[tsingroy]

Hi Everyone,

most of the people on here have been around the block with Media, Content, Networking and Output. Over the years i've become a stickler for building the best experience for any media with idea that quality is king - it's all about the experience... that said I've gone as far as I can go building a beautiful Home Theatre. Where I need everyone's help is helping me figure out the tactical to achieve my goals in taking the home theatre to the next level.

Current Situation :

- I have a computer, where I scan aggregate newsgroup sites and manually download the media I want to view (that i already own). Becuase I have quality requirements they're usually MKV files, most larger than 4 gigs plus per file. My Home theatre specs are irrevelant. I have two options once I download the media.

1. Stream it via something like TVersity to the PS3 connected to my home theatre - this is a wireless connection, there is too much buffering, degregation in quality - and i lose the 5-7.1 sound to regular stereo. Not acceptable in my books

2. Go through the painful process of using a MKV splitter to make the files 4GB a piece to fit them on a FAT32 external hard drive (only drive readable by PS3) and then watch the media on the PS3. I get the quality.. but this is a pain in the ass.

3. Running a cord from the PC to the TV - not an option where the PC is situated

THE DREAM:


- Automate the download of new media I specifiy (like a PVR) and have it automatically download the related cover art and media info on the fly to populate in programs like XBMC - I know this is possible though SABNZBD and other plugins for XBMC - I can manage this part
- Once the media is downloaded extracted, filed, organized and cover art provided I want to be able to either Stream it at a lossless quality to my Home Theatre OR find an efficient way to get the media over to my home theatre. I'm interested to find out if there is an option to do this without setting up a HTPC.
- Is the reccomended option purchasing and setting up a HTPC and using that as my download vechicle as well as my source to view media?
- Is it possible to do fast transfer between computer to computer within a network e.g. if I set up a HTPC (as per any of the reccomendations on this site) but I download media on one computer, i would want to be able to transfer it to the HTPC so i don't have to use external HD or media. Is this typically a fast transfer rate?

the net of the dream is to have a seamless automated system to get my media from the internet automatically, have it organized in XBMC effectivly so when I turn on my Home Theatre, Its ready to go in High Definition. No more external hard drives, no more file splitting no more BS. Just automated seamless goodness in perfect quality every single time.

XBMC Forum - help me build and achieve the dream. Tell me tatically what software i need to have this running, if I do need a HTPC perhaps reccomend a thread that I can follow based on my requirement for storing large capacity quality movies.

I experience pain with the current process, if you can help me understand how to automate my media viewing experience it will be a game changer.

Thank you and I hope to hear your reccomendations soon.

[PobjoySpecial]

...

[shadowace]

No offense, but you have a lot of reading to do;-)

Get a better sense of your hardware needs, ie do you want to do NAS to store all media in one location and stream to multiple locations? Can you hardwire your network? If not that will not be optimal for the best quality file streaming, from what I understand in my reading.

You can build yourself a highly capable little htpc in the 200 dollar range that will play about anything you throw at it, and it could in theory pull your media down via a solution like sabnzb when you aren't watching with it. So there you could have a pretty self contained solution.

The folks on this forum are an amazing wealth of information, but at least read the stickies and a few other key topics and get a better sense of what you need to discuss.

I am personally starting on my second build just weeks after my first (Amd e350 black Friday special :-)) largely due to the understanding I could gain quickly by reading, reading, reading, then I started asking / participating. I assure you that you can get some great advice if you go about it the right way.

Shadow

[gd779]

Step one: buy an HTPC. I can recommend ecosmartpc and Dougiefresh, especially if you're focused on the quality of your experience as opposed to bargain basement prices. A $500 Intel HTPC running OpenELEC on an SSD is overpowered, in all the right ways, and in my opinion it will ensure that you can steamroll over any hiccups in your setup. But I am new at HTPC's and others may be able to advise you better. In any event, a HTPC will run Sab, Sickbeard, etc., and give you the seamless automation you're looking for outside music (headphones still has a ways to go, in my opinion, and usenet is not a good source for music anyway.)

Step Two: Buy a NAS to house your data. I recommend a two bay or four bay NAS for uptime and hard drive pooling if you have a lot of content to store. Synology and QNAP are the top choices here. I went for the DS411+ Synology myself, and the important thing about that choice is the +. That means it is the SMB/prosumer specced NAS rather than the consumer grade NAS. Again, it will cost you money, but I am a big believer in over-provisioning. That gives you room to grow and allos you to steamroll over problems rather than fighting them.

Step Three: Build a gigabit Ethernet network to connect your HTPC to your NAS. Every link in the chain must support gigabit Ethernet, including the cabling. This will ensure that content store on the NAS plays nicely on the HTPC without delays introduced by the network. Upgrade your router or get a hub if necessary to make sure your shitty telco provided router isn't the bottleneck either.

Step Four: Buy another NAS. Repeat after me: RAID is not a backup. This one can be cheaper and consumer grade, because you will only use it to backup your primary NAS so that if your primary NAS itself dies (or the files are infected with a virus, or accidentally deleted, etc.) you will not lose all of your painstakingly acquired content. This backup should be automated, incremental, and periodic instead of real time.

Step Five: Have an offsite backup for anything truly irreplaceable.

Step Six: Enjoy.