Home Media Server

[Ioman]

So I have been thinking about setting up a home media server in the garage and setting up my home for a wireless network. Here are my thoughts.

Build a large server with 500GB+ on it and put it out in the garage (out of view). Make sure it has an 802.11G network card in it. Then setup mini-reciever (boxes) throughout the house which interface with the media server. This way you can watch/listen to media on your TV's/home theaters.

In my opnion the network would have to be 802.11G for the bandwidth so you can stream DivX movies to your home theater.

Now, my question is this. How can we "build" a cheap home reciever with S-Video and SPDIF output so we can stream media? The hard drive in the reciever itself can be extremely small since everything will be played from the media server. Is there workstation software out there similar to Cytrix that would give you a simulation desktop of some sort or would you have to actually have an OS on the media reciever itself?

[questionlp]

The Cyrix Mini-ITX systems are okay for playing most audio/video stuff, but even the 1GHz version can be quite sluggish (mostly due to the poor FPU that is used in the processor). I don't know what kind of availability the board has, but there is a Pentium-M board that is the size of a Mini-ITX board.

Different video cards will have different S-Video out quality, so that can really make or break such a system. I don't know which ones have the best, but finding comparisons online shouldn't be too difficult. Any decent sound card should have SPDIF (be it coax or optical) out, and the quality should be the same across most sound cards.

The media center system would have to have some form of an operating system in order to decode the movie or audio files and play it out. Here you can opt for Linux+MythTV or Windows XP and a third-party "media center" suite.

HTH

[jfila]

Ian get the Prismiq that I list in this thread (http://forums.designtechnica.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3079)

You can even browse the net from your couch. It also supports VOBs (ripped DVDs) for exact DVD quality. I almost bought this but bought the SliMP3 instead because of the display.

[Ioman]

$249 is OK, but kind of a little steep. I might my something like this for my home theater, but not for ever TV in the house. Is there anything cheaper on the market? Will the PrismQ interface with the home media server I want to build?

[openbsd-flipp]

At the office I set up some 1ghz via setups running a modified version of knoppix s the clients and stream mp3's thanks to apache and perl (I think it is PERL::MP3 but I will have to get back to you on that) The one thing about streaming video over wireless is depending on the number of clients connecting you can cause droppage very easily.

[Ioman]

At the office I set up some 1ghz via setups running a modified version of knoppix s the clients and stream mp3's thanks to apache and perl (I think it is PERL::MP3 but I will have to get back to you on that) The one thing about streaming video over wireless is depending on the number of clients connecting you can cause droppage very easily.

For a home setup what would you recommend?

[llbbl]

$249 is OK, but kind of a little steep. I might my something like this for my home theater, but not for ever TV in the house. Is there anything cheaper on the market? Will the PrismQ interface with the home media server I want to build?


$249 isn't too bad for what you get if you look at the options. It can stream internet radio, pictures, video ... There are more expensive ones that do less (brand name) as well as cheaper ones that do even less.

Look at the thread he lists prices. Look at their website it lists hardware specs.

[llbbl]

If you are going to be streaming video I highly suggest doing it over wires. Much more reliable. If you can't then try wireless, but just don't be suprised if you get interference and the signal can't reach parts of your house.

[openbsd-flipp]

Since I don't know how much you like the pain and torture of design and testing I can't say really. If you just want to plug it in and go then I would get either a SliMP3 or a Prismiq but I agree with your earlier post about the price being a bit much. I personally love the pain and I would write a perl script in assembly or a hex-editor for the glee of doing things the hard way.