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Networking a home theater PC - advice wanted

H

heartsurgeon

Diamond Member
i plan to build a home theater pc...want it to be quiet. therefore, i am planning to go fanless, as well as trying to limit the mass storage located in the HTPC itself.

what i plan on doing is having media files (DVD's, CDs, etc) stored on the home network, distant to the "theater" itself.

1)will a hard wired network connection (100mbps) be sufficient for viewing dvd files from a network storage device.

2) is a WD 250 gig s.e. hard drive reliable enough to leave on 24/7

3) is hard drive in a external usb 2.0 enclosure (includes a fan) a reliable network storage device left on 24/7

knowledgable feeedback appreciated, preferably by someone who is doing something similar.
 
i wouldn't suggest going fanless, espcially on a htpc case (cramped space, poor ventilation etc). look for large heatsinks and fans eg. zalmanusa.com

1) yes, it will be plenty of bandwidth
2) yes, hdd these days are more reliable
3) i'm not sure about the reliability of an external storage device.
 
i guess fanless is an overstatement.

i hope to have just a powersupply fan.

fanless processor, fanless vid card

i guess i'll end up turning my biggest computer (an old antec case, bought when "big" was king), into a file server in about a year, and use the usb enclosures in the meantime to add storage to the network.

thanks for the info.
 
haven't decided yet.

let me explain my plan, and give me your advice...

i have lots of hi-res scanned slides (120meg files/slide) - i want to be able to have "slide shows" on a high def tv (which i don't have yet)

i just got some software that lets me archive dvd's on my hard drive - i've got hundreds of dvd's - i want to be able to play them all off a file server.

the wife wants to update the tv to high def sometime in the next year

we have a bose home theater setup now with 5.1 sound

i just bought 2 wd 250 gig hd's cuz i've filled up the 250 gig drive i already have with media.

here is the "grand plan"

cabinets built into the home theater room to accomodate rack mounted equipment.
update screen to high def
run network access to theater room
convert monsterous large and loud antec case into file server (has internal space for 6-10 hard drives) and stick it in the basement (has a 1.6A intel processor, raid on board)
build a HTPC computer to show slides, dvd's, cable television, play music

haven't gotten beyond the stage of working on the file server end of it. once i get the server part working, at least the media can be accessed by individual computers on the network....the plan is to get the "theater" experience in the media room.

once i've got the server part running, then i will start looking at screens, i suppose the video card is going to depend on the screen .

processor....what ever is required

i view this as a year long project..


 
Just how far away do you plan to sit next to your media PC? Logic would tell me that people would be sitting further away from their media center PC than a standard PC, thus if you use stock fans etc, the amount of noise would not be a problem. Just my 0.02.
 
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