This is a short HOWTO on installing and configuring miniDLNA on Ubuntu 11.04 Natty to work with my Sony Bravidia KDL-40EX711 LED TV.
First we need to install the minidlna software.

# sudo aptitude install minidlna

The content of my /etc/minidlna.conf file

port=8200
network_interface=eth0
media_dir=P,/export/pictures
friendly_name=My DLNA Server
album_art_names=Cover.jpg/cover.jpg/AlbumArtSmall.jpg/albumartsmall.jpg/AlbumArt.jpg/albumart.jpg/Album.jpg/album.jpg/Folder.jpg/folder.jpg/Thumb.jpg/thumb.jpg
inotify=yes
enable_tivo=no
strict_dlna=no
notify_interval=900
serial=12345678
model_number=1

Comments in the config file has been removed to reduce the listing.

The media_dir variable can be configured four ways:
A – Audio
V – Video
P – Pictures
No value – You have to browse the folders to determine the type of content

I used the P value in the example above to indicate that the folder contains pictures.
You can add several media_dir variables to point to different folders.

Start the miniDLNA daemon

# sudo /etc/init.d/minidlna start

The media database will be built the first time you start the miniDLNA daemon and can take some time depending on the folder size.

You should now have access to your newly configured DLNA server on your TV by pressing the Home button.
Choose Photo and scroll down to the penguin icon named “My DLNA Server”, ref variable friendly_name in the config file.

The default location for the logfile is /var/log/minidlna.log and it can be useful for debugging if you have problems with miniDLNA.
If you think you have problems with the minidlna database, you can rebuild the mediadatabase by issuing this command

# sudo /usr/sbin/minidlna -f /etc/minidlna.conf -R -d