Just about finished perfecting my setup so thought I'd finally show it to the world
Before I bore you to death with spec:
I'll start with my server where all my media is stored.
UNRAID Server
Case: Antec 300
Motherboard: ZOTAC NM10 F-E
RAM: 2 x 1GB Corsair TwinX XMS2 DDR2
PSU: Corsair 430CX
SATA Card: Lycom PE-102 PCI-E 1x (2 Port)
Hard Drives: 2 x Samsung HD203WI 2TB, 3 x Western Digital WD20EARS 2TB, 1 x Hitachi 5K3000 2TB and 1 x Western Digital WD1600AAJS (as cache, spun up all the time)
I keep this thing in a cupboard in my living room.
- Currently holding around 700(mainly 1080p) Movies and around 4000 (mainly 720p) TV episodes.
- Its a low power Intel Atom based machine running unRAID which ispowered on 24/7.
- The drives are set to spin down after 15 minutes except the cache which is spun up all the time.
- The cache drive has sickbeard/couchpotato/sabnzbd installed on it. The downloading of movies/tv shows is fully automated by those
- programs.
- I can access these programs over the internet so that I can manage them remotely (I can queue downloads, add movies to the CP queue etc)
- The server also runs a MySQL database which XBMC uses to store a centralised database so that the machines throughout my house have thesame library. This means that I can pause a movie in one room and continue playing it in another. Along with the centralised database I have also centralised the thumbnails folder that XBMC uses on the cache drive.
- The server also sends a WOL packet and a library update command to my Acer Revo 3700 each morning at 6AM to keep my library up to date.
(I have a few other bits and bobs that I use that I will add in when I think of them)
Network/Internet
I've got a netgear WND3700 which everything is wired into so that I have a gigabit network throughout the house.
50Mb/s Vrigin Media Broadband.
Living Room Setup
TV: Sony Bravia 40v4000 1080p LCD
HTPC: Acer Revo 3700
Consoles: Xbox 360, PS3 & Wii
Cable: Virgin Media V+
AV Receiver: Onkyo TXSR606 (
Link)
Sound: 5.1 Provided by:
- Mordaunt Short 914i floor standers up front (Link)
- Mordaunt Short 905i center speaker (Link)
- Mordaunt Short 902i (Link) on Atacama stands for the rear
- BK Monolith DF+ subwoofer <-- This thing is lethal! (Link)
Remote: Logitech Harmony One
Not sure what to tell you about this...
The Revo is running OpenElec 1.02 (XBMC Dharma) using the Aeon Nox (awesome) skin.
The harmony controls everything and is a definite requirement for the GF to be able to use everything.
Bedroom
TV: Sony Bravia 26" 720p LCD (can't remember model)
HTPC: Acer laptop (recycled, it has a broken screen but outputs 720p fine!)
Remote: Emprex 3000 RF remote (the laptop is hidden away so RF was a must)
Questions/Comments?