I hope my post helps others with a similar system. I'm addicted
and glad I waited a few weeks before I tackled Media Streaming.
Hardware and toys:
DIY el cheapo box. Dual Core. 4 MB of Ram and a couple of Hitachi 2TB drives inside a Sans Digital TR5M. OEM install of WHS
DirectTV HR23 reciever which provides Media Share for images, music, and Videos to my HD TV. Connected to my Gig Network via Cat6 however the DirecTV box only runs at 100.
Twonky Media Server 5.1.2 for WHS.
The setup: Images and music were easy since the DirectTV box streams .jpg and .mp3. Where I encountered an issue was streaming Videos. The DirecTV box requires and will only stream MPEG2. Twonky has transcoding turned off as I can batch convert Video files using AVS Video Converter. Options set in the WHS Server Console: Windows Media Server is off. Media Share is on. Twonky is set to Automatically Share and backround transcoding is off.
I have a lot of different Video source files so I decided to try AVS Video Converter. Not very fast but gets the job done and given it's huge support for numerous Video Source files, most of which were shot or edited in HD, I like it. The batch mode makes life easy.
I did run into a glitch with Twonky. It will not support a bit rate of 15000 KBPS or it may have been my DirectTV Media Share. When I have more time I might be able to figure out the max bit rate I can use but in the meantime, HD Video, 720p, MPEG2, 9000 KBPS, 1280x700, 29.97 works dandy, looks good, plays smootheee, and in my case is a downsample from the source file. The WHS Box has very little load on it while the Videos stream from the Shares.
I purchased a Twonky license key but I don't see a way to input it? I'm guessing that when the 30 day trial expires it will provide a way for me to enter the key but maybe one of you geeks can confirm this?
Part of the fun and dare I say challenge, was trying to make all my current hardware stream to my HD TV. I may still get a dedicated Media streaming box of some sort but you can call me seriously addicted
HTH and thanks for a great Community
Steve