Hot on the heels of our earlier DLNA article, the organisation has added two new functions to its home networking specification.

A new 'Play to' function enables a DLNA device to push photo, video or audio content for viewing/playback on another device. This could be as simple as instructing a PC to send your photos to a DLNA-compatible TV. At its most complicated, the 'Play to' functionality could allow a mobile phone to order a Network Attached Storage device to send content to a digital photo frame.

Organising your multimedia

Still with me? 'Play to' extends the DLNA concepts of Digital Media Players and Digital Media Servers to include a new class of device – a Digital Media Controller. As the DLNA points out: "Digital media controllers are useful for sending photos, video and audio to display devices which have inaccessible or no integrated controls."

In contrast, the 'Print to' function is very straightforward, enabling a DLNA device to send documents or images to a networked printer.

"DLNA product certification continues to gain momentum with vendors worldwide," says Scott Smyers, Chairman of the DLNA board of directors and Senior Vice President of Sony. "Today's announcement is another example of how we are continuing to expand our Certification programs to address the applications most important to consumers' digital living experience."

Other recent add-ons to the DLNA guidelines include:

  • Photo, video and audio synchronisation across multiple devices
  • Menu Sharing – allowing menu control of other networked devices
  • Wi-Fi Protected Setup

For more information about the DLNA and compatible devices, visit http://www.dlna.org.