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wottynatty
Enthusiast I
Aug 21, 2024 9:43 PM UTC
Question

UPnP server compatability

Lots of closed threads with incomplete information about UPnP support.

I see two options in the Sonos app for Media Servers:

 

Show Media Servers (toggle)

Show UPnP Servers (toggle)

 

UPnP is a pretty long standing solution.  There is a lot of confusion about whether Sonos supports DLNA.  DLNA is a superset of UPnP and Sonos does NOT support DLNA.  So if you have a DLNA server, Sonos won’t see it, unless it is ALSO a UPnP server?  This seems backwards.  UPnP is the older standard.  DLNA is supposed to be UPnP plus additional useful stuff.  Apparently, this additional useful stuff may be preventing Sonos from seeing it?

My confusion is further exacerbated by the other toggle, Media Servers, in the Sonons controller app.  Which media servers are those?  Is there a list?

For that matter, are the any UPnP servers that Sonos does NOT support?

Asset UPNP works fine.  But JRiver Media Center, which supports both UPnP and the larger DLNA protocol, is not recognized.

Since I cannot find an documentation about these options in the controller app, I’m hoping to find an answer via the forum. 

 

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    7 replies

    Mike0815
    Lyricist I
    Oct 12, 2024 7:21 AM UTC

    Hello wottynatty,

    I’m not able to answer your question.

    But I do ask you, where you did find the toggle button for displaying the Media Servers / Upnp Servers in the app?

    Thanx

    -Mike

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    controlav
    controlav
    Lead Maestro
    Oct 12, 2024 1:19 PM UTC

    One of those options (I forget which) was designed to support the Windows Media Server UPnP Server.

    These options have never been well documented or frankly well implemented.

    I would give up whatever your goal is regarding UPnP servers and Sonos. Just use a file share to play your files, or Plex, or iBroadcast.

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    Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.
    wottynattyAuthor
    Enthusiast I
    Oct 12, 2024 1:21 PM UTC

    S1 app under Setings, System, Media Servers

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    Mike0815
    Lyricist I
    Oct 12, 2024 1:52 PM UTC

    Disappointing, that a widely spread standard is no longer beeing supported. I can not imagine why they dropped this feature.

    Thanx

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    wottynattyAuthor
    Enthusiast I
    Oct 12, 2024 2:26 PM UTC

    To be fair, they didn’t really drop support, they just dropped the ball on rolling it out.  From reading past discussions, it appears it never worked with most UPNP nor DLNA servers, just a few.  

     

    But yes, I agree, when it works, it is a very nice useful open standard.  It gets around the silly track limits of the file sharing method which is remarkably unreliable, anyway, and does away with the need to run a whole separate proprietary system like PLEX ($$).

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    wottynattyAuthor
    Enthusiast I
    Oct 12, 2024 2:31 PM UTC

    Anyway, if you are going to use a paid service, Asset UPNP (which has a free trial, so make sure you like it and it is still working with Sonos, a moving target) is a reasonable choice, pay once cry once.

    Plex and iBroadcast and so on have annual fees for lossless streaming that really add up, and they require using “the cloud” and an internet connection (bandwidth) rather than running completely locally (more reliable, more secure, and lower cost to run it all locally).

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      wottynattyAuthor
      Enthusiast I
      Oct 12, 2024 2:32 PM UTC

      And I should re-iterate, I am only familiar with S1.  Perhaps this is solved in S2 (unlikely but hope springs eternal) but more likely it may not even exist anymore, if it ever did, in S2, since the great purge took place.

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