Tuesday, February 19, 2013

What is my best option for a home media server?

Q. CURRENT SETUP:
I currently own 1 WD Media Hub and 2 WD Media Players. Each of these has 2 USB ports, so I have 6 hard drives hooked up. I use network adapters through electrical sockets to access all the drives from any of the players.

ISSUES With Current Setup:
1) The two media players need to be turned "on" in order to access their drives (the Hub can be in the "on" or "off" state). (I worry that the hard drives and/or media players are being worked too hard since I don't believe the players were designed to be on 24/7)

2) Navigation is not great because the media is spread across multiple locations.

3) My current setup can not accommodate expansion, and I would like to expand to 8 to 10 Hard Drives (each 3+ TBs in size).

SOLUTION?!?

This is where I need your help. What is the best solution to accommodate my needs. Is there a home media server device that allows you to hook up 8-10+ Hard Drives? Should I purchase/setup a dedicated PC to handle this? If so, should I go with Windows 7 or Windows 8 (would rather not mess with unix/linux). Would this device be able to handle the load of media being accessed by 3 different users/devices/rooms at one time?

A. Very good question and well explained.

Well you can certainly build a custom media server and is probably the most cost effect way to have a media server. The only real issue is having a nice interface or gui so you can easily access the software. It has to be efficient and easy to use otherwise it defeats the purpose.

I will include some links to building your own media server, and of course the better and more expensive options if you have the budget. Sure you can also you your PC as a hub with external hard drivers in a RAID configuration and use Windows media so you have a nice interface to access your movies. The PS 3 can also be used, its not a good interface but it does work if you want to use that. Don't know about windows 8 so couldn't tell you how well that would work sorry. As far as streaming to other rooms from a custom home built server that I don't have knowledge in.

Kaleidscape is the hot media server, has a great interface and gui, works great as Ive installed many, easily upgradable, can be made to work and access from any room in the house etc. "But" its not cheap lol. Gives you an idea how a media server should be designed.

What is a good free dnla media server for windows 7, similar to playon?
Q. I am trying to use a media server that is similar to playon, but free. I bought a sony bdps570, it is dnla enabled, I'm trying to use tversity, which I do like, and found out it is not dlna. I would really like to have it hulu compatible (free, not hulu plus) and play from my library (my harddrive). If you use a particular one, please tell me why you like it. Thanks for your input.

A. Try this link, it has a list of programs

http://www.rbgrn.net/content/21-how-to-choose-dlna-media-server-windows-mac-os-x-or-linux

How To Make A Simple Home Media Server?
Q. Hi guys, I am wondering how I can make a simple home media server running from an old server computer I have. Does anyone know of anyone linux distros that will let me stream videos from that computer to a windows or mac comuter? Or can I just open a video from the windows or mac machine from the server??? Could anyone help me achieve this please? All I want is to be able to use my server computer to keep videos and music and then watch them from another part of my house...
Thanks,
waco001

A. Any distro will work (light weight would be better - Ubuntu Server CLI). Just install Samba for file sharing, openssh so you can have a headless server, and a program to stream/transcode your music/movies. There are many, but I use PS3 Media Server. Written in jave, runs on Windows, GNU/Linux, and Mac. I had many problems with Media Tomb and others. PS3 Media Server worked the easiest.

If you can connect a computer to your TV, you can use XBMC. With it there is no need for the server to transcode the media. If your computer is too old or slow you may have problems with the transcoding/streaming of video.



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