Best DLNA supported Blu-ray players?

I used to have a PS3 awhile ago. I had no complaints with it's DLNA streaming.

Sony 2012 lines of BD players (390/590/790) have decent DLNA support. I can even stream the BD rip directly with HD audio intact. Yes, Panasonics are useless unless your video confirm to its strict format requirements.

Best support would be Oppo. Sony is good, but does have a few quirks.

The first question should be if you have a good home network setup. Very often it is not your player buggy but a setup and no understanding how to do that with the hardware you have. It's like saying panasonic is buggy with MKV files without media info.. OPPO is not better than many other players. My 93 is the same in DLNA as pio bdp140 which I bought for 60 quid several months back. However DLNA does not provide ISO support so I am not bothered with DLNA personally but who does - you are unlikely find big difference between big names.

The first question should be if you have a good home network setup. Very often it is not your player buggy but a setup and no understanding how to do that with the hardware you have. It's like saying panasonic is buggy with MKV files without media info.. OPPO is not better than many other players. My 93 is the same in DLNA as pio bdp140 which I bought for 60 quid several months back. However DLNA does not provide ISO support so I am not bothered with DLNA personally but who does - you are unlikely find big difference between big names.

It's a very subjective question. There are two sides to every DLNA situation, the server and the client. You're asking about the client (i.e., the Blu-Ray player), but the answer also depends on what DLNA server(s) you use. Some servers work better with some clients, especially if they have custom settings to support specific clients (e.g., a PS3 profile). It also depends on what file formats you use, and how those files were generated. Some people always use a particular video converter program and generate their files in a specific format that happens to work well with their DLNA server and client. But a small change such as using a different program to generate the same file type might result in an unplayable file, or one where FF/REW don't work properly. Some servers need to transcode the stream for compatibility with some clients, and how well that works depends on the performance of your server platform.

For example I use a Samsung BD-C5500 Blu-Ray player as a DLNA client. It works well with Win7 or Serviio as a server. It also works with the old version of Twonky embedded in my Iomega NAS, as long as I stick to mp4 and avi files, but the old version of Twonky doesn't do well with mkv files. I might stick with mp4 files, but unfortunately while my Samsung handles a Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track in an mp4 file streamed from the NAS, most other clients (like my tablets) don't like it because they are expecting only AAC stereo sound in mp4 files. There's no perfect solution.

I can't comment on the pioneer player but I have a lot of experience with the Sony 2012 players with DLNA.

With the right mime types the sony players will support native playback with

Video:

avc h264 and DD, DTS, DTS MA in MKV containers

However when it comes to VC-1 and MPEG-2 these must be in m2ts containers.

When it comes to mp4/m4v containers with avc h264/AAC these can have audio sync issues. However in a MKV container - no issues.

The MKV support is generally temperamental on the Sony. Just one small network hickup will trip the sony players up, and stop playback. The sony players will completely lock up if you attempt to FF/REW a MKV. However M2TS containers are far more reliable and preferred.

Audio: AAC, mp3, WMA, FLAC, wav

Note - The Sony players don't provide any support for album artwork, shuffle play, (native) playlists.

I think you will find the Oppo players are a bit more accommodating and flexible.

I don't have any real issues with Sony and DLNA but you do have to work around the querks. Many people won't be prepared to do that and want something that works out of the box.

One final comment.

The term hassle free and DLNA rarely can be said in the same sentence.