SOLVED: Jellyfin DLNA server issue with old Samsung Smart TV

[tatooin]

Hello Jellyfin community !
And first; thanks all for this wonderful project that you are bringing to the community.

I am using Jellyfin 10.8.13 on Linux Ubuntu, x64. 

I have an old samsung smart TV which support DLNA, but not the native Jellyfin application. So in the past I was using it with the minidlna server for Linux, which worked pretty well. I have decided to move from the simple DLNA service to the full featured media service Jellyfin. The fact Jellyfin is able to stream movies when the client doesn't support natively it's codec, being really a plus; and having a native jellyfin app on recent LG smart TV is wonderful !

So I have setup DLNA service on Jellyfin, and confirmed it works fine with my other LG TVs. However I'm having an issue with the old samsung one; which is that while the TV is able to see and connect to the Jellyfin DLNA service, it can't play any movies. The error being that the movie has no supported file format, which is wrong since it's working fine with minidlna service.

I noticed that:
- In minidlna, files appears with their extension.
- In jellyfin dlna, files appears with the names only, without the extension itself (eg; .avi; .mkv, etc...)
- The smart TV is recognized as a "Generic Device" instead as "Samsung Smart TV" profile.
- Direct casting to the samsung smart TV works fine

So it seems to me that the TV refuse to play the movie since it doesn't recognize the extension, because it simply doesn't appear.

My first question is; is there any way to force Jellyfin to show file extensions through DLNA ? This may actually solve the issue right away.
Second question; is there a way to force my Samsung TV to be set in the profile "Samsung smart TV" rather than "Generic device", which could potentially help ?
And third question; would streaming works over DLNA protocol if the codec is not supported ?

Here are the jellyfin logs when trying to access a movie from the samsung smart TV through DLNA:

MediaSourceId=c54291ed216694a33704f861b772fd7b&Static=true&VideoCodec=h264&AudioCodec=ac3&AudioStreamIndex=1&SubtitleStreamIndex=3&api_key=<token>&SubtitleMethod=Embed&Tag=be038063f87ddf1a998d0a3ec49cf7be"
[2024-03-29 17:37:54.081 +01:00] [INF] StreamBuilder.BuildVideoItem( Profile="Generic Device", Path="/opt/Medias/Nouveau/Des hommes (2020) VOF 1080p BluRay EAC3 5 1 x265-k7/Des hommes (2020) VOF 1080p BluRay EAC3 5.1 x265-k7.mkv", AudioStreamIndex=null, SubtitleStreamIndex=null ) => ( PlayMethod=DirectPlay, TranscodeReason=0 ) "mediavideos/dccc8eaf-51d8-b3f4-c916-44c617d0ff10/stream.mkv?

I would appreciate any help on this to continue operating my old Samsung smart TV and stop definitely the minidlna service which I use only for it.

Thanks a lot !

[Serge K]

what is model of your Samsung tv ?

[tatooin]

Sorry, I should have given the model right away: UE46C6000.

Thanks !

[Serge K]

i suppose your tv can not play mkv files
try to play avi

[tatooin]

Actually the TV can play mkv files without issues. Unless it's 4K or HDR.

[Serge K]

Actually the TV can play mkv files without issues. Unless it's 4K or HDR.

check this

  Samsung.pdf (Size: 245.46 KB / Downloads: 156)

[tatooin]

No, you don't get it. It's not a problem of supported codecs; the TV works without issues with my other DLNA server (minidlna). It can play mkv, avi, mp4, etc... normally (and there is no transcoding).

The issue is with Jellyfin DLNA only. Where NONE of the files can be played.

[Serge K]

accorging to your log you try to play movie with h265 codec but your tv does not suppot it

try with codec h264

[tatooin]

Yes, but it's only one sample. But I've tried with videos in h264 and even divX codec, same results. It happens with all videos, independently from the codec.

[Serge K]

do you have video which can be played on this tv via usb for example?

place it in jellyfin folder media and try to play