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Living Room / Re: Best Storage Option for Ripped DVD Movies?
« Last post by 40hz on December 19, 2013, 09:24 AM »Most of the serious mediageek talk seems to think a NAS server coupled with a HTPC is the best combo for large movie collections.
If the goal for the HTPC is primarily to watch or stream media, the free OpenELEC Media Center (which is basically a preconfigured XBMC distro) is the way to go. There is even a version that will run very nicely off a $35 Raspberry Pi, so the HTPC needn't cost much.
For the NAS, it's suggested you go with one of those fairly inexpensive 20-bay media server cases ($300 approx), toss in one of the best and largest power supplies you can afford along with an AMD-based mobo plus a modest CPU, and start populating the bays. You can start with a single large drive, and then add more as money becomes available or things go on sale.
The HTPC handles the heavy lifting maintaining the library list, so film titles can be added willy-nilly without problems.
As long as you're not transcoding you don't need much CPU power for any of this. And if you're not doing PC gaming, you don't really need Windows (or Intel) components either.
Figure below (if you shop around) $1K for the starter NAS with one or two drives, and as little as $50-$70 all in for the HTPC if you go with a Raspberry Pi. Figure another $400-$500 otherwise.
Your biggest worries with a big media server are heat, fan noise, and power consumption. So keep that in mind when planning a media - or really any - server.
If the goal for the HTPC is primarily to watch or stream media, the free OpenELEC Media Center (which is basically a preconfigured XBMC distro) is the way to go. There is even a version that will run very nicely off a $35 Raspberry Pi, so the HTPC needn't cost much.
For the NAS, it's suggested you go with one of those fairly inexpensive 20-bay media server cases ($300 approx), toss in one of the best and largest power supplies you can afford along with an AMD-based mobo plus a modest CPU, and start populating the bays. You can start with a single large drive, and then add more as money becomes available or things go on sale.
The HTPC handles the heavy lifting maintaining the library list, so film titles can be added willy-nilly without problems.
As long as you're not transcoding you don't need much CPU power for any of this. And if you're not doing PC gaming, you don't really need Windows (or Intel) components either.
Figure below (if you shop around) $1K for the starter NAS with one or two drives, and as little as $50-$70 all in for the HTPC if you go with a Raspberry Pi. Figure another $400-$500 otherwise.
Your biggest worries with a big media server are heat, fan noise, and power consumption. So keep that in mind when planning a media - or really any - server.
