Questions about servers (WHS)

[Onita]

I'm thinking about building a server utilizing Windows Home Server. Having never built a server, I'd like to know a few things. Not sure if this is the right subforum - if not could a mod please move it?

Network setup as of now: 2 netbooks, laptop, PC, Xbox360 and PS3. Cat6, giga router and switch.

I'd like to be able to rip my movies onto the server, and stream them through either the xbox or ps3. Would this require transcoding at the server level? If so, what is the minimum CPU I should go with, or should I get a video card? Is there any advantage to going mATX, other than a smaller size? My server would be in the basement, so its outta the way and size isn't too imporant.

I'm looking to make this as low power as possible. Also, I'm not completely sure that ps3 or xbox can stream blu ray rips, but I think that they can if formatted correctly.

I'm sure I'll have more questions as well.

 

[imagoon]

xbox streaming works only with WMV by default. There are some settings out on the web that encode the stream to something the xbox can work with. If you use something TVersity, it will transcode on the fly. Transcoding requires more CPU power to run. So what it comes down to is the closer the settings are to what the xbox requires, the less CPU is needed on the media server to send it over. If you want to get more involved and do things like divx and xvid on the xbox, you will need something like TVersity to transcode it on the fly. The Xbox is very capable of streaming 1080i/p. How well depends on your ripping job.

 

[Geofram]

Getting a video card would be pointless, I think. If you ripped the movies into a format that can natively be played by the xbox and ps3, you wouldn't even need something encode them; but that depends on if you want to store your movies that way in the first place.

As for suggestions on the server itself - ask yourself how much space you want it to have. I've got almost 3 TB of storage on mine, and I'm going to need more. If you start extracting Blu-rays, it's 30GB per disc, assuming you don't compress them. So if you plan on getting a ton of hard drives, make sure you have a case that can hold them, and a motherboard with a lot of SATA ports, or expansion room. This usually doesn't happen on low power or smaller motherboards.

I'm personally running my server on a old quad core I had upgraded from - it's not low power, but it's being turned into a machine that runs virtual servers, so it's good. The motherboard has 6 SATA slots, and I've used every one on hard discs.

 

[notposting]

Some good sites to check out:

thegreenbutton.com <-- windows media center oriented, but some server stuff too
avsforum.com <-- techy
silentpcreview <--always some good low power hardware advice
wegotserved.com <--server oriented

I'm currently running WHS on a mATX AM2 board with a 45W TDP dual core, 1GB ram. And a 640GB Blue for system drive, 1TB Green, 1.5TB Samsung F2, and 2x 1.5TB Green's. Plus a sata optical for DVD ripping. I use the MyMovies setup for my needs, I do the ripping on the server, plugin for 7MC, collection management on any of the computers (usually) laptop, and it handles transcoding to Linksys MCX and the XBox 360. I rip the movies uncompressed in folder format, in 7MC I get the full menu structure, chapters etc (not so on the transcoded extenders, it just plays thru).

Plus ripping CDs to 192kb mp3's (blah blah audiophiles blah blah I want max compatibility). And storing drivers, utilities, install files, plus nightly backups of all 4 pcs, remote access, etc etc. It's pretty sweet.

Just try to think everything thru ahead of time.