The Canola Media Player for the Nokia 770 (2)

Things I forgot to mention in my earlier blog post and/or did not expand on .

1) Install

I manually installed/un-installed from a prior download and then installed the beta of Canola via the application catalogue package list and direct Wi-Fi Internet connection in the application manager. Everything was fine which bodes well for an easy install of Canola for all types of Nokia 770 user.

2) AV Formats

I did not test multiple AV formats at this stage, restricting myself to simple jpg Photos, mp3 Audio and mp4 Video [Video transcoded by the Nokia 770 Media Converter] I tested streaming across my home network, via the Internet and of course playback directly from the Nokia 770 and installed 1GB RS-Multi Media Card.

3) Themes

The current Canola theme is so pleasant and clear that I do not think I will be dashing to change it, anyway my personal opinion is that themes are for users with too much time on their hands. (Not available for test in Beta Version)

4) Win UPnP Servers: Sorted Alphabetically not a complete list by any means. If you would like me to review a Win UPnP Server with Canola, please include a comment.

I did basic testing with the following on my XP SP2 PC were everything generally just worked, but of course this is the beauty of UPnP™, each server has it's good and bad points ;)

• FUPPES 0.5.4 (Audio only)
• Media Connect 2.0
• Philips Media Manager 3.3.12.0004
• SimpleCenter (Essentially PMM above with improvements)
  
• TVersity 0.9.8.2a (My favourite)
  
• Twonky Version 4.01
  

5) Using two servers at the same time!

One real killer benefits of Canola is the ability to utilise two UPnP Servers at the same time! Anyone familiar with UPnP™ Media serving and playback will be aware of the current restriction of only being able to do one thing at once with a typical UPnP Renderer/Playback Device.

Being able to serve network pictures with one UPnP™ server whilst playing music with another UPnP server is simply fabulous. (The servers do not need to be on the same device i.e. Linux NAS, PC & MAC) This also means any UPnP server can be selected to take advantage of its particular features, that is not available on another.

Hmmm this has got me thinking the Nokia 770's or their replacement with Canola would make great MS ZUNE Killers?