[animeguru]

First off, I've been reading around these boards for some time now and I really want to take the plunge. I expect to cut the cord completely when my cable contract expires. Right now my wife and I watch a lot of Netflix on my 360 and Hulu Plus just became available so I'm planning to give that a shot.

We own a ton of DVDs and I'd like to digitize them and just put all the discs into storage. Personally, I'd like to go straight to a NAS solution, but I'm trying to keep my initial costs down so as to boost the WAF.

My current plan is the build below (mostly based on one of eskro's builds).

[mobo] GIGABYTE GA-MA78LMT-S2 760G
[cpu] AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core
[gpu] MSI GeForce 210 512MB 64-bit DDR3 Low Profile (open box)
[ssd] Kingston 16GB SATA II SSD (OS)
[hdd] Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS 2TB SATA (media)
[ram] Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1066
[case] SILVERSTONE ML03B
[psu] Antec EarthWatts Green 380W
Total Cost: ~$406

My intention is to run XBMC Live from the SSD to improve speed and use the 2TB HDD for media storage. I figure I can rip most of our DVDs without menus, extras, etc. as .mkv files and copy them onto the 2TB media drive. Conservatively, I ought to be able to get 200 discs (based on DVD-9) plus associated .nfo files and fanart onto the media drive.

Thoughts?

[eskro]

i would make sure to buy Dual-Channel RAM,
since that mobo supports it!
2x1GB sticks is enough for linux....

only thing im not sure as im not a Linux user,
is the play NEtFlix part.... and hulu....

if someone could confirm that NetFlix works perfectly on Linux?
cuz i know that NetFlix-HD has issues....
because linux doesnt play nice with microsoft silverlight...
like i said, if someone could verfy this plz and tell us!

and about Hulu, i dont think there an official plugin for XBMC...
meaning, you'd have to boot of XBMC and use an internet browser to access Hulu...
but again, if someone could verfy this plz and tell us!



hope this helps

[animeguru]

I know the mobo supports dual channel, but I put in a single stick to keep associated costs lower. I suppose it really isn't much more to just buy both sticks at once.

I guess my only question is regarding whether or not I'd need 2GB or 4GB total when running XBMC Live (likely with some add ons and perhaps a more intensive skin like Aeon).


As to Netflix and Hulu, I am perfectly happy watching those on my Xbox for now. They both work perfectly fine and my wife is already accustomed to using the Xbox for either of them. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm really just looking to supplement our current setup with XBMC for all of our DVDs.

[eskro]

this dual channel kit is cheap and perfect --> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231149

2GB is definitely enough...