MediaHouse UPnP/DLNA Browser Review

If you have a UPnP media server installed in your home or office and use it to stream your movies and music on your Android handheld, then MediaHouse UPnP/DLNA Browser is something you must check out. Developed by an Indian, Diwakar Bhatia, the app is a UPnP Media server browser and controller and can play media content using a third party media player. You might think what is different about this one as compared to other streaming media players in the market such as BubbleUPnP or UPnPlay. Well, this one has the ability to pull down album art and album thumbnails for all the music and movies stored on your media server. It has the ability to automatically download all the information from the TMDb API (www.themoviedb.org). The information is derived from the file name itself and you need a working Internet connection for the necessary information downloads. Once the information is downloaded, it stores them in a folder on your handset itself and links them to the movies and music files for future use. 

MediaHouse DLNA UPnP Browser

The information is downloaded only once until the cache is cleared. This makes the music and movie listing on your handheld easier while browsing through the database to listen to a particular music or watching a particular genre. All you need to do is browse for an available media server, get into the folder where the content is stored and add them to the video folder list. Once done, head on to the Video folder and the information (if the Internet is connected on the same network) will automatically start downloading onto the handset. Now, there will be times where certain information might not be available. The reasons could be a wrong file name or additional text or mistakes in the file name itself. Make sure that each movie or music file you have included has proper name and not additional text or characters in it. There could also be a possibility of wrong information as at times, there are more than one movie/music file with the same name. In this case, you can select the movie/music and the TMDb database will list out the others and close matching names for you to select from.  

Add servers, select folders to respective categories

Additional information about the movie or music album and artist is also available. While browsing through the media content, long-press on the media file and you will be able to get additional information such as genre, release date, running time, video size and a short synopsis of the same. You can also get information about the actors along with their movie names. Lastly, you can also watch the trailers for the same movie. This information can help you choose the type of movie and the short synopsis and trailer can help you choose if the movie would interest you before actually watching it. 

Album arts and synopsis are downloaded automatically

You can choose to play the media on your phone or tablet itself or if you have a connected media renderer such as a PC or a media player on the same network, then you can also stream and control the content from your handheld. You can create favourite lists and playlists too. Music and photos can be viewed on the app’s built-in player itself, while videos need a third party app such as MoboPlayer, MXPlayer or any other you prefer. MediaHouse UPnP / DLNA Browser is a must-have app for your media streaming purposes.