My nice Samsung “smart” tv is connected to my network and the web via DLNA, the rarely-heard-of device networking protocol that has been around for 8 years. It’s a cool project aimed at effortlessly networking computers and other computing devices (routers, tvs, stereos, mobiles, tablets, etc.) so everything can communicate and share data on your home network.

No one’s heard much about it, because everything about it (except what it can do) lacks sexy. What does not lack sexy is the newer proprietary Apple equivalent of DLNA: Airplay.

Smart tvs have been available for several years and are most basically tvs that connect to your network and internet to access media from those sources. The most well-known (but still pretty poorly known) are the Samsung’s, and their main improvement is the inclusion of a mobile-wannabe apps platform. A few are essential and work well allowing you to stream previously computer-only content directly onto your big screen (Netflix, Youtube, Hulu Plus, CinemaNow/Blockbuster for on demand video rental), the rest are crap.

I’m somewhat tech savvy, but even I didn’t really realize how simple and ubiquitous internet tv technology is. It is available on any moderately priced modern tv, and even if you have a “dumb” or crappy old tv, you can still internet-supercharge it by adding certain Blu-Ray players, a PlayStation 3, or the Apple TV.

This is great and all, but first and foremost what I wanted of my smart tv was easy streaming of local video from my computer to my big screen. I have HD movies on my PC, and I want to watch them on my tv. This is a less-than-sexy need and should be easily accomplished considering the bevy of online media the thing can grab.

There is a whole separate article here in the discussion of the intricacies involved in setting up a home DLNA network, but that’s not the point I’m making here. The point here is that one day I tried to play The Nightmare Before Christmas from my PC to my tv. Tv couldn’t find the PC. PC couldn’t find the tv. Reset router. Nope. Restart tv, restart DLNA serve on PC. Nope. No streaming happening.

Out of curiosity, since the movie was an Apple-happy H.264 MP4, I tried my iPad. The iPad can stream this format natively from iTunes, but I prefer to use iTunes as little as possible due to clunkiness and geek-unfriendliness. For streaming to my iPhone/iPad I use the awesome AirVideo app.

I fire up AirVideo on the iPad, it finds the PC running the AirVideo server just fine. Play the movie from the PC to the iPad, then use Airplay to sling the movie from the iPad to the Apple TV, which displays nicely on my Samsung via HDMI (albeit only in 720p, but the movie was only that resolution so no loss).

So the purportedly simple DLNA, with 8 years experience, ought to have, but failed to do this:

DLNA PC server (Windows Media Player 12) —> DLNA display (Samsung tv)

Apple succeeded instead in doing this:

AirVideo Server —> AirVideo ipad app —> Airplay to Apple TV —> Samsung tv

With stories like this (I am not the only one, I’m sure), it is any wonder Apple is kicking everyones’ ass?