[Myth]

After my previous question concerning a 3D htpc and storage dilemma, i'm now convinced to having a dedicated mediaserver is the better option.

I been looking at these forums and some other sites, and currently came up with this build:

Intel i3 540 3ghz S1156
Gigabyte GA-H57M-3 m-ATX
Kingston 2GB 1066 DDR3 CL7
Samsung HM320II 320 GB 5400RPM 2.5"
4x Samsung F4EcoGreen 2TB 5400RPM 3,5"
430W psu
Antec DF-35 AP Mid Tower Case Mini-ITX, microATX


Now, I also been thinking about adding a dvb-S card in the system, to be able to stream satelite tv to different pc's from my server. Unfortunatly i never had any good experiences with those cards yet. Learning from my mistakes in the past i'm deffinatly buying a good brand tv card now, and i was thinking about the Hauppage WinTV Nova-S2 HD/PCI Satellite HDTuner Card.

I'm thinking about using WHS as operating system.

Any comments/remarks about this system? I've not yet ordered it but i will in the next few days most likely.

[poofyhairguy]

Three things:

1. You don't specify WHAT PSU you are getting, and that really really matters for a mediaserver. It HAS TO be single rail or you are barreling towards failure. When in doubt buy a Corsair PSU, I think they are all single rail.

2. Antec makes many awesome media server cases, and that isn't one of them. That is a gamer's case.

If you want a great media server case get an Antec 300, 900, or 1200. I two media servers- one is based on the 300 and one is based on the 1200- and both are great. The extra fans on these models of cases REALLY help.

3. As far as a TVTuner goes, since you are using Windows it is easy. Hauppage makes the best tuners.

[misterpink]

To add to poof's comments - from what I've read the samsing 2tb's have gotten a lukewarm reputation at best. I believe the wd greens are the most widely accepted at the moment, although they all have their unique issues.

As for the case - he's right - the antec 900 or 1200 are way better choices. If you want to save a few bucks, the coolermaster 590s are back in stock at newegg and are excellent for the $ and give you 9 front exposed bays in a midtower.

I put a similar build together recently for myself:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=87626

Good Luck!

[poofyhairguy]

Oh yeah, didn't even catch the Samsung HD thing. Avoid them, they super suck. All mine report wrong temps, which is bad for drives that are more heat sensitive than WD greens.

ONLY get WD Greens or better.

[darkscout]

If you're getting 4x of them, I'm guessing you're going to RAID them in some way.

If you're going to RAID them stay far far far away from WD Greens. Literally run screaming in the other direction. Their intentional crippling of the Green drives with TLER being forcefully disabled means you're going to add a ton more wear to your drives from head parking. And performance is going to suck.

[poofyhairguy]

For RAID usage (as in real RAID not Unraid) I find that the low power Seagate drives (now that their firmware issues are solved) are pretty nice:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

Or if you can afford it I really love these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

You need a Antec case to keep them cool, but man are they fast for the price.

[Myth]

truely appreciate the information.
I went ahead and placed the order, using the seagate HD's and antec 900 case.

Looking forward to putting it together and getting it all configured.
Once again, thank you!

[steve1977]

A lot of posts around the server, but would love to get a few more thoughts on the TV-card.

I am considering to buy a TV card and put it into my media server running Win7 and then watching TV over my HTPCs. Unfortunately, I don' really know a lot of my satelite receiver, which will complicate a few of my questions... Few questions:

1) Besides the PVR-built, is there currently an easy way to watch Live-TV with XBMC?

2) Given I am running Win7 on my media server, what would be the best software to stream live-tv to the HTPCs?

3) You mention Hauppauge as the best-in-class for Win7. Anything to watch out, which model to buy? I would like to connect both the satelite TV as well as the cable TV to the box?

4) Cable TV works without settop-box, but my satellite access requires a receiver. Would I connect the satellite receiver directly to the TV card and how would this allow me to switch channels?


Thanks again for all the help!!!

[poofyhairguy]

1) Besides the PVR-built, is there currently an easy way to watch Live-TV with XBMC?

Um, only other way is to just outright launch Windows Media Center from XBMC (tons of people do that). Or add a PVR backend as a source (pretty nasty).

2) Given I am running Win7 on my media server, what would be the best software to stream live-tv to the HTPCs?

I think Mediaportal is the best current XBMC backend (on any platform).

4) Cable TV works without settop-box, but my satellite access requires a receiver. Would I connect the satellite receiver directly to the TV card and how would this allow me to switch channels?

Cable tv will be easy to integrate for you- just get any tuner that includes analoge functions plus Mediaportal.

For controlling a satellite box though you are heading into a bag of hurt. To do that either requires Cablecard (which is expensive and non-XBMC compatible thanks to evil DRM) or you have to mess with HD PVRs (that is a Hauppauge product) two sets of satellite boxes and IR blasters. Honestly the only decent way to do it IS in Windows Media Center.

I suggest something like what I do- I use the PVR functions to make my basic cable seem fancy, but I leave the satellite to itself. Mediaportal can do that with ease.

[steve1977]

I suggest something like what I do- I use the PVR functions to make my basic cable seem fancy, but I leave the satellite to itself. Mediaportal can do that with ease.

Thanks for your quick reply and merry xmas!!!

Quick Q as I am not sure whethe I fully understand your suggestion. You are suggesting to run Mediaportal as backend on my media server with a basic analogue TV card. How would you suggest me to receive and show this Live-TV with XBMC? Or are you saying to basically run Mediaportal as well as client-app for live-TV?

Separate note: basically no "clean" way to watch any digital television using a server-client approach given DRM et al?

[waldo22]

For controlling a satellite box though you are heading into a bag of hurt.

I'm currently working on integrating one of these:

http://nextcomwireless.com/store/index.p...cts_id=183

...or you can send in your own ViP211 for modification. (won't work with ViP211k)

Downside - it only works with Dish Network and with certain Motorola cable boxes, and only some providers support it.

There's a patch to make it work with the Linux MythTV backend.

This is far from a easy solution, though, especially since PVR backends aren't really supported yet.

-Wes

[Myth]

Should have read into the issues with the seagate disks first. Had my pc delivered the other day, and already have 1 disk that crashed after 1 hour or so. I supposed new disks would have had the latest firmware already installed, but i was wrong.

Out of the 4 disks, I was able to update the firmware of 3 disks, 1 being the dead one. 1 still healthy disk doesn't seem to update or even be mentioned in the update tool. I'm guessing it already has the latest firmware.

Oh well, sending it back and getting a replacement. Annoying not to be able to use it yet however .