For stuff like kid's cartoons I would rather encode down. A full season of cartoons can get to 10-20GB+ depending on how many episodes if I just threw into mkv using MakeMKV. Multiple it by x number of seasons and you can easily get to 40GB+ worth of data (data I would much rather have for my Blu Rays, even with HDDs getting cheaper I am always running out of space). Also, for Kids stuff it is most likely that when traveling this is the stuff I would want portable, so a smaller size makes a lot more sense.

I just finished encoding Season 1 of Voltron (ok, really for me but told my wife it was for my son!!!). 1 episode using MakeMKV takes up a little over 1GB of space. 1 episode encoded to h.264 mkv takes up 200mb. There a total of 70 episodes, so you can figure pretty subsantial savings in space.

This is the reason why I ended up trying and using different methods, just depends on the tv series.

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Thanks for the thread.

I was looking for something like WMC to put on my gf's mac and this thread got me started in the right direction. Tried out boxee, liked the look but I couldn't figure out how to get it to correctly work with the way I have my server set up. However, checking out the user forums at boxee turned me on to Plex which is a WMC-like application but for Macs.

Don't know if you'd want to add Plex to your first post, or if someone should start a Mac oriented WMC-like software thread (if there is one, didn't find it.)

But thanks again for all your work. Got me started on the right track, and definitely got me started thinking more about my personal setup (currently using WMC with MyMovies.)

tlwizard - thanks for bringing up Plex. I don't have any macs so I have no way of testing it out. I would definitely recommend either you or anyone else who has experience with Plex starting a separate thread in the Media Streaming section.

I am still tinkering around with Boxee but don't see if being my main app in its current form. I hope to do a writeup on the MSS.net blog about the new MyMovies3, Media Browser, and OML in the coming weeks, so stay tuned If you have any suggestions or questions don't hesitate to ask.

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Hey Damian, it's been awhile since I've visited, I know. I've had delays in my progress using my HTPC.

I am experiencing a problem that has dogged me for months and I'm hoping you might have heard of this issue and know a solution.

I installed a BD player when I built my HTPC and it came with PowerDVD software. I have no problems playing downloaded Blu-ray movie files or regular DVDs. But I have never been able to play a Blu-Ray disc in it. I receive "error 0110". Which has something to do with HDCP compliance.

From googling, it appears that many others have experienced the same problem with this software. I have run the BD advisor and all of my equipment checks out. I have been going back and forth with Cyberlink support for months and nothing they provide me fixes the problem. I'm exasperated

They really are inept. They keep sending me links to download the newest versions of PDVD Ultra, but none of them will play my Blu-Rays. I'm ready to give up on PDVD. I like the performance of PDVD when I play downloaded Blu-Ray movies. The picture and sound are tremendous. The problem is, I don't want to pay for another piece of software....at least not much anyway.

So do you know how to fix this problem with PDVD? Or do you have any recommendations of other BD software that can compare with PDVD performance at low cost?

The only solution I've read is to download AnyDVD and run it simultaneously with PDVD. I don't understand how this works exactly. And I think AnyDVD may cost more than I want to spend. But it may be the only present solution.

Thanks for any insight you can provide,
Rhino

Hey Rhino,

Hmmm...haven't heard about that issue yet so not sure what the problem could be. I would try two things:

1 - download either WinDVD2010 and/or TotalMediaTheater. They should both have a free trial period. If you can set these up and play back your Blu Rays then you know the issue is PDVD

2- Or download AnyDVD HD. It has a free 21 day trial as well, so you can see if that fixes the problem

3 - Another option, there is an "offical" PDVD9 thread on AVSForum where many of the members there are probably 100 times more helpful then Cyberlink support, so possibly try posting there as well - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre ... 72&page=82

Let me know if you figure out a solution.

How is everything else going with the HTPC, is this the only problem? So far everything is going well with mine. Just set up one of my HTPCs to do full bitstreaming which is pretty neat and looking to build another HTPC in the coming weeks around the core i5. And of course try not to break anything!!!

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Thanks for the feedback Damian. I will try downloading the trial for AnyDVD HD to see if that works. Probably not today as my mind is frayed right now. AVSForum is where I found most of the responses leading me to the AnyDVD "fix" when I googled this problem. But other sites mentioned the same workaround. Do you know why running AnyDVD with PDVD would work? Does AnyDVD "hide" the HDCP requirements? Also, can you say that playback with AnyDVD HD is comparable to PDVD? What do you run for BD playback?

I haven't really spent much time tinkering with my HTPC lately. The obstacle I face is that I'm planning to move. Just haven't found the house yet That can cause changes to the functionality. I'll explain further down. But there is some work I need to do with my HTPC to get it to perform the way I intended it to when I built it.

See, my original plan was to build this HTPC to be a single source for video entertainment without monthly bills. Meaning - I wanted to drop DirecTV (the bleeders!) and watch TV programs on HULU, ESPN360, JustinTV, etc, along with OTA local stations. In addition, I signed up for Netflix so I receive 2 movies out at a time and unlimited access to streaming from the Netflix site. All this, along with watching DVDs through my HTPC was going to provide me with all of the content I normally watch through DirecTV, without the additional (rising) cost.

I installed a TV tuner card in my HTPC to pick up and record programs I receive OTA. And I downloaded several programming aggregators - HULU, Secondrun, Zinc, etc. to provide the feel of watching TV normally with an onscreen programming guide. I have mediabrowser to spruce up my video files in WMC. And probably a few other programs that I'm forgetting. I haven't even started looking into feeding content to other TVs in the house (like with SageTV).

But I've encountered problems (what else is new?). First, my DSL connection is only 1.5 mbps. That is the fastest I can receive because of the types of lines run to my house. It's an older house It makes streaming programs troublesome at times. Now I could go with cable modem and that would provide me fast enough connection. But that costs more and it's Comcast, who I truly despise. Yeah, I have some principles! Plus, I really hate having to change my email address. I mean, my email address is saved on so many important sites, I don't even know where to begin. So I'm expecting, when I move into a newer home in the area, to be able to receive a 3.0 mbps+ speed. Once that falls into place, I can play more with SRtv and the other programs that work in conjunction with WMC to try to achieve the same feel as turning on a TV and navigating channels with a satellite/cable receiver.

The other problem I have faced is picking up local channels OTA. Before the digital transition, a few of my local stations were broadcasting digitally and I was picking them up flawlessly. They looked great! After the official transition, I lost the signal on several of the channels and others flicker in and out. I toyed with the idea of building an antenna (the DB4 or DB8), but again, once I move, conditions for reception will change. So I haven't played with my TV tuner card and its' recording capabilities yet.

Anyway, long story, sorry if you persevered in reading all of that! For now, we're happy with what we're able to do through the HTPC. Mostly we stream previous seasons of Lost through Netflix, Survivor and Amazing Race on CBS.com and watch old seasons of X-Files that I download from another site. Have to say that I'm really pleased with Netflix. Because of my slow internet connection, I have problems streaming sometimes. But mostly it has been successful. Now if I could just find watchable episodes of past seasons of Survivor somewhere!!! CBS hasn't released the DVDs for most seasons so I can't get them through Netflix and streaming the episodes from Youtube is unbearably pixelated.

I'll report back on my attempts to play Blu-Ray movies using PDVD and AnyDVD later.

Well, I downloaded AnyDVD. One problem though - I must have downloaded in the past when I was looking for software to rip DVDs onto my hard drive. I remember doing that now. I ended up uninstalling it and using DVDFab instead because it was free. So when I tried to run AnyDVD, it told me that my trial period had run out. So I can't test it with PDVD.

Damian, what can you tell me about WinDVD2010 and TMT - how does their performance and sound compare with PDVD? Are they one time costs or do I have to pay every year or two?

What do you use to playback Blu-Rays?

HALLELUJAH! After months upon months of aggravation. I have finally managed to fix the problem of playing Blu-Ray's with PDVD!!!!



Oh.....the solution.....yes, of course. Sorry, had to do that little dance to express my delight and relief.

The problem was with my graphics card driver. I use the Sapphire Radeon 4670....which is HDCP compliant and PDVD HD Advisor approved of. I downloaded a new Display Driver and CCC update today. Then I stuck in a Blu-Ray disc and it played! No error messages! It looks and sounds amazing. I ought to sell the solution to the knobs at Cyberlink support!

Any time you can have multiple dancing bananas it is worth celebrating!!! When all else fails, make sure you have the updated drivers!!! Great to hear

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

This is available now at Newegg, any reviews/further analysis forthcoming?

I believe that is just an Atom/Ion system which have been out for some time now. The link is for the N270 which I think is the single core Atom vs. the N330 which is the dual core. Several members here are running the Atom/Ion system and for the most part it appears everyone is happy. There is some sluggishness unless you can O/C (I think the Aspire Revo BIOS is locked down so you cannot do on that one). As long as you can take advantage of Hardware Acceleration video playback seems to do well

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

What's shaking Damian? Just popping in to check what's new.

Rhino

Just chillin I guess, too much time devoted to work/family and not enough to my hobbies

Still running with W7MC + Media Browser as my main front end, but continue to mess around with XBMC and Boxee. At some point I want to revisit Media Portal, but I will probably want until 2.0 is eventually released. Same goes with SageTV, I probably won't revisit until SMM is released and/or 7.0. How is everything going with you, have you setup working as you want or still tweaking?

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin

Thank you dbone,

It is rather hard to track all these down, I have been trying a few and have come to realize some things. It is not always easy to tell if these apps are intended to run for the client, or a server (with http/https access), or both. A large percentage of the companies/individuals do not provide any distinction between supported formats and preferred formats. Meaning, while something may support format .xxx it does so by converting to format .yyy. Yes it supports it, but you are going to have to either wait for conversion(s), OR use resources to convert on the fly. Also, sometimes it is hard to tell what formats are supported, you have to dig deep! (a recent search I did on Tversity is a great demonstration of this, "And more" should never be used!).

I ran into a roadblock with XBMC in that I could install it on the server (HP 490), but could not run it over RDP to perform initial setups so that I could use the web interface. I even attempted to go as far as to create some .xml config files containing snippets of settings gathered from forums to try to get the application to start up just to configure it. I gave up after spending more time than I would like to mention on the application That was disappointing in that it looked fairly promising to me for my uses.

I still have a few on my list to try as well, Fuppes (the UI doesn't look appealing but the features look promising), then Coherence, and BRisa. I realize this is a relatively untapped market and there are not many offerings (free or paid), it seems many are not ready for "Prime Time" so to speak. For instance I stopped writing this and installed Fuppes and to make a long story short, it is now un-installed. One that I was interested in that had no Windows Support was MediaTomb (downloaded freenas to test it out), time permitting I will check it out, but my Nix box has been powered down as of late.

I feel like the general populous on the media streaming: make it easy to use, very customizable, and easy to set up or forget it, I will go watch the TV, or put in a DVD instead I like the criteria you listed in the OP as well, and I think that sums up my feelings on the matter. I am currently looking for one that supports more photo formats, without the need to "convert" to one of few supported formats.


Sorry for my long post, but I thank you for yours!
Tom

_________________
Have you backed up your data lately?

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the post. Right now the only App that is meant to be installed on WHS to have the server/client relationship is SageTV. Obviously it is rather silly that WMC is not integrated into WHS being they are both MS products, makes you wonder what some of the knuckleheads over there were thinking.

I think we are getting closer to having media streaming software/devices that can do it all (music/photos/videos) in an easy to set up/nice looking UI, but it is frustrating that it has taken as long as it has. I actually think the biggest hurdle is that some of the developers want to throw every bell and whistle into the software/plugins which inevitably makes it buggy and not as user friendly. One day we will get there, I think...

_________________
Cheers,
Damian

DIY WHS - 12.5TB and growing, too many gadgets to list

Did you read the MediaSmartServer blog today?
Blog - http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com
"Like a midget at a urinal, stay on your toes!" - Lieutenant Frank Drebin