2013-05-11, 19:49
Before I get into it, I apologize for not using Poofyhairguy's pinned thread. I'm a bit of a cheat -- the last post there was from 11/2012 and no one has responded to the last guy who asked advice there yet so I figured I get better results here. I may be a horrible person.
Anyway, I had a HTPC setup that I thoroughly enjoyed until the fan crapped out on me. It was an ASUS nettop and the fan was soldered in without a soldering iron I was screwed -- plus I've never had the guts to solder anything outside of metal shop class in High School. Regardless, my previous setup worked as just a nettop attached to an external 2TB USB2.0 hard drive. It worked for what I needed but since then I've come to a place where I can spend a bit more money on home entertainment.
I'm currently looking into a combo HTPC/NAS setup. Is this the right approach? I'm a software guy so I'm useless when it comes to networking. I've read posts here that say it's the way to go, and considering the vast amount of media that my girlfriend and I collect, on top of backups I want to start creating it seems like the right choice. Are there any NAS options someone would recommend for serving media that allow additional drives to be added? In that respect, would it be possible for me to pop open my 2TB external drive and insert that into a NAS?
Regarding the HTPC, I'm honestly not sure which direction to go. I had a bad experience with my previous HTPC since I wasn't able to salvage it, so maybe I should build it from scratch? If so, any suggestions on the pieces? I think instead of the ION, which did me well, I'll go for an I3 this time. I'm looking to do the following with my HTPC:
All that said, does anyone have any suggestions for me? Does it make more sense to just build a NAS using Windows Media Server and plug that into my TV? If I go seperate HTPC and NAS, do I need to run Ethernet cable from one to the other?
Thanks for any help.
Anyway, I had a HTPC setup that I thoroughly enjoyed until the fan crapped out on me. It was an ASUS nettop and the fan was soldered in without a soldering iron I was screwed -- plus I've never had the guts to solder anything outside of metal shop class in High School. Regardless, my previous setup worked as just a nettop attached to an external 2TB USB2.0 hard drive. It worked for what I needed but since then I've come to a place where I can spend a bit more money on home entertainment.
I'm currently looking into a combo HTPC/NAS setup. Is this the right approach? I'm a software guy so I'm useless when it comes to networking. I've read posts here that say it's the way to go, and considering the vast amount of media that my girlfriend and I collect, on top of backups I want to start creating it seems like the right choice. Are there any NAS options someone would recommend for serving media that allow additional drives to be added? In that respect, would it be possible for me to pop open my 2TB external drive and insert that into a NAS?
Regarding the HTPC, I'm honestly not sure which direction to go. I had a bad experience with my previous HTPC since I wasn't able to salvage it, so maybe I should build it from scratch? If so, any suggestions on the pieces? I think instead of the ION, which did me well, I'll go for an I3 this time. I'm looking to do the following with my HTPC:
- Run 1080p video from XBMC
- Play NES/SNES/Genesis roms (luckily the easiest requirement to fill)
- Watch Live TV (do American cable companies support this? As in, can I hook Comcast or FIOS into XBMC)
- Run Netflix (I have a ton of WIndows keys, server and OS, from my MSDN account)
All that said, does anyone have any suggestions for me? Does it make more sense to just build a NAS using Windows Media Server and plug that into my TV? If I go seperate HTPC and NAS, do I need to run Ethernet cable from one to the other?
Thanks for any help.