Home theater media servers

Anybody have experience with hard-drive based media servers?

I am looking to downsize my home theater. I currently use a Sony 200 disc DVD jukebox for my movies. I'd like to switch to a hard-drive based server where you just rip your DVDs to .ISO format and put them on a hard drive. Insert hard drive into either a dedicated PC or purpose-built media device and voila.

These are the ones I'm considering:

MVIX HD870

Galaxy Metal Gear 3500

I'm leaning towards the former as it has wireless capability and better connections (HDMI, digital audio). True, it is $200 more than the other one but I think in the long run it will be worth having the extra flexibility.

Another option would be to build a dedicated PC. I have built PCs before so this should not be a big deal. That said, I do not know what software would be used to do such a thing, and I think a dedicated PC would be much bigger (and more expensive).

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by Ace Rimmer

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Anybody have experience with hard-drive based media servers?

I am looking to downsize my home theater. I currently use a Sony 200 disc DVD jukebox for my movies. I'd like to switch to a hard-drive based server where you just rip your DVDs to .ISO format and put them on a hard drive. Insert hard drive into either a dedicated PC or purpose-built media device and voila.

These are the ones I'm considering:

MVIX HD870

Galaxy Metal Gear 3500

I'm leaning towards the former as it has wireless capability and better connections (HDMI, digital audio). True, it is $200 more than the other one but I think in the long run it will be worth having the extra flexibility.

Another option would be to build a dedicated PC. I have built PCs before so this should not be a big deal. That said, I do not know what software would be used to do such a thing, and I think a dedicated PC would be much bigger (and more expensive).

Any help is greatly appreciated.

The second one only holds a terabyte and i can't imagine the first holds much more. If you're gonna do this, it should have expandable storage imo. Also, there is a difference between a media server and an htpc, although sometimes they are one and the same. Do you want this to play your music and movies or just store them?

Frankly, I hate wireless for this kind of thing. It's just too slow, and there's nothing more annoying than having the wireless connection choke on you in the middle of a movie.

Originally Posted by GQgeek

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The second one only holds a terabyte and i can't imagine the first holds much more. If you're gonna do this, it should have expandable storage imo. Also, there is a difference between a media server and an htpc, although sometimes they are one and the same. Do you want this to play your music and movies or just store them?

Frankly, I hate wireless for this kind of thing. It's just too slow, and there's nothing more annoying than having the wireless connection choke on you in the middle of a movie.

You are correct, both the ones I listed are limited to a single 3.5" PATA/SATA hard drive. As 1 TB is the current limit, that's not exactly a lot of movies, even with regular DVD content (about 6 gigs per movie). I wish they made one with room for more than one hard drive. Maybe a unit that takes up one rack space but with room for 2-3 hard drives?

What I want is something that can store and play back movies and music through my home theater. I have a 200 disc DVD player and a 400 disc CD player. Something that is hard-drive based and that would replace both of them would be ideal.

I agree on wireless. I don't plan on using wireless for movies. Maybe to stream music, but not movies.

Personally, I would just build something. If you are networked, you could use a small and quiet pc as your player and then build a cheap machine for storage that you can stick in a closet or office somewhere. You want to try and minimize the noise/heat in your htpc so that you don't hear it during quiet movies/music.

I just may do that. Come to think of it, my current PC needs a refresh all around. New CPU, mobo, PSU and video card are in order. Might as well do a new PC build and use the old one for a server. It can hold at least 3 hard drives, and the video card (7800GT) has a TV out.

Do you have any software recommendations?

You might think about an modded xbox running xbmc. A first gen xbox is small, quiet, can stream from any computer and most importantly is cheap. XBMC will also upsample all your dvds to 1080i.

http://xbmc.org/

Originally Posted by Ace Rimmer

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I just may do that. Come to think of it, my current PC needs a refresh all around. New CPU, mobo, PSU and video card are in order. Might as well do a new PC build and use the old one for a server. It can hold at least 3 hard drives, and the video card (7800GT) has a TV out.

Do you have any software recommendations?

I just use Windows MCE 2005 on mine. There are geekier ways to do things, but I'm lazy, and it's a very simple interface that guests can figure out on their own. Choosing the right case is one of your most important considerations. You want it to be aesthetically pleasing, but you also want something that can take 80mm intake/exhaust fans if possible. Get a psu with a 120 mm fan. Bigger fans can spin more slowly to move the same amount of air. Get a quiet heasink/fan combo for your cpu. Consider using rubber grommets for your hard drive to isolate noise. Even consider gettting a nice and quiet drive. Some make a lot less noise than others. Basically, thoroughly read:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

^^ Thanks, I have been checking out various cases on newegg.com. I'm also considering passive cooling systems to reduce the fan noise. My current home-built PC is sporting a few Antec 120mm and 80mm fans but it is not as quiet as it could be. Maybe I'll splurge for a liquid cooling system for this one, but I hear they can leak sometimes.

For music and DVD playback, you don't really need a terribly powerful computer, so passive cooling is definitely very doable. I use a Scythe Infinity on a dual-core Athlon 3800+, and my only fan is a 120mm case fan running slowly to circulate air. My CPU temps are in the low to mid 30s C.

For music playback only, I have a little Via-based Linux server that's also passively cooled.

--Andre

Originally Posted by Ace Rimmer

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^^ Thanks, I have been checking out various cases on newegg.com. I'm also considering passive cooling systems to reduce the fan noise. My current home-built PC is sporting a few Antec 120mm and 80mm fans but it is not as quiet as it could be. Maybe I'll splurge for a liquid cooling system for this one, but I hear they can leak sometimes.

choosing the right fans can make all the difference. Go by spcr and don't substitute as there are huge differences in the noise characteristics of one 80mm fan and the next. Same thing with power supplies. Some are more efficient and better at keeping the fan at low RPMs under incremental loads. I'm really not happy with my current case, and when I have free cash for that sort of thing i'm gonna replace it. It's just too loud cause the airflow is terrible and it uses two 60mm exhaust fans. I probably won't touch it for a while though cause i have too many other things i want to spend money on. Plus I'm supposed to be saving.

Originally Posted by Andre Yew

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For music and DVD playback, you don't really need a terribly powerful computer, so passive cooling is definitely very doable. I use a Scythe Infinity on a dual-core Athlon 3800+, and my only fan is a 120mm case fan running slowly to circulate air. My CPU temps are in the low to mid 30s C.

For music playback only, I have a little Via-based Linux server that's also passively cooled.

--Andre

Are you using an htpc case? If so, which?

I use a stock Antec Solo. The dressing of the cables in the case is also pretty important to get good airflow. Every wire that I can put behind or underneath the motherboard, I do.

--Andre

Originally Posted by Andre Yew

Click to expand...

For music and DVD playback, you don't really need a terribly powerful computer, so passive cooling is definitely very doable. I use a Scythe Infinity on a dual-core Athlon 3800+, and my only fan is a 120mm case fan running slowly to circulate air. My CPU temps are in the low to mid 30s C.

Cool, my current PC is an AMD Athlon 3700+ (single core). I think it will be plenty for a media server. I'm using the stock CPU heatsink and fan, but I've never had any overheating problems.

Originally Posted by GQgeek

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choosing the right fans can make all the difference. Go by spcr and don't substitute as there are huge differences in the noise characteristics of one 80mm fan and the next. Same thing with power supplies. Some are more efficient and better at keeping the fan at low RPMs under incremental loads. I'm really not happy with my current case, and when I have free cash for that sort of thing i'm gonna replace it. It's just too loud cause the airflow is terrible and it uses two 60mm exhaust fans. I probably won't touch it for a while though cause i have too many other things i want to spend money on.

Plus I'm supposed to be saving.

Yeah I think I will try something other than Antec for fans next time. My current fans are nice but not as quiet as I'd like. My Antec 400W power supply, on the other hand, rarely runs its 120mm fan. It runs pretty cool as it is. I guess I can keep that one for the server.

I am currently using a Ahanix D Vine HTPC case, with a VFD display in the front. Its the black (of course) version of this case. Running a 90nm Athlon64 3000+ socket 939 which seems to run pretty darn cool (usually around 26-30C) with minimal cooling & stock fans compared to a lot of people. Maybe its just the airflow and cable routing genius I have though. It could be a little quieter. When I sit within two feet of my computer I can vaguely hear some slight fan noise. I'm pretty convinced its my graphics card though, I'm seriously thinking about getting updating and passively cooling a new one.