Is there any support for a Media Server Sticky?

[itschris]

I've been on other sites and keep experiencing the same problem, you read and read and read and read only to find out that every month, there's something new which just became a better choice.

I think it'd be cool to have a defacto component list for 3 or 4 different ranges of media servers. Specifically which motherboard - video card - sound card - memory combos work best in each range. If there was a way to keep it updated that would be fantastic. They have these on other sites, but they're obsolete and useless for the most part. I don't think anyone of care which motherboard and chipset was best 10 months ago.

Just a thought.

 

[darien87]

I'd be down for that. I've been looking for a HTPC for the last few months, and I don't know enough about building a computer, to know what will work.

It'd be nice to have a resource for that kind of information.

 

[davidtwotrees]

I own an Escient media server. To be truthful, I'm not sure what percentage of people here are interested in servers. I can honestly say that mine has changed and enriched the way that I listen to music. I am recording Patrica Barber's "The Premoniton Years" boxed set onto my server as I write.

 

[Djizasse]

It's not easy to keep track of the computer's hardware industry rapid pace :b

But if you're looking for a media server with no htpc duties, you don't need to have the latest and the fastest.

 

[stratman]

That would be great (to have a sticky on the subject.) The reason, I think, that media servers are sidelined is cost. There aren't too many affordable media servers. There are Sonos and Slim Devices' Duet, Squeezebox, and Transporter. These only support music.

I've been in the market for a music server for a while, I thought the Sonos was great but too pricey when you consider peripherals (roughly$1000.00), the squeezbox was limited by it's architecture, it's Linux based and it requires you to download it into the NAS (you need an NAS or a PC.) The DUET looks promising but it hasn't hit the market yet and it will be $400.00, not exactly cheap either.

The other day noodling around a couple of pro audio sites, I stumbled upon the most unlikely option for my needs. Of all things, it's marketed to professional DJs, it's called the Cortex HDC-500 Digital Music Controller, it retails for about $250.00 and the beauty of it is that you don't need a PC or an expensive NAS, all you need is an external hard rive, Cortex provides the software for you to rip and burn and create lists. The unit supports MP3 and WAV files. Obviously this is a non option for those wanting a "media" server that also supports video, but for those looking for an audio library and don't want to spend thousands, this looks like the way to go. I did the cost comparison and it's a no-brainer. The unit will cost me $250.00, a Nady Pro amp (400 watts) $179.00, 2 500 Gig drives (one for backup) $250.00, so I'm looking for a grand total of $679.00 for a complete system, I have an old pre-amp that I don't use so it'll come back to work again. For the features that it brings, that you most likely will never use at home, it can't be beat.

There's a couple of other brands producing something similar, but they're more money. Denon, Numark and Cortex are the best of the lot. Cortex has the right unit for my needs.

http://www.cortex-pro.com/hdc_500.php

I'm ordering the system tomorrow and I'll post as soon as I get it installed and running, this system will become the nerve center for my whole-house audio library.

 

[itschris]

I hope I'm using the terminology correctly. Here are my thoughts which have gone 180 in past 3 weeks of research... namely from joinin this forum.

1) Why spend $700-$1000 on a high end Blu-Ray player that may not even meet the upcoming standards and may not even be updateable

2) Why spend $200-$400 on a capable HD DVR (more for multiple room)

3) Why spend $400 - $600 on a high end CD jukebox

... when you can have all of that in one high end upgradeable unit. You can copy all of your CD's and DVD's to one place and have them catalogued. Have built in DVR that you can stream to multiple locations via Vista Extenders and you can play and rip Blu-Ray and/or HD DVD's all in one box.

Even the cases now are perfect for high end systems now with cases from companies like SilverStone and Thermaltek. These are two I'm considering:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=cw03&area=usa
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3424777&CatId=32

I see my system consisting of my Sunfire Amps, my new Pre/Pro (likely the new Emotiva) and one of the 2 cases above doing all my source stuff. The way I look at it, my power and processing are set, and I have an easily upgradeable server to host all my media and make it easily accessible. The money I save on the other stuff just about pays for a higher end unit. I'm thinking $2k - $2.5K for something really high-end and awsome looking. Clearly, you don't have to buy a $600 case, but if you want to.. you can, and to me, that and all the other choices and upgradeability make this a no brainer. The only downside I see is not being able output the HD audio from Blue-Ray. Then again, I used to believe there could be nothing possibly better than when progressive scan and Dolby 5.1 first came out, so I can wait a bit on that until an upgrade comes down the pike.

Feel free to dispell and myths that I'm under.

 

[darien87]

Man, those are some SWEET cases.

It's the HD audio that's holding me back too. But I can wait. Plus, I don't really know how the whole HD DVR would work. Do I need to go from my cable box to the HTPC, or can I just get rid of the cable box altogether?

I just don't get how all this stuff is supposed to work!!!

 

[itschris]

You can get cable cards now, but from what I've read, they only have one way communitcation so you can't user your interactive cable features like selecting PPV.

Either way, I think you gain 100 times more than you miss out. I mean, let's say next year they come out with a new card that outputs the HD audio... swap the card... big deal. Let's say in 5 years there's something totally new... I'm still confident you'd be able to upgrade your system. You can't readily upgrade a DVD player beyond a certain point for instance.

I just think it'd be nice to go the touchscreen and select a playlist at any time based on my entire catalogue of music and play a blu-ray dvd, regular dvd, or hd-dvd all from the same piece of equipment... not to mention the DVR capabilities.

I still think I'd have the cablebox with a direct connection to the tv for non-critical viewing like popping the new on or just casual watching, but when I want to listen to music or watch a movie... I no longer see the need for seperate components anymore.

 

[krzywica]

I have built 12 HTPC's now from the ground up for myself and other people(and hundreds of desktops and servers). And I run EVERYTHING from my HTPC at my house. I will never go back to seperate sources! Although I don't have or want cable or satelite, there are may options for displaying and recording of cable soures. Al my brodcsts come from OTA content.

Here are my current system specs to give you an idea of what you would want as a minimum for an HTPC.

Asus A8N SLI Deluxe
AMD X2-3800
2 GB Memory
8800GTS video card
1x Western Digital 250GB SATA HDD (I stream most of my content from my server which has 2TB of storage, to include my entire music collection, as well as my movies, and other videos)
1 LG GGC-H20L (plays DVD, HD-DVD, Blu Ray)
I just use the optical audio out built into the chipset and have never had any problems
Logitech diNovo Edge 2 Keyboard (This thing is perfect for HTPC applications because of the built in touchpad and beautiful build quality)

This is not even an "ultimate" system, it was built with parts I had laying around (I'm a computer engineer) so you could do much better with newer hand picked components.

Also I would keep your STB for watching TV as most if not all TV tuner cards for PC are rather archaic, and generally have much slower response times that your newer STB's would.

 

[itschris]

What's an STB?

 

[krzywica]

What's an STB?

STB=Set Top Box

 

[darien87]

I have built 12 HTPC's now from the ground up for myself and other people(and hundreds of desktops and servers).

So how do I place an order?

 

[Warpdrv]

OK I'll say it again, for those who don't really care, but a Modded 1st gen Xbox can stream anything you want from a server... It will play any media form and outputs via optical... and outputs video via component in 1080i if so desired.

They can be had for very little money, and have allowed me to stream media for 7 plus years already. I can't say that there have been many products out there that can match the abilites of Xbox Media Center. screenshot http://sourceforge.net/dbimage.php?id=59094 www.xboxmediacenter.com
And now they are starting to change all the code over to Linux as the old xbox is a little lacking in the horsepower dept... but will soon be able to be loaded up on a computer to use as a HTPC. The GUI is phenomenal and far better then any MS media center by far... for less then $200.00 or even less then $100.00, I find it hard to beat....

Also I just bought a Dlink NAS and stuffed 2 terabytes into that puppy, great for server storage on the network. Now to transfer all my stuff over to it... what a chore...http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=509

 

[krzywica]

So how do I place an order?

Lol. Well, I usually only do local work....but if your serious (which I doubt) you can PM me.

OK I'll say it again, for those who don't really care, but a Modded 1st gen Xbox can stream anything you want from a server... It will play any media form and outputs via optical... and outputs video via component in 1080i if so desired.

Sorry but this is only partially correct. The Xbox only has a P3 733MHz processor, clearly not powerful enough to decode HD content. So if you have any compressed HD content (as I do) this will not work. I have installed linux on an old Xbox I had sitting around and it was incapable of playing some of the HD content that I had. I have also tried the XBMC distros with the same results.

Also can you play Crysis with your Xbox? I know I can.

Also I just bought a Dlink NAS and stuffed 2 terabytes into that puppy, great for server storage on the network. Now to transfer all my stuff over to it... what a chore...http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=509

NAS's are wonderful devices and I fully agree that if you are not going to do a dedicated server, then get some type of NAS unit that you can just throw in a closet and never have to touch it.

On a side note Warpdrv I'm not knocking you at all, this has just been my experience. I am an open source guy as well, and run linux on several of my own PC's, as well as do linux server support and integration.

 

[Warpdrv]

Lol. Well, I usually only do local work....but if your serious (which I doubt) you can PM me.



Sorry but this is only partially correct. The Xbox only has a P3 733MHz processor, clearly not powerful enough to decode HD content. So if you have any compressed HD content (as I do) this will not work. I have installed linux on an old Xbox I had sitting around and it was incapable of playing some of the HD content that I had. I have also tried the XBMC distros with the same results.

Also can you play Crysis with your Xbox? I know I can.




NAS's are wonderful devices and I fully agree that if you are not going to do a dedicated server, then get some type of NAS unit that you can just throw in a closet and never have to touch it.

On a side note Warpdrv I'm not knocking you at all, this has just been my experience. I am an open source guy as well, and run linux on several of my own PC's, as well as do linux server support and integration.

I agree with you 100% bud... I don't have any HD content but I stream movies over my Cat6 network, and I have absolutely no issues whatsoever, granted I don't have 1080p content at all... just 1080i plasmas...
As far as a music server, it will handle this in spades... It doesn't take much processing power to play audio.

I also agree with the fact that its old, with many processor limitations and I seriously look forward to being able to build my own computer for use as a XBMC HTPC.

I don't like MS interface, nor do I like their rules. I want what I want so I look elsewhere to get it. The Xbox running XBMC is an incredibly simple solution for cheap, as well as being very flexible to do a great many things.

As far as the NAS, it was a very inexpensive device to take the load off my servers in the basement, I have another 2 terabytes in those but running the NAS is so much easier on the electric bill.. always on, wake on LAN - great solution.

 

[krzywica]

If you are planning on putting together an HTPC and want to keep it all open source than I would HIGHLY recommned Ubuntu 7.10. A simply beautiful and amazing OS that combines some of the best stuff the entire Linux community has to offer. It is simple easy to use and suprisingly lightweight even with 3D desktop (compiz) enabled. I don't know if you have ever seen wha compiz can do, but it is definitely worth a look, and then some!

I love NAS's they truly are the wave of the future! Especially when combined with open source software that can act as a miniature OS in some instances.

 

[Warpdrv]

I will check out Ubuntu, its been a while since I have fiddled with anything of that nature... I used to build PC's for fun (for my own education) for a long time, but I have pretty much just run XP for my needs...

I really got sidetracked with so many other things in my life, that messing with computers got put on the back burner, and as far as I was concerned, they were behind the times... I have been wanting to build a HTPC, but nothing out there has had the capabilities to output (at the time)DVI/HDMI, and handshake issues were too much drama for me... but it has been a while, and things have progressed, but I have been away..

It sounds to me like you have been more up to date and current with the latest and greatest stuff out there... Is there anything available that provides as robust a GUI as the latest XBMC can do...? I would be very interested in implementing something that would handle all my needs that has had as much love from the hundreds of programmers like XBMC. XBMC with a full HDMI 1080p connection would be wicked.. and worthy of my time to build, and implement in all my systems..

That was always to me the cool thing about XBMC as you know, every week there is a change/update in the code, it is constantly updated, reworking the source code for a flawless product. You just don't get that with software these days.. It costs to much to keep re-inventing the wheel...

I appreciate your knowledge here, and would like to hear more..
Money is not a problem, but asthetics are.. I want a sexy looking HTPC that will fit into all of my HT's..

 

[itschris]

See? This is perfect we all need this thread. I would say we have 1 sticky or new group that has the actual recommendations for each kind of system at different price points with another thread for the conversation. That way, we could have one concise place that we could keep updated with the latest hardware and software recommendations with explanations why its good and what type of system it's best for.

We all have different needs and wants. I know an Xbox or playstation or whatever probably does most of what I want, but I'm looking for something that looks perfect and high end sitting next to may other stuff. There's probably folks here who want really high end to play the latest games which requries additional thought just as I'm sure there are others who are on the other end who just want an inexpensive audio server to hide in their closet. A lot of the stuff is the same, but other parts are going to be specific and it would be great to have a solid roadmap to success.

 

[itschris]

Before I forget... I want to make sure I keep my technology accurate. Is there a difference between a media server and HTPC?

 

[Matt34]

I would love a HTPC but the entire thing, server, networking, the building of the PC and finally the cost really intimidates me.

The thought of having all my music and movies coming from one source and being available anywhere in the house just amazes me.