One of the first things I checked out when I fired up our Logitech Revue unit was the Logitech Media Player (which is found in the applications menu of your Revue), which allows you to stream media content (photo, music, and video) to your Logitech Revue via a DLNA server connected on the same network, or from a connected USB source.

DLNA, which stands for Digital Living Network Alliance, is a standard which electronic devices use to share their content with each other across a home network. There are plenty of robust, easy to use (and not to mention, free) DLNA software solutions available. Alternatively, you can also connect USB storage media to one of your Revue’s USB drives and access any media content stored there.

Continue reading after the break for a few examples of the different ways you can play back your own photo, music, and video content on the Logitech Revue.
TVersity

TVersity comes in two flavors, a free version which still lets you stream all of your content to the Revue, and a pro version which comes with extra features like the ability to stream premium web content to your TV. For the purposes of this how to, we’ll be using the free version as it does everything we need it to do, so download the free version of TVersity here and begin the installation process. Follow the on screen instructions (it may refer you to a link to download a separate codec pack if you do not already have it) and when you launch TVersity you are presented with a screen similar the one seen above.

If you click the library tab, you are presented with a menu of all the various sources of content that TVersity can stream to your Revue. TVersity pulls content from the standard Windows Photo, Music, and Video folders, but you can also add your own files and folders by clicking “add item” in the top right menu.  If you select ‘folder’, simply point TVersity to the path of your folder (sorry, there’s no way to browse for folders to add, you’ll have to right click on those folders, go to properties, and copy and paste the location). I was able to use TVersity without any issues whatsoever, and I find it an excellent tool for Windows users to stream content to the Revue.

TVMOBiLi

TVMOBiLi is a great cross platform solution for Mac and Linux users, or Windows for that matter if you don’t like TVersity. To get started, visit the download page and grab the appropriate version for your platform and install away. TVMOBiLi uses a web interface, similar to what you would use to configure a router.

TVMOBiLi also displays content from your system’s default folders, but you can also browse and add your own folders by first navigating to the settings tab and browsing for the folder you would like to add.

TVMOBiLi is still in beta, so there are still some bugs that need to be squashed. For example, my Revue was not able to detect it running on my Mac until I restarted my laptop, so you may want to give your computer a reboot before attempting to access this on the Revue.

USB Storage

If you don’t want to download third party software and install it on your computer, using USB Storage is a quick and easy way to playback content on your Revue. Simply upload the appropriate files to your drive, connect it to one of the Revue’s USB ports, and open the Logitech Media Player. From there you can browse to the content you want to view, start a slideshow of a folder of images, watch a movie, etc.

Note that your storage device needs to be formatted with the FAT32 filesystem. There is a bit of confusion right now regarding how large the storage device can be. Originally it was thought to have a limit of 40GB, but now it seems you can have upwards of 895GB. Here is a statement found in the Logitech support forums regarding this issue:

The maximum USB hard drive limit has been increased to 895 GB for all those complaining about the size. Keep in mind though, regardless of how big your hard drive is, it has to be formatted with the FAT32 filesystem, NTFS for the time being WILL NOT work. This isn’t a Revue limitation but Android/Linux limitation, most other devices that allow you to use USB Storage devices for multimedia content such as the Xbox 360, PS3 also cannot read any NTFS formatted Hard Drives. But of course this could be changed once the market place opens up if developers come up with NTFS drivers for the Android Platform.

So for now let’s assume the drive limit has been increased to 895 GB, which far exceeds the capacity of most (but not all) USB storage units.

The following file formats are supported for playback on the Logitech Media Player:

• Music: AAC (.aac), FLAC (.flac), MP3 (.mp3), OGG (.ogg),WMA (.wma)
• Photos: JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg), BMP (.bmp) PNG (.png), TIFF (.tiff)
• Videos: WMV (VC-1) (.asf .wma .wmv), WMV (VC-1) + WMA (.asf .wma .wmv), WMV + WMA (.avi), Xvid (H-264) + AAC (.avi),
  Xvid (H-264) + AAC (.mp4), Xvid (H-264) + AAC (.mt2s .mt2), Xvid (MPEG4part2) + AAC (.avi), Xvid (MPEG4part2) + MP3 (.avi)

Well, there you have it, three easy to use ways to access your own photo, audio, and video content on a Logitech Revue. As long as whatever DLNA server you are trying to access is on your home network, and as long as you’ve installed the software correctly, your Revue should have no problems detecting it and you shouldn’t have to configure your router to open any ports.

I tested TVersity on my Windows PC, and TVMOBiLi on my Mac, both with very little difficulty. If you do not like either of these programs, there are tons of great free and paid DLNA solutions out there, which should work just fine with the Revue. I hope you found this how to helpful, and please feel free to leave a comment below if you’d like to recommend a different solution that you prefer!

Also, If you run into any issues getting your media server to connect with the Revue, Logitech offers the following advice:

If a source or media server is not available in Logitech Media Player:

1. From the Google TV Home screen, go to Applications > Logitech Media Player.
2. Click on Rescan Sources located at the bottom of the screen.

If the DLNA server is not detecting please check the following:

• DLNA server is powered on.
• Verify that your media server is a DLNA-compatible device.
• DLNA server is connected to the same network as your Revue, using a wired or wireless connection.
• DLNA server is configured to share content on the network.
• Check security settings (Firewalls).

Enable UDP on your router.