What can I replace my K-scape (Gen One) With?

[FutureAudiophile.com]

Hi,

I have a 56 tb MONSTER K-scape. Gen One. OG movie server.

It can rip a DVD which is cool.

It costs a FORTUNE to replace the hard drives (like $750 each and there are more than a dozen) and they go bad.

but that's not the issue.

It is FAN NOISE. This thing is SO F-ing loud in my rack.

Post Palisades fire, I am not sure if it even works. Perhaps.

K-scape won't let you transfer the 3000 movies that I have to the new, smaller, more quiet unit.

Is there anything else out there that is more modern, might rip a DVD(that might not be possible) and is smaller and more quiet?

Thank you in advance for your advice!!!

Jerry

 

[jinjuku]

Plenty of people running FreeNAS and using MakeMKV + either Plex or Jellyfin.

I picked up a Dual CPU X99 motherboard from Amazon (it's a no name) that has 10 SATA and 5 NVME/M.SATA slots on it plus PCIe expansion. $139.

Put a some $12 Xeon 2630's in and $20 (x2) upHere P4K CPU Air Cooler. Also TrueNAS support GPU passthrough so PLEX container can access it direct for on the fly transcoding. I use a $40 Nvidia P600. $70 power supply that's quiet.

I'm running a 4 drive array with 21TB total.

It's never going to be small because the need for storage is going to drive the footprint.

 

[FutureAudiophile.com]

Yikes.

I am not sure how to control that with Crestron Home and that is important as I have fiber optic cable run to every TV location in the house.

Is there a more commercial or all-in-one option?

 

[jinjuku]

Yikes.

I am not sure how to control that with Crestron Home and that is important as I have fiber optic cable run to every TV location in the house.

Is there a more commercial or all-in-one option?

Sorry, didn't know about your need for Crestron. I tend toward solutions like Plex that i can just control from an iPad.

 

[FutureAudiophile.com]

My installer mentioned PLEX in passing.

Can you tell me more?

 

[jinjuku]

Plex and Jellyfin are library management systems with Front End GUI's. You can install the server side on the back end (like your NAS storage) and it scan's the storage (You setup a 'library' for this) as you rip your media to it.

My TV has a PLEX app that then ties into my Plex account with a code. I use PlexAMP with RIOPEEE and my Raspberry Pi's for audio streaming off the iPad.

 

[FutureAudiophile.com]

This is very valuable.

Thank you.

I need to talk with my CI guy to see how this MIGHT work with Crestron Home.

 

[dolynick]

You could also look at something like an AppleTV 4k with the Infuse app. Crestron is supposedly able to control and AppleTV, so you'd maintain that functionality.

Infuse is a media player with library support that can scan a network storage space and populate its library.
It supports 4k formats as well as DV and HDR10.

You'd still need some sort of NAS for files and you'd have to manage your ripping and transferring to the NAS yourself though. That part is going to be a little more hands-on and time consuming than just downloading from the Kaleidoscope service.

 

[FutureAudiophile.com]

This thread is getting GOOD!!!

OK - Roku is out because as soon as you get a new IP from your provider - Crestron can't control it.

Everybody in the house streams - not DirecTV like I do. We are going to do TWO Apple TVs because they DO work with Crestron Home.

I am adding a NAS in the rack too.

Perhaps a 3rd Apple TV with this configuration could work?

Hmmmm

 

[dolynick]

I have two Apple4k boxes set up, both with Infuse directed to my network storage. I set them up exploring alternatives to a full HTPC, plus they support DV where an HTPC generally does not (not a big deal in my case anyways). It does work pretty well in my tests so far.

While I prefer a full HTPC, they are often more expensive and require more maintenance (depends what you do I guess). I concluded that the AppleTV+Infuse would make a satisfactory lower-cost alternative. It would also be much more familiar to the average home user who is used to using a tile based media library.

 

[FutureAudiophile.com]

I am very comfortable in the Apple bubble and not so much with a PC

 

[dolynick]

Looking into Infuse again, I am reminded that in order to do full 4k support with positional audio, you need to get a Pro subscription. The free app won't do it. The good news is that they offer lifetime subscriptions and if I recall it was not all that expensive for one (I'm having trouble finding actual pricing at the moment though).