Media Server

dccarm

I'm looking for inspiration. I have a wireless network, broadband and a decentish PC. All my music is stored on a seperate hard drive within the PC. I recently bought a Pinnacle Soundbridge to connect my stereo to the PC, and also to the internet for internet radio. (Highly recommended).

What I think I am looking for is a quiet, low energy usage dedicated media server that I can leave on most of the time during the day in a quiet corner of the house somewhere. But there are so many media options these days that I don't know if this is the right one. Has anyone with a bit of knowledge about this got any thoughts? (I have built my own PC's in the past so am quite comfortable with doing so again).

Thanks in advance

Craig_THW

dccarm wrote: »

I'm looking for inspiration. I have a wireless network, broadband and a decentish PC. All my music is stored on a seperate hard drive within the PC. I recently bought a Pinnacle Soundbridge to connect my stereo to the PC, and also to the internet for internet radio. (Highly recommended).

What I think I am looking for is a quiet, low energy usage dedicated media server that I can leave on most of the time during the day in a quiet corner of the house somewhere. But there are so many media options these days that I don't know if this is the right one. Has anyone with a bit of knowledge about this got any thoughts? (I have built my own PC's in the past so am quite comfortable with doing so again).

Thanks in advance

Looking for something similar myself and already have a threat which may help http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=628417

Keep me up to date with anything you decide?

Cheers,
Craig

overdrivegt

I'm in the same position as you. I've a Soundbridge under the Roku brand. (Same thing). There's tons of info in the Soundbridge Forums http://forums.rokulabs.com/index.php?c=1&sid=9dfb117a3b10f26c13d93dcfc29273ee however, there's a lack of clear steer as to which way to go. There are, however, loads of people who have this sort of set up. Put 'NAS' (network attached storage) into the search facility and see what you get.......let me know what you decide on....

ABH_3

dccarm wrote: »

I'm looking for inspiration. I have a wireless network, broadband and a decentish PC. All my music is stored on a seperate hard drive within the PC. I recently bought a Pinnacle Soundbridge to connect my stereo to the PC, and also to the internet for internet radio. (Highly recommended).

What I think I am looking for is a quiet, low energy usage dedicated media server that I can leave on most of the time during the day in a quiet corner of the house somewhere. But there are so many media options these days that I don't know if this is the right one. Has anyone with a bit of knowledge about this got any thoughts? (I have built my own PC's in the past so am quite comfortable with doing so again).

Thanks in advance

General Information:
http://forums.rokulabs.com/viewforum.php?f=15&sid=dca86475ed0d2c3fce7f72d836f64dbf

Look for the words 'Supported hardware/software' and 'Compatability' here:
http://www.audiofi.co.uk/reviews/roku.php for a standalone product. You could build a media pc\server such as that which Craig_THW is looking at but if you're looking for just a small server the above is where you need to be looking.

HTH

markchadwick

I've been looking at these types of things recently with an idea of centralising my file storage to one location. My preferred option (when I can afford it) is the Infrant Technologies (now Netgear) NV+ NAS Box. This does everything and is the market leader in the NAS arena. It has a media server built in and does lots more things that I need.

Rather than me listing the specs and blowing its trumpet - just watch this video on youtube and you'll probably be sold like me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sD3BjhOjq8. Just think of this on a homeplug powerline system connected to your media centre/HDTV setup in your lounge - happy days indeed!

Mark

dccarm

The NAS option certainly looks the way to go, based on the hardware I already have. Thanks for the assistance!

dccarm

Thank you for all the input. I went with a Maxtor Shared Storage II NAS in the end, and it's working out okay. It meets my requirements, but the built in media server isn't 100% what I was looking for so I am trying to find a way of getting a different server on to it. Twonkyvision looks like the only option here as sadly the MSSII is not as open as the earlier MSS drives.

I am also hoping now to expand my options slightly and link the media server on the NAS to my TV. Does anyone know of a good way of doing this? The PS3 appears to be the best option but might be a bit out of my price range at the moment.

mrscruffy

Requires some technical knowledge but certainly a money saving option!

http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/

dccarm

mrscruffy wrote: »

Requires some technical knowledge but certainly a money saving option!

http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/

Now where do I get my hands on a modded XBox? Is it easy?