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PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 6:12 pm 
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I was hoping I could solicit some advice from people who have already successfully accomplished what I am looking to do. I have an HTPC with a Ceton TV tuner that I use to watch/record TV and ripped blurays in Windows Media Center. I am getting to the point where my media library is growing enough that I would like to expand to a centralized home media server. In doing so, I would like to be able to stream the content to the other TVs in the house and my mobile devices (ipad/iphone) and outside computers. I do not have a lot of money I am willing to throw at this, but I figured I will be able to build a pretty good server rig using an AMD sempron 145 processor and a decent mobo with 4 built in SATA RAID ports. Below I have outlined my basic goals. Any advice on how to best obtain these goals (including server OS, hardware, etc.) and any other thoughts for a fairly new beginner would be appreciated.

-provide a home media server for storage
-allow seamless, hassle free access of media storage from server to HTPS and all other TV's in house (possibly Apple TV or logitech revue?)
-allow remote access to server to watch streaming media and also data storage (i.e. replace my dropbox)
-be able to access recorded TV from HTPC on all TVs (can you set windows media center to save recorded TV on a networked server? My energy hog HTPC goes to sleep when not in use so file sharing from this machine is not an option.)


I think most of my questions deal with what type of OS to use for the server. I have read many forums that advocate using a free OS. While I like the free bit, I also like the idea of having a more simple, hands off OS like WHS.

As far as streaming content to my non-PC TVs, what type of device would best suit my needs? Is it as simple as telling them where to find the files and they take care of the rest like in WMC (artwork, movie info, etc.). I know that some require apps to be downloaded for home streaming, but the ones I saw also require a special media library to be installed on the source computer and to me that does not sound like something that should need to be done on a server who's only purpose is raw file storage.

BOTTOM LINE: I want a simple way to store my files centrally so that my devices may retrieve and display my media in a neat and organized way (like in WMC). Also I want to be able to access the files outside of my home network.

Thank you

TN


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 5:00 pm 
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This is Damian teritory but since your original post is 3 days old I figured I would try to help.

There are tons of ways to approach what you want to do. Obviously I have and use servers to do exactly what your looking to do but you do not actually need a server to do this as it can be done with a Window PC. What you will need however is a decent processor if the Server or PC will be doing the transcoding. If the devices you use will be doing all the transcoding then you will not need a powerful processor but my guess is since your going to be supporting a multitude of devices your Server or PC will be doing the transcoding.

I currently use 2 pieces of software to stream Music, Video and Photo's. I use Remote Potato and SubSonic I like SubSonic for streaming my Music Content but it also does video but Remote Potato hands down does a much better job streaming Video and it also streams music. This is why I use both and both can be installed on a WHS Server or a PC. Using WHS v1 or 2011 you can install these and use your free domain to easily access the content on these two programs. Remote Potato has some additonal features if you want to use it with a TV Tuner something I do not do at this time.

Anyway I can access my media via the internet from a PC or my Android Smart Phone using additional software. I know you can access Remote Potato with an iPhone or iPad App should you use those devices. I can not speak for any Windows Mobile Phones.

As for accessing your content from your TV's you may need additional software to support DLNA based TV's but if you use certain Media Extenders attached to a TV then they should be able to find your content for you. I use a WD TV Live in my living room and it works well and its not the greatest thing in the world but it does find my media and play it well and thats what matters most to me. You may have a different opinion because you have an HTPC which opens up a world of great possibilities and content as I imagine your also running software to gather the metadata and pictures and so forth to provide a most interesting user experience. I have done this in the past but for me I just want to select and play my content

The last thing worth mentioning is the video format of choice. Damian a couple years back got me hooked on the MKV Video format which maintains the quality of the video but comes at a cost in large file sizes but for me the video quality is a must. Others are happy with AVI, mp4 and such which use compression and thus reduced file sizes. Others like the ISO's which I have never played with but the interest there I guess is the movie menus something I never mess around with even when I was playing DVD's in a player many many years ago. Thing is everyone is different and what works well for one may not be acceptable for another.

So you actually have alot to think about. I can remember when I spent months just playing with different formats just to figure out which one was best for me then spent 3 monts ripping over 500 movies just to get it all on my server. Most important thing to warn you about is that once you get started its addicting and can take quite abit of hard drives depending on your collection so give lots of though to the size of your enclosure both for today and tomorrow as your collection will continue to grow that is of course if your going to put everything you have on a PC or Server. If you use WHS v1 and set it up for duplication then you need twice the drives the same is true of WHS2011 provided you set it up for redundancy to protect your data.

Well I rambled on abit but if you want to discuss anything I mentioned please let me know and I will be happy to provide you with links to anything that interests you. If Damian pops in your gonna get majorly addicted to this stuff as I am small potatas in this area compaired to him.

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