Kodi Community Forum

Hello to all,
I am new on this forum so forgive me if questions i will ask have already been answered or seem stupid to you
(my computer level is not so high !)

Here is my goal:
i would like to set up a local network with a central computer using a huge Hard Disk (2 To or double if Raid)which will support all the medias (Itunes + DVDs recorded on the HD (what software would you recommend and what about DVd protections ?)+ DSL Internet Box)

From what i read, the best way to go for the cabled network would be to set up a Gigabit Ethernet network using Cat6 twisted pairs cable and screened RJ45 sockets which guarantee a good bandwidth and the future evolutions.

I want to interconnect a certain number of Macs (minis? oh and by the way on the Apple site they dont mention anymore the Apple remote which used to come in bundle with the Minis) some of them would be connected to a Home Cinema amplifier and a Plasma TV, others only to a TV set or maybe only to a set of speakers in order to listen to music.

Does the main machine have to include a server software in order to be available for the other machines or is the Share files system enough to achieve this goal ?
Will any computer be able to access any resource independently from the others ? (to say things simpler, may i be able to watch a movie in the living-room while music is playing in the bedroom and someone is surfing the Internet in the office room at the very same time ?)

What software do i need to install on the main machine or what kind of setup and what about the other machines on the network ?

Thank you in advance to those who will be able to help, these subjects seem very hard to understand to me

Philippe, Paris

There is nothing wrong with your idea. Firstly the main computer needs to be gigabit. And make it so its not connecting USB drives, plenty of PCs out there with lots of internal bays for drives. This will be quicker.

Your router needs to be gigabit and in reality everything needs to be connected via ethernet. Even Wireless N with struggle with HD content if more than one stream is going on.

You will need to limit the number of minis connecting, or at least the amount connecting at any one time. This will be in the main restricted by your main server, if you want multiple connections 3 or more then your server is going to have to be a proper job.

As for the main machine your don't need any special software, if its a PC then XP will be fine if its a mac OSX is fine. Put your main content on the drives of the 'server' and XBMC will see them via 'windows network/Workgroup'

You will need to run separate local databases on each mini, the server will not handle well if your hope is to have one central database. This will make XBMC a sad panda.

philparis Wrote:Hello to all,
I am new on this forum so forgive me if questions i will ask have already been answered or seem stupid to you
(my computer level is not so high !)

Here is my goal:
i would like to set up a local network with a central computer using a huge Hard Disk (2 To or double if Raid)which will support all the medias (Itunes + DVDs recorded on the HD (what software would you recommend and what about DVd protections ?)+ DSL Internet Box)

From what i read, the best way to go for the cabled network would be to set up a Gigabit Ethernet network using Cat6 twisted pairs cable and screened RJ45 sockets which guarantee a good bandwidth and the future evolutions.

I want to interconnect a certain number of Macs (minis? oh and by the way on the Apple site they dont mention anymore the Apple remote which used to come in bundle with the Minis) some of them would be connected to a Home Cinema amplifier and a Plasma TV, others only to a TV set or maybe only to a set of speakers in order to listen to music.

Does the main machine have to include a server software in order to be available for the other machines or is the Share files system enough to achieve this goal ?
Will any computer be able to access any resource independently from the others ? (to say things simpler, may i be able to watch a movie in the living-room while music is playing in the bedroom and someone is surfing the Internet in the office room at the very same time ?)

What software do i need to install on the main machine or what kind of setup and what about the other machines on the network ?

Thank you in advance to those who will be able to help, these subjects seem very hard to understand to me

Philippe, Paris

The advice given to you was on the money. If you would like more to think about -

The question about how many systems can log into your "server" and all have access and speed is a good one. The two items that come to mind are a higher end NAS (network attached storage) unit hooked into your network or a simple Windows system that has availability from the drives. Windows Home Server and XP should be fine but the key would be drive access. In this case, going with a good raid card would be an excellent option. The fasted "raid" isn't really raid as there is no redundancy and that would be striping the drives. You will get very high speeds this way even when multiple systems are accessing this "server." The failure point of course is if one drive fails, all is lost. This leaves the usual 0+1 option and raid 5. You can search up on these.

My taste is for a good NAS system but, they can run some $$ without drives included. If you go for Windows type of system, you can pick up SIIG or Promise Technology's lower end raid units for SATA drives. There are a couple of linux based NAS softwares for typical PC hardware - Clark and Freenas come to mind.

I will be candid, I don't believe MACs with the regular OS is a good candidate. Mac Minis are fine but even with the Server software are somewhat lacking on drive space. I use a fairly slow NAS that can serve up m2ts files and full 1080p with no problems. However, if I tried to do this with two computers, the system becomes slightly taxed or at times acutely.

Hope my two cents is helpful.

- Phrehdd

MAC == http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address

Mac == http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh