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Can HTPC double duty as NAS for Home?

Van G

Van G

Member
I've got 2 x 2TB Green drives that were supposed to go into a Synology DS212j but I'm hesitant to spend the money when reading through this forum and figuring that it doesn't solve the task of doing some light duty HTPC functions (Blu-Ray playback with something like jRiver or VLC).

I've done light reading on UnRaid, WHS 2011, and FreeNAS but it doesn't seem like they do all of what I want.

Is there an O/S solution that will do double duty? DMS, DMR, and Network Backup?
 
Sure why not? I think WHS2011 would do all that... Play as a backup and media server and recording.
 
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Don't need to record, just concerned about playback.

One step further, anyway to get my desk PC (win 7) to stream blu-ray with all DTS formats to Denon 3312? They are 20' apart so hdmi output won't work.

Would do hardware raid with the 2 tb drives and backup to USB 3.
 
What kind of RAID? RAID1?

I stream x264 1080 MKVs (file size up to 12.7GB with 95min runtime = nice bitrate) from a file server to my HTPC all the time, I used to do it over 100mbit LAN too.
 
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I stream to three xbox 360's and I don't think I would have the network bandwidth for file services also. So, don't forget to consider network bandwidth.
 
This is a good question, I totally forgot to mention what I was planning with my HTPC:

I have been thinking about stashing a couple of 500GB SATA drives into my HTPC (Athlon X2 2.2ghz, 2gb of ram, Geforce 8600GTS) for use as a place to DL RARs to etc.

My only real concern is during LAN file transfers and whether that will affect the HTPC's performance while watching netflix, hulu, x264 etc. Luckily the video card keeps the CPU usage very low during these activities so I think it will be alright. I also have plenty of bandwidth as i'm running copper gigabit.

I will find out maybe this weekend.
 
Everything is on Gigabit LAN (hardwired) and I'd like to get my desktop PC to do all the tasks (Win 7 Premium). Basically when I'm using it as workstation it's obviously not being used for HT duty.

This would be in place of a Synology DS212j or HTPC in the A/V closet.

The A/V closet is approx 20' from my desktop with several walls in between so getting an HDMI connection to the Denon 3312 would be a big project. I do have 2xCat5e and 2xRG-6 between the desktop and closet.

Music is simple enough to stream to the Denon across LAN via Airplay or DNLA.

Video playback (1080p, DTS-HD, 3D) is the challenge. I have a PS3 on the network but it doesn't play nice with DTS-HD backup's.

If I'm able to accomplish the above then my backup would be mitigated to USB 3.0 external and critical files to cloud or off site.
 
What gpu should I be looking at for 1080p 3D playback?

I have to build a standalone box since I can't get hdmi connection from desktop to receiver.

Another option would be a jail broken ATV3 but I'm not sure they can play bluray files even when jail broken.
 
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