Homer Server Solution
I currently have a home server that I built (see sig) that host all my content for the entire house through Windows SMB shares. It also doubles as my workstation and is on 24/7. Currently equipped with..
Quad core Intel Q6600@3GHz
Asus P5Q Pro
8GB OCZ DDR800 memory
ATI HD4870 1GB GPU
2x Super Talent 36GB SSD Drives for the OS and applications
HighPoint RR 2320 RAID controller
8x 1.5 TB Seagate Drives in RAID5 for media and data storage of 10.5TB
2x 256GB Western Digital SATA drives for working files and encoding
The server is connected to my internal home network that is both wired and wireless. The wired network is served up via an HP
ProCurve Gigbit Switch. The wireless network is a G network that is hosted by a Linksys WRT-GS router/AP that is running
Tomato Firmware. I plan on upgrading to wireless N with
Beamforming in the furure from
Ruckus Wireless.
I used to stream everything to 2 PC's, one in the main H/T room and one upstairs in the master bedroom. A few months back I purchased my first
NMT device and instantly fell in love with its ease of use, functionality, and massive format and playback support. I have since retired the HTPC and other PC. I would not that music and videos are streamable to any wireless device as well over the G network that reaches about 1.5 blocks from my house. So its very nice for cookouts and such as I just bring the laptop outside and hook it up to the stereo in the garage.
I currently have 3 such devices...
Egreat EG-M34A
Mvix Ultio (Which is by far my least favorite and may not be in my posession much longer)
Pocorn Hour C-200
I am able to stream my content to these 3 devices flawlessly. My library consists of over 600 HD movies and probably 30k songs. My movies are either encoded to x264 and stored in the .mkv container or they are .mt2s files. Once the movies are encoded there is no need for any DVD's, HDDVD's, or BluRay's to ever leave their cases which is extremely nice.
My music is also a collection of either high bitrate mp3's or FLAC. I also use the NMT devices for audio playback and they work very well.
I am also able to stream my entire music library anywhere else that has an internet connection, IE, work, school, vacation, Starbucks....with an incredibly handy app that I found some time ago called
Simplify Media This comes in very very handy as it dissolves the hassle of letting people borrow yout content. You can share your entire music collection with up to 30 other people simultaneously. So my girlfriend at work, friends at home, and myself can playback my content at the same time.