Hey guys,
Since this forum was a lot of help for me when I was starting out with this project, I figured it was only right to share the results upon completion! I put together a DIY NAS/HTPC for my house that would be easy enough to interface with that it passes the WAF (wife acceptance factor for you newbies) by leaps and bounds. This includes the media acquisition and sorting piece, which is crucial. Otherwise if my wife wanted to watch a certain movie or TV show I'd still be the person out there online poking around for a good source. Now she's two clicks away from having anything she wants to view being on the TV or her laptop.
This also works really well as a NAS since it is has 4 1TB hard drives in a RAID5 array. All of our computers have the shared folders mapped on them and back up easily.
Feedback is definitely welcome! I'm not a Linux guru or a masterful hardware assembler. This was just me, a casual computer enthusiast working with what I know. Maybe that's the best part about the project, anyone that can put a computer together should be able to do it! I have detailed notes on all the installation process, software setup etc. if anyone has more "advanced" questions.
Enjoy!
http://somethingtangential.com/2010/07/21/how-to-make-a-home-theater-pc-storage-server-as-easy-to-use-as-a-toaster/
*Note about the media acquisition: Some people might point out that instead of going the route of jumping through hoops to only use content available freely online (like Hulu) that I've taken more of a "black hat" approach. I don't condone the use of the programs mentioned here to gain any media that it is not legal for you to have. My personal stance on this is that all of the TV shows are shows that I pay to have on cable already so they've got my money! I really hate the fact that it is 10X easier to get media through these more nefarious channels than through legal ones (especially now that they're SLOWLY working on the legal ones). Hopefully one of these days content providers will get their act together and I will gladly part with my hard earned cash for a better on-demand media service!*
Since this forum was a lot of help for me when I was starting out with this project, I figured it was only right to share the results upon completion! I put together a DIY NAS/HTPC for my house that would be easy enough to interface with that it passes the WAF (wife acceptance factor for you newbies) by leaps and bounds. This includes the media acquisition and sorting piece, which is crucial. Otherwise if my wife wanted to watch a certain movie or TV show I'd still be the person out there online poking around for a good source. Now she's two clicks away from having anything she wants to view being on the TV or her laptop.
This also works really well as a NAS since it is has 4 1TB hard drives in a RAID5 array. All of our computers have the shared folders mapped on them and back up easily.
Feedback is definitely welcome! I'm not a Linux guru or a masterful hardware assembler. This was just me, a casual computer enthusiast working with what I know. Maybe that's the best part about the project, anyone that can put a computer together should be able to do it! I have detailed notes on all the installation process, software setup etc. if anyone has more "advanced" questions.
Enjoy!
http://somethingtangential.com/2010/07/21/how-to-make-a-home-theater-pc-storage-server-as-easy-to-use-as-a-toaster/
*Note about the media acquisition: Some people might point out that instead of going the route of jumping through hoops to only use content available freely online (like Hulu) that I've taken more of a "black hat" approach. I don't condone the use of the programs mentioned here to gain any media that it is not legal for you to have. My personal stance on this is that all of the TV shows are shows that I pay to have on cable already so they've got my money! I really hate the fact that it is 10X easier to get media through these more nefarious channels than through legal ones (especially now that they're SLOWLY working on the legal ones). Hopefully one of these days content providers will get their act together and I will gladly part with my hard earned cash for a better on-demand media service!*
