Universal Media Server Streams Music And Movies To Almost Any Device

Universal Media Server Streams Music And Movies To Almost Any Device

Windows/Mac/Linux: Streaming music or movies from a computer to a set-top box, TV, receiver or any other device in your home entertainment system isn’t difficult, but finding a media server with great features that’s also easy to use can be tricky. Universal Media Server gets the balance right.

Universal Media Server is based on the old PS3 Media Server, one of our favourite media-serving tools. The original developer dropped us a line a while back to let us know that he’s redirected his efforts at this new, better iteration, and sure enough it packs in features that you’ll be hard-pressed to find in a lighter application. Not only does UMS support virtually any DLNA-compatible device (there’s a huge list of specifically supported devices at the link below), it also does on the fly bitrate adjustment to adapt to your home network, automatically streams in the maximum available sound or video quality, features a web interface for easy use if your destination doesn’t support DLNA, works with subtitles and subtitle files (and can even download subtitles for your video), transcodes to H.264 on the fly, and even does frame interpolation for motion smoothing if you want it to.

UMS also supports plugins for external services like Google Play Music, GrooveShark, and tons more. It’s free (and the dev says it will always be free), and cross-platform, just how we like our media tools. Hit the link below to learn more, or check out this feature comparison table to see how it stacks up against your favourite.

Universal Media Server


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

Here are the cheapest plans available for Australia’s most popular NBN speed tier.

At Lifehacker, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


8 responses to “Universal Media Server Streams Music And Movies To Almost Any Device”