TLS vs other security protocols

I'm currently working on my bachelor thesis, and without going to much into detail the main mission is to develop the possibility for sending media (pictures, videos and recordings) from the app on different Android devices to a server. Also the possebility to send from server to the units, but that's not first priority. Developed by using JAVA og Derby database.

So to my question regarding security protocols. I've thought about using TLSv1.2 , and are doing some research on why this protocol. While I've been researching about the subject I've come accross the question: "Why use TLS over any other security protocols like SSH, IPsec, etc?" So perhaps someone could enlighten me or give me links to some good papers on the subject because I really don't see it. I have read about the differences, but haven't come up with an actual good reason for choosing one over another.

Another question: The hashing functions used by TLS, are MD5 (Message Digest 5) and SHA (Standard Hash Algorithm) the two only hash functions or am I missing someone?

Thanks for any help, because I'm flooded in information and could use some directions!