![]() With our testing device being a stock HTC Evo 4g phone, this range was somewhat limited. The limitation we encountered here, however, is that Skifta can only play media files which the device itself is capable of playing–there’s no transcoding being done. Next, is the “Player”, which will play the device–here you can choose any DLNA enabled player on your network, or you can also select the phone or tablet running Skifta as well–remember, the Skifta app also acts as a DLNA player. First, you select your “Media Source,” which holds all of your media files. Upon launching the Skifta application, the application is very simple to follow. ![]() To test Skifta, we used the following devices, all DLNA capable players or servers: Windows 7 Professional as the host server with all the media files, WD Live TV network media player, Sonos music player, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, and an HTC Evo 4g Android phone. It’s a quick, small application that runs in the system tray and allows you to leverage the DLNA player of Windows Media Player in order for Skifta to play media on it. ![]() Downloading the app from the Google Play store is quick and painless, and if you are using a home server such as Windows Vista or 7, then you must install the Skifta application to allow the phone app to see and play your files. Setting up Skifta itself is a snap, assuming the aforementioned DLNA has already been set up and configured properly in your network. The benefit to DLNA however, is that once the server is properly configured, it will now be a quick setup process for any new devices you introduce to the home environment. It does take some getting used to if you are not a regular DLNA user, as there are some permission and configuration settings needed to enable playback. You can click on the link above for detailed explanation, but essentially DLNA is a standard network language created so that any network server that uses it can communicate with any network media player from any manufacturer. In order to understand just how Skifta works, let’s take a moment to briefly explain what DLNA is–as having it setup in your home is a requirement and is how Skifta communicates between your media files to your media devices. In addition to supporting local browsing and playback, Skifta also can remotely control your local files across the internet. Skifta aims to bridge that gap as an Android-based DLNA controller as well as a player for any Android based phone or tablet. As more intelligent devices begin to fill the home, the desire and need to be able to centrally control your home content is an ever present one. ![]()
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