it in situations where a decent amplifier isn't available - like, say, in a conference room with a projector or connected to a hotel room TV. One thing that we miss is a 3.5-mm jack to give us more control over the audio output. The only other remarkable physical feature on the Media Link is an unremarkable button on the front with an LED indicator letting you know if the device is on and serving up WiFi. Not that these are complaints, it's just surprising to see a media streamer this small when we're used to the relative bulk of more traditional streamers from Roku, Western Digital, and Popcorn Hour. As a result, the streamer's placement is easily overwhelmed by the tension of the attached microUSB-to-USB and miniHDMI-to-HDMI cables that come bundled with the device. The DLNA 1.5 hardware is easily dwarfed by HTC's modular wall plug (which is already pretty small). It's so small that we thought that our friendly government import agents had stolen it from the box that had obviously been jimmied open for inspection while en route to our European test lab. It measures just 71.5 x 45 x 8-mm which is about two-thirds the length and width of a credit card and about as thick as a stack of nine. To say that HTC's Media Link is small is an understatement. How did it perform? Click through to find out. Over the last week we've been testing the Desire Z (a Eurofied T-Mobile G2) with the Media Link, lazily streaming video, music, and images around the house using a myriad of sources and controllers from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and Western Digital. Recently, HTC joined the DLNA ranks with the introduction of two smartphones - the Desire Z and Desire HD - and a tiny media streamer known as the HTC Media Link, HTC's first attempt to gain a foothold in the living room. Since then, the alliance has certified thousands of products supported by more than 245 member companies, 29 of whom are listed as "promoter members" including such heavyweights as Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Toshiba, Verizon, AT&T Lab, LG, Qualcomm, Cisco, Microsoft, Panasonic, Intel, HP, and Motorola. In 2003, the Digital Living Network Alliance ( DLNA) formed with its first set of interoperable products hitting the market in 2004. ![]() Apple's AirPlay might be getting all the attention lately but it's hardly the first solution for wirelessly streaming media to the television.
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