If you’re putting together a HTPC, look at Mac Minis. They are really cheap (~ $400 or so refurbished when available, $600 new) and extremely quiet. They’re Intel boxes so just slap whatever OS you want on them (I have one working as a file server).
I’ve found that there’s no real reason to actually have a HTPC, though - my setup is to have all my video files on my Windows Home Server, and run PS3 Media Server on it. It’s the best uPNP server I’ve found - transcodes everything like a charm, streams HD video over wireless very effectively, and there’s a Windows Home Server plugin for it so you can control it easily remotely. Once you have that set up, just use your already-there console as a HTPC. It’s designed to work with the PS3 but recently added support for the Xbox360 as well, which is what I use it on. So far I haven’t found any video file it won’t serve.
I might look at getting into the HTPC game again once the CableCard fiasco settles down and there’s a standard for actually getting HD video into a homebrew DVR, but I’m not holding my breath.
(ninja-edit - thus neatly answering the question you asked while I was typing!)
That article is ancient by internet standards and a lot of the basis for the conclusions are built upon facts that are no longer true (eg. you can now put a cablecard tuner into any old PC and starting early next year such tuner card add-ons will be widely available to the public).
I’m a pretty big 360 fanboy but I find the 360 to be a pretty rotten media player in terms of how its format support maps to file formats used in the real world. Yes, there is always transcoding if you don’t mind wasting massive amounts of CPU on a server every time you watch a video and you also don’t mind ending up with something that looks & sounds very noticeably shittier than the source file.
The HTPC is, in reality, on the cusp of being much more widely adopted.
I’ve done the FreeNAS thing with an older system using external hard drives. If it’s just serving up media files it works great without needing to upgrade anything even on pretty lowly systems.
Just use Remote Desktop if all the systems are Windows. If the server side is a version of Windows that doesn’t support incoming RDP connections just use Live Mesh to get basically the same thing regardless of what version of Windows is running on either side.
LogMeIn is fine, but RD/Mesh are free, completely Windows-optimized and have the features of the upsell LogMeIn Pro without the price.
Transcoding has gotten a LOT better in the past year. HD content transcoded down to Wireless-G speeds is still better than DVD quality. HD content sent over Wireless-N is pretty damned close to lossless 720p (not QUITE there, but close). If you haven’t already, try PS3 Media Server and install some good codec packs for it. I suspect you’ll be surprised.
Brian, you might want to look into powerline networking as a substitute for running Ethernet (if it will work). The powerline adapters are, by all accounts, pretty decent. 200 Mbps will run you about $105, and 85 Mbps will run you about $75.
Oh, I believe you that it has gotten better, but I’ve already got a setup I’m more than happy with in the form of a very small form factor HTPC running XBMC and while I suppose transcoding is a good option for someone who has a PS3 or 360 and a server but no HTPC on the TV, it is still no match for a real HTPC.
Even if the quality of transcoding was perfect, I’d still much rather stream media to a PC that will directly play any format under the sun, including the ability to play ISO images of burned DVDs I own with all features intact, etc.
I’m kinda changing my thinking right now. I’m thinking of having a main PC (for gaming and such), a second media-only PC (music, videos, etc) and a PS3 to put that media on the TV, all networked together. Does that sound workable?
I’ve had good results with Powerline Networking over the last several years: first with 12Mbps adapters, now with 85Mbps. But your bandwidth depends a lot upon the quality of your home’s wiring, AFAICT, and I don’t know of any way to test it without just buying a couple of PL adapters and hoping for the best.
So y’all think powerline networking might be better than wireless for this kind of setup? I have wireless on my PC and watch internet vids all the time on it from Hulu and such, but PN would be better y’all think?
Yes, that’s the PS3 Media Server link. Should install with no config - will just magically find your PS3 when you bring it up.
Wireless-N is right about at 10mb speeds and is more reliable for holding a connection. Unfortunately the PS3 doesn’t support Wireless-N so you’d need to buy an adaptor for it. Wireless-G will work for non-HD video but HD video will break it (you can get creative with transcoding but picture quality will suffer).
I had pretty bad results with Powerline adapters (worse than wireless-G) but I last tried about 4 years ago in an apartment - they may have gotten better, but I moved to a house with older wiring so I suspect it would be worse if anything.
Hhmmm, dunno if my router supports wireless N. Could I get a new router if I needed one, or do I have to use the one supplied to me by AT&T (my DSL provider).
You’d need a new router. Might as well try Wireless-G with your PS3 first before you start shelling out for a bunch more hardware, then try some powerline adapters if you get a lot of video dropouts (I can post the config I was using for PS3 Media Server - it streamed HD video off a Wireless-G network but could get artifacty).
K, sounds like a great plan, so let me see if this sounds right to at least start out with:
Primary PC - for gaming and such. Would use a remote desktop to connect and control the media-center PC. Has a wireless connection.
Second PC as a Media Center PC - holds all music and videos. Would have the PS3 Media Server software on it to connect to the PS3, as well as other server software if needed for remote desktop access. Has a wireless connection.
PS3 - Connected to the media center PC through the PS3 media server software, and is served the content to the TV through the media center PC over a wireless connection.
Identical to my setup, except I use an Xbox360 (a PS3 would be superior for this setup though) and Windows Home Server instead of Media Center. WHS has a couple of killer features (remote administration, ability to combine external hard drives into one huge directory) that makes it a good media server. You’ll be using PS3 Media Server instead of Media Center, so there’s no real reason to use Windows Media Center instead of another OS.
FreeNAS is a similar solution that is free (good) Linux-based (bad, makes it harder to install everything you might need) and not as mature as WHS (meh, will get fixed eventually). If you’re just getting started definitely go with WHS for now, it’s a LOT more user-friendly.
