home streaming media servers? advice req'd

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Quiff Boy
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anyone got any experience with home streaming media servers?

considering getting one but dont know where to start :|

my home setup is thus:

1tb hard drive full of mp3s which is connected via USB to a NSLU2 "slug", which in turn connects via standard cat5 network cable into my wifi modem/router

the NSLU2 makes the usb hard drive available as a network drive, so in theory anyone on my network has access to it 8)

i'd like something that
  1. plugs into my tv for control, accessing menu systems etc
  2. sends audio out to my hifi hifi amp
  3. connects to the shared drive via wifi and lets me play all the mp3s on the drive via the tv & amp
the amp and tv located very near to each other so as long as whatever device i get has scart video output and separate stereo phono-outputs it will be fine

then i can sell all my cds ;D :lol:

i'm also then considering getting an icybox raid array/network wotsit for the drives so i have some redundancy, and can ditch the NSLU2 8) :notworthy:

this looks like a likely candidate but i don't really know where to start

http://www.netgear.com/Products/Enterta ... VA700.aspx

Image

does anyone have any advice, suggestions or recommendations?

:von:
Last edited by Quiff Boy on 16 Dec 2009, 13:40, edited 1 time in total.
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mh
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Looks like rebadged Dell stuff, which is pretty damn reliable on the server/storage side. Avoid RAID 0 like the plague, and if you can get something with RAID 10 do so - benefits in both performance and redundancy there, but may be a little pricey. RAID 5 is also good for this kinda purpose.

Otherwise it's just dumb network storage, so it's down to the quality of the parts really.
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mh wrote:Looks like rebadged Dell stuff, which is pretty damn reliable on the server/storage side. Avoid RAID 0 like the plague, and if you can get something with RAID 10 do so - benefits in both performance and redundancy there, but may be a little pricey. RAID 5 is also good for this kinda purpose.

Otherwise it's just dumb network storage, so it's down to the quality of the parts really.
the drive storage box? yeah, the sysadmin guys here at work use them and say they're pretty solid and reliable 8)
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DerekR
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Get yourself a Squeezebox boss, I have 2 8)

No TV interface but its controllable via a web interface or iPhone/Touch :notworthy: :notworthy:

Xbox 360 is another alternative if you MUST have TV interface
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markfiend
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My Suggestion: http://www.mythtv.org/

Not tried it myself (yet) but intend to at some point.
Last edited by markfiend on 16 Dec 2009, 13:51, edited 1 time in total.
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Quiff Boy
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i wanted the tv interface so that jo could use it easily :D

and i like the idea of a nice menu system like apple's frontrow, with cover art and other bits of eye candy :lol: that help you to browse through a large library of songs

also, looking ahead, something that can also play divxs & movs through the tv might be useful 8)

a chap at work has the EVA8000 which he says is good, but it's a couple of years old now and he says there are probably better available.

and i dont want a 360 :lol:
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DocSommer
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I'm using a popcornhour player here but only for HD video stuff and I wouldn't recommend this for audio because the audio interface is very crappy.

My next streaming client will be a proper HTPC with individual hardware. You can built these pretty cheap if you don't need HD playback - maybe based on an Intel Atom platform. The main goal is that you are not bound to a crappy software/firmware support - just pick your own OS/media center. Just consider that the hardware comes with a good analogue audio out IF you don't use digital out.
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Treadstone71
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For just over a year now i've been using the original WDTV device.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=734

It connects to your TV using HDMI so you can use the menu and view the artwork of your digital CD collection and also has a digital audio out which I use to connect to my DAC/Amp, so you don't have to put up with just the audio coming through the TV. It also has two USB inputs so you can connect two hard drives full of mp3's to it.

It can also be used for photos and video and suports HD, but I use it just for music (mp3).

They have recently released a new version called the WDTV Live.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=735

This seems to be the same device but is able to be networked as well, so you may want to look into it.

Hope that helps.
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Quiff Boy
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oooh, that looks interesting, ta :D 8)

on the version you have, how user-friendly are the menus for navigating through your audio collection? does it have cover art? a search facility? how about a shuffle setting? (just thinking of the kind of thing mrs qb might want to use)
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Like this one?

http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/61154
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Quiff Boy
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not really, no.

i'm looking for a standalone, dedicated device that can stream music from a network share to the hifi - not some computer software :|

i'm deliberately trying to avoid anything overly complicated and am not even considering anything based on a standard computer platform.

ideally it should be more like a piece of hifi kit than some stripped down, frigged pc-based thing.

something more akin to the boxee box or even the much-aligned apple tv would be better.

i'm still favouring the WD solution or the netgear EVA8000...
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Treadstone71
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Quiff Boy wrote:oooh, that looks interesting, ta :D 8)

on the version you have, how user-friendly are the menus for navigating through your audio collection? does it have cover art? a search facility? how about a shuffle setting? (just thinking of the kind of thing mrs qb might want to use)
The menu is quite user friendly. Your collection can be viewed in either list form or thumbnail form. The thumbnail view will show the artwork as long as there is a picture file in the folder named 'Folder.jpg'. Will also show the CD artwork when playing the mp3 as long as a picture is embedded within the id tag (something i'm working on at the moment).
It does have a shuffle setting but the only problem is that is only shuffles the folder being played, so if your albums are seperate folders like mine, it only shuffles within that folder. I wish i could select a 'Band' folder and shuffle all tracks from sub-folders within, but alas, I can't. So to be able to shuffle every track by a certain band you would have to put all those tracks within one folder.
Not sure if it has a search facility as i've never needed it. I have approximately 2000 albums on my harddrive and usually know what I want to listen to and just scroll down the list of artists, which is very quick (the longer you hold the button on the remote the quicker it scrolls).
When I first got mine and moth-balled all my CDs Mrs Treadstone71 was a bit aprehensive as she is not good with technology, but over the last year has grown to love it. It also helps that she doesn't leave CDs lying about all over the room.
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Quiff Boy
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cool, thanks for the info.

almost all my mp3s are tagged properly and have embedded art, so that should be ok.

sadly they're all currently in the artist/album folder structure, which sounds like it could be a pain :|

cheers for the info though :notworthy: :)
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Quiff Boy
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i'm actually liking the look of an appleTV with the patchstick to allow having your media files on an external HD.

that way you get the best bits of the apple hardware design, the slick user interface on the tv, and i can import my current >200gb itunes library without loosing any meta-data :)

i hear various things about apple's long term plans for the appleTV, but it sounds like it might be a possible for what i need :)

although the hacked mac-mini with appleTV software installed is also an option :D
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