xbmc - htpc, nas - seen the light ...
#1
Hello All,

I thought I would share the last week of research etc

To start the story, I currently have a Readynas NV+ with 3x2TB WD EARS which has been running like a trooper with no issue for years now. Its full of SD movies and TV shows. I play them off a WDTV live onto a nice Pioneer PDP-508 XDA Plasma TV. Wife, kids & me all happy. However, I went round to a friends house and saw his HD setup. Thousands of dollars on this commercial setup which was way OTT priced, but looked great. As much as I am not going to spend that amount of money - /me wants!

So, as usual I try and see if I can get it on the cheap.

My issues are - lack of HD content (easily rectified) - replacement strategy now in place. No HTPC (For XBMC), sucky NAS (Raid 5 redundancy but no backup), max storage 6TB with redundancy, HD media now going to become important.

I started a thread last week seeing if I could just grab a mac mini, plug 2 x WD essentials 4TB into USB3 ports and perhaps get a couple more later, fudge it someway and all be good. Well, every bit of research I have found on all these threads has just told me what a silly idea that is ....

So ... this is what I propose to do. Would love to hear peoples comments!

Step 1: Ditch ReadyNAS NV+

Box is sparc. Can only do max 2TB drives. Slow. Max capacity 6TB inc redundancy on RAID 5 or 8TB RAID 0. Not enough for HD content when all movies are ~15GB. Will soon dissapear.

EDIT: Movies are not 15TB. changed to 15GB. I blame the wine!

Step 2: Build max 10 disk NAS using UnRAID with following specification ....

CPU: Intel G550
Mobo: ASUS P8B75M-LE
Case: Antec 302
Memory: Kingston 2GB 1600
PSU: Antec HSG 520
HDD: (Start with - because case, psu etc allow expansions) 2 x 3TB WD RED NAS drives in RAID 0. 6TB of space.
HDD Cache: 1 of the WD 2TB EARS I have in the NV+

AUD$ 669

Step 3: decide that my HD content is important to me so build another NAS to spec above - Another WD 2TB EARS from NV+ gone.

AUD$ 1338

Step 4: Build dedicated HTPC for XBMC to following specification ...

CPU: Core i3 3225 (for integrated GPU)
Mobo: same as NAS
Case UNKNOWN! but figure around AUD$ 150
Memory: Kingston 4GB 1600
PSU: same as NAS
HDD: 1 of the WD 2TB EARS I have in the NV+ (thats all 3 of them gone now)
Tuner: already have a suitable one
IR receiver: already have a suitable one

AUD$ 414


Step 5: configure primary NAS to back up to secondary NAS thus protecting my data (Not worried about physical security - e.g theft or fire)

Step 6: setup awesome XBMC build outputting my newly aquired HD content on HTPC from shares on primary NAS via HDMI

Step 7: Install SabNZB, Sickbeard & Couchpotato on secondary NAS - Unraid plugins!


Done! And its going to cost me AUD$1752


Sure there are flaws in my plan still. Yes, I am spending more money than a cheapo approach! But hopefully I am now doing things "right .."


Anyway, shouldn't post at 2:15am after wine when everyone in bed. But there you go. Would love to see what conversation this generates!!

=:-)
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#2
As an IT network engineer , for me the biggest flaw in this system is this:

A double NAS setup which you propose protects you against downtime of your data - eg. it makes sure that you have a unit available to swap in when the other unit goes offline.

It does NOT provide backup of ANY kind. It does not protect your data, as most disturbances that would cause you to lose your data would do so for both units at the same time.
(water leakage, electrical disturbances, datacorruption, fire , theft)

Since a single NAS already protects you from hardware failure of a single disk (or 2...) the only added value of the secondary NAS is protection from hardware failures of the other components.

It would be a better idea not to spend the money on a secondary server (unless you are going to place it at another location) but instead spend it on a decent backup solution. Identify the items that are hard to replace (for me: personal files, my music collection and some hard-to-get movies and series) and back them up regularly to "your choice of backup". A (encrypted) external harddisk that is stored in a dry location at a friends house is a thousand times better than an always-on system.

/backup story

Other input: Your dedicated HTPC could be MUCH cheaper and still be able to play everything you throw at it and run sickbeard, couchpotato and sabnzbd. Download there, move to secure store when finished.
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#3
also don't forget in unRaid that you must have one drive dedicated to parity and it must be the same size as the largest data drive you are going to use. (ie 3TB).
Image
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#4
I think others would agree on using a dedicated NAS. Unraid is cool. I would suggest using the recommended hardware for your builds. This is in case you run into trouble with Unraid. Also I agree with the above about redundancy and backups.

What do you need your htpc frontend to do? Why spend so much if you can get something like a Pivos Xios Ds for $100 US.
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#5
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#6
The 3TB drive in the htpc is a waste too. Needs no more than 40G and that is excessive.
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
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#7
Do not buy a Raspberry Pi as your primary HTPC.

It is a great home theater for small bucks but it will NOT reliably run FullHD content with surround sound.
It also has issues with passthrough surround over HDMI and does not have any other HD audio output.

nickr is completely correct: your HTPC will not need more than a 40G drive. You might want to consider a fanless small form factor, maybe with an ION2 board, and stick a SSD in. That way you have a totally silent HTPC for the livingroom that you can even use to run downloads etc on.
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#8
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#9
Agree that you don't need the second the nas.

On the htpc, you could definitely go much cheaper. Options I would consider:
-Raspberry Pi as suggested. $35
-Pivos XIOS as suggested running openelec $100
-A ready-made low profile htpc (ex zotac, Foxconn, etc...) with a 32gb ssd. $200-$300

A disadvantage of the pi is that it can't smoothly run the high end skins, and that the menu may not be quite as snappy as the other options. The htpc boxes mentioned above will have no problem with high-end skins, and give you more options like a spdif out if that is important to you.

Personally I recommend staying away from full case pc'c with spinning drives, because they tend to be bigger, louder, and produce more heat.
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#10
(2013-01-25, 21:05)PobjoySpecial Wrote: Huh?
Huh?
Huh?
Do you own a Raspberry Pi and other devices as well ?
I have several media devices able to run XBMC (5 active and several shelved!) and the Raspberry Pi without doubt has the best bang-for-your-buck of them.
It does NOT have the best performance though.

In SFF: both the Asrock ION and the Shuttle XS35GTv2 I have perform way better and are able to do both passthrough 5.1 audio to an AV-receiver as well as being able to decode 5.1 surround sound audio to stereo sound (in case you don't have a receiver).

The RPi has issues with passthrough on a few receivers - which will likely be solved in the future - but is not and will not ever be able to decode all 5.1 surround sound to stereo. It simply does not have the processing power. To suggest it does, and is a full replacement for a small htpc is just giving the OP incorrect information. He is interested in playing the best quality video (and audio I presume) available.

At the moment i would take that as 1920x1080 progressive 24-frames with 5.1 channel digital sound, which the RPi will NOT reliably play.
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#11
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#12
(2013-01-26, 03:50)PobjoySpecial Wrote: Yes, I've used XBMC on several devices.

My confusion is why you are making the assumption that because it doesn't work for you, it won't work for the OP. The OP has been vague on his needs. Maybe it won't work for him, but lets try to understand his problem before writing off certain options...
He was quite specific about wanting to play HD content, maybe you missed that.
Do you think it is a bad idea to warn him of the limitations of the Raspberry Pi concerning HD content.
It will not play everything you throw at it, and most likely never will. That is not something 'that doesn't work for me', it is something every Raspberry Pi owner runs in to. As I said, it is a GREAT device but it has its limitations.

It is the same with the Pivos, another great value-for-money device which currently has limitations.
XBMC does not have complete hardware acceleraton for all normal HD content profiles yet (although it is coming soon and technically possible) and because of that I would not suggest it at this moment for the OP. It is still a better suggestion than the Raspberry Pi - the Pivos has much less issues with content.

Personally I would be royally pissed if someone told me those devices could play the HD content I said I wanted to play, buy them and THEN find out they could not play everything I downloaded / collected.
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#13
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