Media files growing exponentially, HDMI video and RCA stereo, two systems

[KMossman]

Originally Posted by Johno

quote "Media files growing exponentially..."This is the first problem that you need to solve.
What you describe could be classed as a virus.

As a past IT manager myself, I cringed when you said 'virus' but I know what you mean..........

Users are their own worst enemy.

It feels like some-one is busy amassing a massive collection.

Proper 'data' management is a virtue!


Perhaps, rather than focus on ever increasing direct [hard-drive] data storage, you might consider archiving: moving 'never' watched material off the hard-drives to ..............say DVDs, or such.

Another point. What happens when your hard-drive fails?

and finally - how well are all your files organized? Given a title, without doing a 'search', how long does it take you to find it?

[KMossman]

Originally Posted by otto88

Do wireless keyboards and mice work through a wall of sheetrock (plasterboard)?

Other questions:
1. Can a NAS that is not expensive: have a Video HDMI Out, and an Audio Out (either a pair of RCAs out; or a 3.5 mm socket, into a splitter to a pair of RCAs)??
2. Or via some sort of media player (hardware or software) should I stream the media
[

To the best of my knowledge, most wireless devices, are only designed for very short range. I very much doubt they would work well through a barrier. You need a WiFi hub, or cable. [Even WiFi has trouble with concrete walls.]

I really got lost in all the detail. While the details are great, I lost the 'big picture'

I am NOT being .......rude, but it does seem like you are uncertain as to what you really want [you mentioned being able to control every node using a tablet]

For me, at least [and what I would personally do] a diagram of what you have, and what you want [and a list of concise objectives] would be the first step.

How badly am I wrong..........you have a few PCs around the house. You want MASSIVE data storage. You want to be able to play [not stream][streaming is different IMHO] 'any' media file on any of the nodes[PC, or media device].

If the above is true, then a networked system [with WiFi for your tablet] with a file server [it's just a PC setup to 'serve' files] is the solution. The file server can be 'any' PC - the CPU speed, etc is not critical - however, in your case, it must be capable of handling massive data storage.

On the massive data storage side, I am weak on the Windows side of things. We use/used UNIX as the server - and yes you CAN easily and transparently use Windows [work stations] off an UNIX server.

[jplesset]

Certainly the HP is a "cheap computer", but unless you need the additional box, adding a disk to an existing system is going to be even less...

If all you're going to use it for, $100 for disk is less than $240 for the HP....

[otto88]

Originally Posted by jrenkin

I don't know if this will be helpful.

Upstairs on the tv room (loft) I have an old G4 Mac mini, 1gbRAM connected by wire to the home wireless router, the tv (monitor), a 500gb HD and a 2tb RAID HD (4tb). The smaller HD is only for playing music, the RAID drive backs everything up twice.
I then have an old intel MacBook on the living room system and a new MacBook Air in the "listening room" (or more like "listening closet"). These, and my wife's iMac, all connect wirelessly to the Mac mini using apple file sharing and screen sharing. Built in and easy.
I use PureMusic for playback, which uses iTunes, and with a memory play option so there is no streaming lag. Since it is data streaming and not music streaming, there is no loss of resolution or compression. I can still play at full lossless and even high resolution recordings. PureMusic and Airport express can also each stream directly, but there are limits that may or may not be important.
I can screen share all the computers an control any music with apple remote on my iPhone or iPad. Cool!
Anyway, it works well, but I benefited from having too many old computers lying around. Buying all this gets expensive, and I would have better responsiveness if the old Mac mini was upgraded, but it doesn't effect the sound/fidelity so no worth it.
FWIW

An interesting collection of gear

Actually I have an old Mac mini, if one of the systems used that (instead of eg Apple TV) I could do also access the net in that room

Cheers

[otto88]

Originally Posted by KMossman

As a past IT manager myself, I cringed when you said 'virus' but I know what you mean..........

Users are their own worst enemy.

It feels like some-one is busy amassing a massive collection.

Proper 'data' management is a virtue!

Perhaps, rather than focus on ever increasing direct [hard-drive] data storage, you might consider archiving: moving 'never' watched material off the hard-drives to ..............say DVDs, or such.

Another point. What happens when your hard-drive fails?

and finally - how well are all your files organized? Given a title, without doing a 'search', how long does it take you to find it?

(Your last point first, fairly quickly, but I see your point)

The thread title was intended to attract attention, but is not the main issue. I'm using just one 1.5 TB drive, so far.

I'm glad you mentioned disc failure, I could better address back-ups as part of the design of the network. Probably should include a bluray burner for its high capacity per disc

[jplesset]

Originally Posted by otto88

Probably should include a bluray burner for its high capacity per disc

Even blueray isn't large by hard disk standards. I back up to another hard drive on a second system. Fast, easily ported, and I'm unlikely to loose both at the same time. Burning 15 or 20 blueray disks for a back is a pain....

[otto88]

Hi again KMossman

I did do a couple of diagrams, but as I learnt more they became obsolete, so I reverted to text for now. Apology for all the detail, but you got the picture right.

In software, I'm leaning towards Jriver, but I'm still investigating ..

[otto88]

Originally Posted by jplesset

Even blueray isn't large by hard disk standards. I back up to another hard drive on a second system. Fast, easily ported, and I'm unlikely to loose both at the same time. Burning 15 or 20 blueray disks for a back is a pain....

You're right. That would be be lot better

Cheers

[billyk]

Here is my system, growing all the time.
NAS, Switches, and Modem



Router, VoIP, baby switch


Start with the NAS If you notice they are all in pairs! (except for one, that is a scratch area for temp storage) That is because they are mirrored. So I have my files stored twice, redundancy in case of failure. Hard drives fail... not if, when. Disks are really cheap these days, what are your files worth? The NAS consists of those 4 white boxes, they are Seagate Dockstars, they have four USB ports each. I got them for $15.00 US each, they still sell them on eBay. They are SMB compatible so can be seen as a share on the network, they are also pogo plug, a bit of a pain, but handy in some respects.
The switches are 8 port Gigabit managed switches cheap on ebaybut fast and reliable. The SOHO stuff just did not cut it. So that's my storage.
My media is music, and videos. All of my CD collection is ripped into flac files I also have a large Grateful Dead and live music collection. I have my DVD collection ripped and stored and I have a dual TV tuner, use Media Center to record TV shows, MCEbuddy to remove commercials and shrink the files.
I access the video with Western Digital TV Live Plus boxes on my three TV sets. They allow me to play all my media as well as HULU and Netflix. I can play music too. For music I have a little atom based PC running Win 7 and Foobar. It has SPDIF and I also use USB.
SO with my setup I can watch a movie or TV hsow from all of my TVs and play music with my "music box". I also have this available on all the laptops my iPad and iPhone as well as my wife's androids.
I have built this system over the last few years and it is fairly bullet proof, works well and has a high WAF!

[jrenkin]

Originally Posted by jplesset

Even blueray isn't large by hard disk standards. I back up to another hard drive on a second system. Fast, easily ported, and I'm unlikely to loose both at the same time. Burning 15 or 20 blueray disks for a back is a pain....

This is why a RAID for backup.