MEDIA SERVER (HTMS) The heart of a digital home

As you will soon find out storage is king. Even though hard drives are doubling in size every year so will your film library. When HDTV starts so will the need to save even bigger files.

In a HTPC heat and space is an issue so will limit the total storage capacity of your system. Yes you can have external hard drives but it starts to get expensive and messy around that nice plasma TV.

You will also find that having the data stored on the HTPC may not be the best place to have it especially if the HTPC is switched off when not in use.

The next logical step is then to have a media server (HTMS, or MSPC). This separate PC located anywhere in the home and is stuffed with hard drives. Access to the HTMS can be local or remote via software such as WIn VNC or remote desctop via windows XP from either the HTPC or other PC.

The final step is to connect the systems together this can be a simple wired lan cable between them but for improved versatility a wifi 802.11 g system offers enough speed for a recorded TV program on free view at MEPG 2 playback uses less than 10% of the 54mbs available. These can now run at 108mbs.

The tv tuner can be kept in the HTPC and the recording drive on the server, so the HTPC never needs to use its hard drive or put the tv tuner in the server, or several as space is not an issue.

NETWORKING

My HTMS is in my study connected to a Linksys WAG54G-2 ADSL modem wifi router via LAN.

The HTPC is also hard wired to this router, as I had the Lan before wifi was popular.

My laptop connects via wifi and has no problems watching recordings up the garden.

This router has a built in ASDL modem so internet is 24/7 and is not dependant on a PC to be on. It also has a firewall stopping any unauthorised activity.

As wifi is now available other media systems can easily be added to the home digital network

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SYSTEM

For a HTMS speed is not the issue, so even an old athlon 800 would be ok, however if you put the tv card in the sttystem as I have then a faster PC is required. My server was previously an athlon 2.6XP but now is a Athlon 64 3.2.

 

 

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