Mezzmo Review - Stream Media Files Across Multiple Computers

excellent
key review info
application features
  • Media server for streaming music, movies and photos
  • (11 more, see all...)

Designed as an advanced and feature-rich DLNA media server, Mezzmo proposes an efficient method for sharing music, movies and photographs across multiple computers in a home network. Suffice it to say, this type of software comes with a lot of benefits. For example, you can use it to prepare yourself for a party with friends.

The trial edition runs for 15 days and there are no features restricted during this time. Once this period of time expires, you can either uninstall Mezzmo or purchase the full edition for $29.95 / €29.25.

The setup procedure is rather fast and doesn't require special configuration, thanks to the fact that it contains basic and familiar options. However, administrative privileges are required to work with this app.

Although this is not mentioned in the setup phase, the software utility automatically integrates itself into the Windows autostart sequence (can be later disabled).

Setting up the media library

At startup, it creates an entry into the system tray area for quick access to its settings, as well as for immediately stopping the media server. It asks you to set up the media library you want to stream online by indicating folders for music, movies and photographs. iTunes users can directly import music and playlists from the media player.

In addition, you can drop individual files into the library, import previously created gapless multi-files, scan a custom drive or folders for supported media files, add files from an external playlist or network share, and rip audio CDs.

The main app window is large and contains several panes dedicated to navigating the library, showing the contents of a selected location, or previewing content in an embedded media player.

Manage the library and playlists

Once the media library is filled with numerous items, you can put together multiple playlists, sort them by album, file type, composer, artist, genre, last 50 recently played items, top 50 rated tracks or other criteria, restrict the playlists to only music, video or video files, and create smart filters with custom rules.

Mezzmo lets you build a playlist on the spot from a selection of tracks, generate a gapless multi-file from a file selection, pre-transcode files, assign ratings, manage playlist sharing permissions by adding exceptions with IP addresses, as well as ask the tool to automatically update library changes when deleting, moving or editing a containing file. This applies to music, videos and pictures, media properties, artwork, and subtitles.

Mezzmo: Populate and manage the music library
Mezzmo: Populate and manage the music library

A search function is put at your disposal for the entire library, and all current media contents can be saved as an external playlist file. Apart from creating smart playlists to dynamically search through media files, you can build active playlists based on file attributes and choose the keywords and hierarchy to use for file management, as well as generate linked playlists, which are created by other media players than Winamp or Windows Media Player and are read dynamically to synchronize data with those programs.

Transcoding and pre-transcoding settings

Media files incompatible with the connected devices can be converted to resolve any playback issues, thanks to a feature implemented by the program that uses FFmpeg. It lets you choose the CPU priority level to favor either resource consumption or speedy conversion tasks, complete partially transcoded audio and video files in the background, and use low CPU priority for these types of jobs, or view and delete any transcoded files. Settings can be reset to default.

What's more, you can ask Mezzmo to convert media files in advance, so that they're ready to go on devices in range, especially if you encounter stuttering issues during playback otherwise. You can do this for music, videos and/or images, pick the devices to apply pre-transcoding options to, skip the conversion even if the files have formats supported by the remote device, and set a time to start at.

Media server settings and media devices

As previously mentioned, the tool automatically starts the media server at Windows startup. Alternatively, you can set the media server to run only when Mezzmo operates, or manually start it instead. You can modify the default media server name, port number and server advertisement interval.

In a separate area, you can consult a list with all the devices that have connected to the media server at some point, which includes their names, IP and MAC addresses, profiles, and connection status. For any selected devices you can disable access or customize a wide range of settings, such as network adapter, preferred subtitle language, maximum video size, media delivery rules, and whether to stream unrated files or not. Settings can be restored to default later.

Mezzmo: View all remote media devices
Mezzmo: View all remote media devices

As far as program options are concerned, it's possible to remove the system tray icon, ask the tool to minimize at startup, back up, restore or reset the media database, edit the display titles for videos, TV series, movies, home movies, music and photos by setting naming patterns, customize content ratings, add new subtitle languages, modify MP3 parameters when ripping audio CDs, switch to a different music server to retrieve metadata from, examine log files, and more. Settings can be restored to default.


The Good

With this DLNA media server you can seamlessly stream music, photos and movies (including DVDs, ISO images and subtitles) across all compatible devices in the local network. It supports a wide range of file types, along with transcoding and pre-transcoding.

It has numerous customization options that let you organize your media library in any way you want, and manage sharing permissions for remote devices (e.g. allow all, deny all, allow some). Furthermore, you can rip audio CDs and save tracks as MP3 or WAV tracks, retrieve missing tags from an online database, stream gapless music, generate dynamic playlists with intelligent filters, and import the iTunes library.

It worked smoothly on Windows 8.1 Pro and Windows 7 Professional during our tests, without hanging, crashing or displaying error messages. CPU consumption was low, while RAM usage was low-to-moderate. OS compatibility extends to older Windows editions, including XP.

It's multilingual and includes help documentation.

The Bad

During installation, Mezzmo automatically creates an entry for itself in the Windows autostart sequence. It doesn't notify users in any way, let alone give them the possibility to undo this action until later from the interface.

The Truth

Considering the vast amount of features and customization preferences, Mezzmo is definitely one of the most sought-after DLNA media servers that can help you stream music, movies and photos to remote devices via LAN.

user interface 4
features 5
ease of use 3
pricing / value 4


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent
 
NEXT REVIEW: MusicBee

Mezzmo (25 Images)

Mezzmo: Populate and manage the music libraryMezzmo: Patiently wait while the app scans the PC for all supported media filesMezzmo: Import and manage video filesMezzmo: Import and manage picturesMezzmo: Maintain playlists and retrieve missing metadata
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