I've been really considering a home media server for all of my movies, music, and family videos. I have a really old Sony computer in the attic that might be perfect for it, but I'm not sure how to begin. I would definitely like to have a lot of storage (5+ TB?) in some sort of redundant system. Does anyone have something like this? What sort of upgrades should I add to the Sony tower to make this work? I'd like to add it to my media closet and could directly connect it to my router and A/V receiver.
DIY Home Media Server?
- Thread starter usaf_eagle
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Wrong forum dude. Find a better forum for better answers.
I tried the nerd forums and they speak in some weird nerd code.
I agree with starting with a new PC...and something dedicated to being a Home Server.
If you don't understand the "nerd code" what makes you think you will be successful in this? Learn the "nerd code" man.
If you don't understand the "nerd code" what makes you think you will be successful in this? Learn the "nerd code" man.
Check AVSforums, its the best home theater forum out there and there is a great section on Media Servers.
Thanks for the link. I was just looking for someone who has done it before and wanted to see what they would/wouldn't recommend. I can guarantee most of the threads in the roadside forum have "better" places to go for answers. Car guys seem to be better at explaining things.
I've run an Unraid server in our home for about the last four years and couldn't be happier. Its more than paid for itself with the money we've saved by not having cable
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Look at a Synology NAS. Excellent quality product and there are several media servers available for it. DS413 or DS412+ with Western Digital RED drives.
Red drives are the key. Don't cheap out on the drives.
I've had a batch of Red's fail on me recently in my new SAN just built. Just a heads up.
Also as far as a home media server goes, there are a lot of options. Noise was a big issue for me, but I also opted to dual purpose the NAS for home lab purposes as well. This required more IOPS and the need for SSD's, and lots of memory for ZFS to be optimized. The Synology is a great choice for simplicity, but kind of pricey, and was too limited for what I needed.
Check out these sites for some more good resources:
silentpcreview.com | Everything about Silent / Quiet Computers
ServeTheHome - Server and Workstation Reviews |ServeTheHome – Server and Workstation Reviews
The first has some very decent builds that are optimized for being quiet. The 2nd is just a good general source for information on NAS/SAN setups for the home.
Also as far as a home media server goes, there are a lot of options. Noise was a big issue for me, but I also opted to dual purpose the NAS for home lab purposes as well. This required more IOPS and the need for SSD's, and lots of memory for ZFS to be optimized. The Synology is a great choice for simplicity, but kind of pricey, and was too limited for what I needed.
Check out these sites for some more good resources:
silentpcreview.com | Everything about Silent / Quiet Computers
ServeTheHome - Server and Workstation Reviews |ServeTheHome – Server and Workstation Reviews
The first has some very decent builds that are optimized for being quiet. The 2nd is just a good general source for information on NAS/SAN setups for the home.
The other option is using a Sony PS3 or XBOX 360 as the base, there are USB ports for you to add External Hard Drives to it. I do this with my PS3, I am not really a gamer (I own 1 game and had it almost 2 yrs). I found it very easy to use and navigate plus I have the benefits of it being a Blu-Ray player.
It'll be nice when 3+TB SSDs are reasonably priced. I'm still amazed by what a difference a SSD can make in a PC.
Thank you!!! I'll need to spend some more time with those links. Noise isn't really an issue because I have a media closet which blocks most noise.
Does anyone know anything about XBMC? I keep hearing about this in the forums and was wondering if any boxes like the "Synology" can run it on them?
Xbmc is what I use with my Unraid server and its awesome. Not too difficult to set up and super easy to use
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Thanks. That's what I keep hearing. Is the interface user friendly? My family will also be using it.
I have an i7/16GB/3TB Windows 7 PC running in my utility room with dual screens at my bar. It's close enough that I can just use extension cables instead of a KVM Extender. One monitor hangs at an angle from the ceiling which has my security camera software and the weather/radar on it. The second monitor is on a full articlulating mount right under it at eye level on the bar, and there's a keyboard/mouse on a tray under the bar.
I run:
Plex Media Server for my Roku. I have a Roku on my big screen in the living room and one in my bedroom. I have all my TV Shows/Movies/etc sorted out in folders according to their series and season, Plex does the rest, including adding the cover art. The interface it presents to the Roku is pretty amazing.
iTunes for my Apple TV. This allows me to play music using Apple's remote app from my iPhone. I can have "zones" since I can play it on the console and steam it to the Apple TV, or any combination of the two. I have a Yamaha receiver hooked up to the PC for 7.1 surround in the bar.
I didn't see where you weren't very specific when talking about exactly what you wanted to do with it. You need to consider the devices that you want to steam media to, what type of media you want to steam to it, and the quality of said media. For instance: If you want to steam just music via iTunes, then almost any computer or compatible NAS will work fine. If you want to steam HD to a Playstation 3, then you'll probably need Media Server software that can Transcode. If you need to Transcode, you need at least a Dual Core machine with 4GB of ram at minimum.
I run:
Plex Media Server for my Roku. I have a Roku on my big screen in the living room and one in my bedroom. I have all my TV Shows/Movies/etc sorted out in folders according to their series and season, Plex does the rest, including adding the cover art. The interface it presents to the Roku is pretty amazing.
iTunes for my Apple TV. This allows me to play music using Apple's remote app from my iPhone. I can have "zones" since I can play it on the console and steam it to the Apple TV, or any combination of the two. I have a Yamaha receiver hooked up to the PC for 7.1 surround in the bar.
I didn't see where you weren't very specific when talking about exactly what you wanted to do with it. You need to consider the devices that you want to steam media to, what type of media you want to steam to it, and the quality of said media. For instance: If you want to steam just music via iTunes, then almost any computer or compatible NAS will work fine. If you want to steam HD to a Playstation 3, then you'll probably need Media Server software that can Transcode. If you need to Transcode, you need at least a Dual Core machine with 4GB of ram at minimum.
Very easy. Once you set up the source folders they will scrape all the data automatically so all your movies show up with the movie covers/info, tv series show up with all the info, etc....
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