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DurhamDev · 2010-06-04, 16:38

Hi all,

I just upgraded my home network to install a Windows Home Server system, and put all of my videos and music onto it. Here's my question. For those who use WHS, do you use any power saving features, and do they impact the way XBMC functions?

What I would like, in a perfect world, is to have my Media System powered on and using it's own power saving features, and then 'wake' the system with my remote (can this be done?) and have my WHS come out of power saving when the XBMC networking activates, so that the videos and music are then accessible. I think this would be the perfect world, and I don't even know if it is possible.

Does anybody know how to create my 'pefect world'? I appreciate the help.

Thanks in advance!

Rick // The DurhamDev

Geeba · 2010-06-04, 17:19

There is a Wake On LAN feature... I've not used it to be honest. - I to have a WHS but I'm not a fan of keep spinning disk/servers up and down... I tend to leave mine on unless we're going away for any period of time.

fshagan · 2010-06-04, 18:18

Wake on lan is what you want to investigate. Like Geeba, I haven't tested it. The standby power consumption on my WHS is very low, but I do have it set to sleep between 12 AM and 6 AM; I'll have to check to see if it wakes it with any request over the lan. I believe it does without any configuration needed, but will check.

BTW - I have been very successful using xbmc with WHS, and now regret buying several media streamer applications to try and get my WDTV-Live to work the way I wanted it to. xbmc can connect to the shared folders using SMB, and the management functions within xbmc are more than enough to use for playlists, slideshows, movie playback, etc. So you don't even have to rely on UPnP functions.

GJones · 2010-06-04, 19:23

There is a discussion on Wake On Lan in the Feature Suggestions area already underway. A lot of it depends on how you want WHS to wake. If you want it to wake when XBMC is powered up or resumed that is one setup. If you want it to wake when a file on it is requested, that is a more complex setup outlined in the thread.

DurhamDev · 2010-06-04, 20:13

fshagan Wrote:BTW - I have been very successful using xbmc with WHS, and now regret buying several media streamer applications to try and get my WDTV-Live to work the way I wanted it to. xbmc can connect to the shared folders using SMB, and the management functions within xbmc are more than enough to use for playlists, slideshows, movie playback, etc. So you don't even have to rely on UPnP functions.

I'm really happy with the new setup. My original Media PC was a slim case, and was constantly freezing because (I believe) it was packed too tightly with the two HDs within. Now, I've relocated my 1TB drive to my WHS, which now has a little under 2TB of storage available. With one nice package, I'll be able to run up to 5 SATA2 drives and 2 IDE drives... More than enough room to grow, as I need more space. I also run XBMC on my laptop, when I'm up in the bedroom, and my new lappy even has HDMI out... ...for when my Wife says 'yes' to the request for another flat-screen.

fshagan · 2010-06-04, 23:30

DurhamDev Wrote:I'm really happy with the new setup. My original Media PC was a slim case, and was constantly freezing because (I believe) it was packed too tightly with the two HDs within. Now, I've relocated my 1TB drive to my WHS, which now has a little under 2TB of storage available. With one nice package, I'll be able to run up to 5 SATA2 drives and 2 IDE drives... More than enough room to grow, as I need more space. I also run XBMC on my laptop, when I'm up in the bedroom, and my new lappy even has HDMI out... ...for when my Wife says 'yes' to the request for another flat-screen.

I'm very happy with my set up now. I have 2 1TB drives in my HP 485 Media Smart Server as well as the 500GB system drive, and have plenty of room. Nightly backups of all three computers in the house, and the media serving, and I'm in heaven. I'll be able to add another drive to the server when the time comes, as well as take advantage of the eSata and USB ports for external drives. I've found that keeping the server to its intended tasks - back up and serving media - simplifies things quite a bit. Once you start trying to run apps on the WHS I think you increase the complexity quite a bit.

My wife enjoyed seeing our vacation pictures on the big screen when her sister was over, and we watched a movie while she was here. I have some configuration issues on the xbmc side still, playing with remotes and trying to get radio streaming working. But overall it makes a very nice set up.

And I agree, xbmc is the killer app for displaying all the content the WHS is streaming.

czzer · 2010-06-05, 12:23

Look for a WHS extension called Lights Out. It does exactly what you want.

see here:
http://addins.home-server-blog.de/verwal...htsout/#en

DurhamDev · 2010-06-05, 22:19

czzer Wrote:Look for a WHS extension called Lights Out. It does exactly what you want.[url=http://addins.home-server-blog.de/verwaltung/lightsout/#en][/url]

Sweet, that's exactly what I needed. Many thanks!

Rick