Feed: Tutorial: How to build the ultimate home media network - AggScore: 27.6

Tutorial: How to build the ultimate home media network

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img srchttpcdn.mos.techradar.comReview20imagesPC20PlusPCP20303TV20networkPCP303.feat1.livingroom200200.jpgpDiscs are so yesterday. They get damaged, they get lost, they wont work with all your equipment and they need a player in every room. ppFor a long time, moving a whole media collection onto a central server has been the dream of many. But potential problems, including the inevitable mess of cables, complex switch configuration and living with a noisy PC next to the telly, have put some people off. ppForget all that negativity. Its now possible to build a discreet, powerful system that will neither cost the Earth, nor need your familys approval for cable tethering. Best of all, you wont need to make compromises for quality. ppNetworks and hardware are now easily capable of streaming highdefinition 1080p content. You probably already have the streaming client sitting underneath your television, or in the palm of your hand. Whether thats a PlayStation 3, a Nintendo Wii, an Android phone or an iPhone, linking all these devices together to create a home mesh of media is a great solution for people with large media collections or children with sticky fingers. ppIf youre after the perfect living room experience, you can now buy devices that will grab data from numerous sources and push it through an HDMI cable straight to your television. The trick is knowing what goes where. ppWere going to move from room to room, building the perfect solution for your home. Well travel from the study, with its loading bay PC, to the modem and router in the hall, past the stairs with their hidden NAS box and on to the living room, where youll be able to enjoy the fruits of all your hard work lag and stutterfree access to your entire media collection from the comfort of your sofa. ppstrongThe study strongppstrongWelcome to the content generating control room strongppimg srchttpmos.futurenet.comtechradarReview20imagesPC20PlusPCP20303TV20networkPCP303.feat1.studyfinal42090.jpg altstudy width420imgppThis is where your content metamorphoses from a physical liability into a series of files sitting on a networkattached storage box hidden under the stairs. This transformation must happen within a PC, because it involves a lot of number crunching to sort everything out neatly. ppWhether youre turning an audio CD into MP3 and FLAC files, or transcoding a home movie into highdefinition MKV, the more raw processing power you have, the less time youll need to spend acting as disctray nanny. ppstrongCentral powerhouse br strongppAs a result, the study needs to house an allpowerful computer. Its going to run Windows 7, and it will need to be as brawny and powerefficient as possible, switching into a lowpower standby mode when not in use and enabling network devices to have the ondemand option of using it for transcoding one video format to another, if the need arises. ppThe CPU needs to be of the fullfat variety, with as many cores as you can reasonably afford. AMD processors are currently top of the pile when it comes to price and performance, but weve found that Intel CPUs are generally better behaved, suspend easier and use less power. ppFor that reason, wed recommend opting for a Core i7 model with as much speed and as many cores as you can happily pay for. The Core i7875k is a good choice in this instance, because it balances this performance with relatively decent value now that its price has dipped below 300. ppYoull need to combine this with plenty of memory, because video compression and transcoding will eat as much as you can throw at them. Consider 4GB of fast RAM as an absolute minimum. ppIf youre intending to record live television, youll also need room for the Freeview card and plenty of hard drive space although your NAS is going to be the archive for your data, so space on the PC is only going to be needed temporarily. ppstrongGPU processing strongppYou might think you can skip the expensive 3D graphics card in favour of a machine thats meant only for 2D video, but theres an interesting technology that might make you reconsider. ppThe GPU within a 3D graphics card is itself a powerful number cruncher, and manufacturers are just starting to catch on to the idea that a GPU can be harnessed for desktop applications as well as gaming. ppNvidia, for example, has created a technology called CUDA, which will enable developers to use the power of your GPU to accelerate mathematically intensive processes which is exactly what video encoding is. ppNeros Move It software encoder can use CUDA for video conversion, and Daniusofts DVD Ripper claims that CUDA helps it attain a 500 per cent conversion speed. For this reason, its worth trading some of your CPU budget for a decent Nvidia card. ppThe EVGA GeForce GTX 460, at less than 150, is an excellent choice for GPU acceleration. ppTo complete the PC, youll need decent networking provision. Your PC is going to be both the encoder and the transcoder, constantly shuttling data across the network, so the only realistic options for connectivity are physical either with an Ethernet cable between this machine and the router, or a Powerline unit to pass the Ethernet through your homes power grid. ppWireless is fast enough in theory, but not in practice especially when slower devices are also connected or other people are consuming the bandwidth. We recommend a wired Powerline backbone for data streaming, and because nearly all motherboards include Gigabit Ethernet, this is all youre going to need here. ppstrongSoftware strongppFinally, with the system configured and Windows 7 installed, youll need some software to perform the transcoding magic. This will help platforms such as Nintendos Wii and Apples iPad access your entire media collection without the media being encoded into the formats those devices specifically support. ppThe best weve found is TVersity, which can cater for a vast number of players and understand almost any media format you throw at it. The basic version is free, and its easily installed, automatically detecting all your media files stored locally. For remote files held on your NAS, youll need to mount the remotely shared folder onto your system and make sure this mount point is connected each time your computer boots. ppimg srchttpmos.futurenet.comtechradarReview20imagesPC20PlusPCP20303TV20networkPCP303.feat1.tversitymain42090.jpg altTVersity width420imgppIf you want to access your media collection from the internet, try downloading Orb. This uses a web portal to stream your media from your PC to any compatible and connected device on the web the only limit being the upload speed of your home connection. ppstrongThe hallwaystrongppstrongThe hub for wireless and internet accessstrongppimg srchttpmos.futurenet.comtechradarReview20imagesPC20PlusPCP20303TV20networkPCP303.feat1.hallway0142090.jpg altHallway width420imgppMost modern houses have their master telephone socket located in the hall. If you use ADSL for broadband, connecting your modem to this socket is going to give you the best performance. This is because theres likely to be less interference from other devices using the same phone line, such as phones, satellite receivers and alarms. ppHowever, it also creates a problem, because the hall is usually the least accommodating room for storing networking equipment. For this reason, your router and modem need to be as discreet as possible, while still remaining powerful enough to act as your homes portal to the internet. ppstrongRouter choices strongppThe standard router, as provided by your ISP, is unlikely to offer the best potential performance or configurability. For faster ADSL connections, youll need a router with a modem thats capable of negotiating the Annex M protocol. This is an extension to the standard ADSL2 protocol that adds faster upload speeds and better stability. ppIts a similar issue with wireless, where the 801.11n standard is now commonplace and interoperable. If range is important, you may want to consider a dualband device. Wed also recommend keeping your media streaming off the wireless network, and using wireless only for laptops, netbooks and portable devices. You should then use either a physical Ethernet connection or a Powerline connection for the media delivery. ppSetting up the system should then be as simple as connecting your router to the phone line through an ADSL filer, setting it up through the web interface and moving on to another room. ppIf you use an internet phone service such as Skype or youre a keen online gamer, youll need a router that will let you configure Quality of Service for specific protocols. This will boost their priority over other connections when theyre in use. ppThere are hundreds of different routers to choose from, but if youre having difficulty, a recent survey on the Be Unlimited forum a meeting place for fairly exacting web users revealed that 55 per cent would plump for a Netgear router, with the Netgear DG834N at around 80 being a particularly popular choice. ppIf youre in any doubt as to which device will perform best with your ISP, the user forum is usually the best place to start your research. ppstrongUnder the stairs strongppstrongStore your media library safely and securely strongppimg srchttpmos.futurenet.comtechradarReview20imagesPC20PlusPCP20303TV20networkPCP303.feat1.understairs42090.jpg altUnder stairs width420imgppWith a basic NAS, your files will simply be made available on the network usually through Microsofts Windows networking protocol. This will work fine for laptops, netbooks and certain settopboxes, but it isnt the easiest method to configure or set up. ppThe most common alternative is to find a NAS that supports the combination of DNLA and UPnP AV, which is a relatively painless way of streaming media to your various playback devices. You should aim for a NAS with 512MB of RAM and 1GHz CPU for maximum streaming capability. ppUPnP AV is the most important part, because this is the protocol used to transport the data, while DNLA is the certification that guarantees certain capabilities. When all your devices talk together using UPnP and DNLA, you should be able to see your photos, music and movies without any further configuration, although youll still need to give the formats some thought. ppA PlayStation 3, for example, can make sense of MP3 music, display JPG image files, and play certain MP4, MPEG2, AVI and DivX movies through DNLA. ppAlthough the specification allows for one format to be converted to another, few NAS boxes are powerful enough to do this in real time as youre listening or watching. ppstrongCompatible storage strongppAfter media streaming comes storage. Most NAS boxes have a compatibility list, which you should check before committing to a purchase. Two terabytes are likely to be enough for most people, and with the average HD movie taking between 610GB of space, thats at least 100 movies before you have to worry about an upgrade. ppYou should also choose a drive thats quiet, efficient and powers down when not in use. If youve got the money to hand, an enterpriseclass drive is better suited to an alwayson environment, but most users will have no problems with standard drives from the likes of Western Digital and Seagate. ppData loss is a bigger issue. A group of disks running as simple storage devices a configuration known as JBOD Just a Bunch Of Disks will experience a failure sooner or later. How you feel about the thought of hours spent reimporting your collection will govern your backup strategy. ppA good option is to buy two identical disks and run either RAID 1 or RAID 5 configurations, if your NAS supports it. This builds tolerance into your system by duplicating data across both drives. ppstrongLiving roomstrongppstrongThe business end of the operation enjoy your media collection in comfortstrongppimg srchttpmos.futurenet.comtechradarReview20imagesPC20PlusPCP20303TV20networkPCP303.feat1.livingroom42090.jpg altLiving room width420imgppWeve reached the final stage the point where you can almost sit back and enjoy the fruit of your labours. Theres one problem left to solve, and thats getting your movies streamed to your TV. ppThe device were going to use to bridge the divide between your NASbound media and your TV is a media streamer. These are lowpowered boxes that specialise in decoding vast amounts of video data, encoded in dozens of different formats, and sending these to your screen. ppDespite the encoding part requiring such a powerful PC, the decoding stage has been refined to such a degree that a small, embedded Realtekchipset can do the job without difficulty. This is usually tied to a special version of Linux to handle access. Many even include space for an internal hard drive, but weve been able to sidestep this requirement by using the NAS. ppRemote drives also have the advantage of being quieter, and the NAS is a more flexible option if you need to stream video data to other locations in your house. ppstrongNetwork compatibility br strongppYour media streamer will need both an Ethernet port connected to a Powerline unit and an HDMI connector for plugandplay compatibility with your television. There are other options available, but HDMI is perfectly suited to this task. Its digital, supports high resolutions, and pipes audio at the same time. ppWere streaming video over the network rather than from local storage, so its also important to ensure that your media streamer is compatible with your network configuration. Many devices fall at this hurdle by either failing to offer enough throughput for high definition playback, or making configuration too complicated. ppMost devices play the vast majority of formats youre likely to come across, and are able to access the data on a NAS either through the Windows networking protocol, or through UPnP, which is the option we recommend for painfree setup. ppThe final piece of kit for our project is an inconspicuous PC for internet streaming and Freeview recording. Rather than using an offtheshelf PVR, a lowpowered PC will enable us to move our recording programming back to the NAS box for later viewing. It will also enable 100 per cent support for services including the BBCs iPlayer, ITV Player and Channel 4s 4oD. ppThis PCs low power means it should be almost silent, and suspend and resume should work with the minimum of effort. We recommend looking for an allinone unit based around an Atom processor, such as the 150, 1.6GHz dualcore CPU, Zotac ZBox. Its a tiny, vertical case that needs only a 2.5in hard drive and some memory to become a fullyfledged PC for streaming. ppstrongRecord programmes strongppRecording standard definition Freeview and Freesat broadcasts through a USB interface shouldnt cause any problems most devices come with their own software for scheduling recordings, and even a remote control, which enables you to avoid the keyboard and mouse combination completely. ppHowever, we recommend using Windows Media Centre, because it provides a more TVfriendly interface and includes its own DVR technology. ppimg srchttpmos.futurenet.comtechradarReview20imagesPC20PlusPCP20303TV20networkPCP303.feat1.wmc0142090.jpg altWindows media center width420imgppEither way, youll want to make sure the files that are saved by the recording process are placed on your networkmounted NAS box, which can then be used to stream recordings to any other networked player in your household. ppUnfortunately, the ability to record and archive highdefinition Freeview broadcasts is unresolved. The DVBT2 hardware used to receive the signal is only just beginning to make its way into thirdparty PC devices, because its currently used in just a couple of countries throughout the world. ppCombine this with the DRM built into highdefinition transmissions, and recording and moving high definition content may not be technically, or even legally feasible. Even if it was, youd need a fast local drive to store the data, before moving it onto a networked drive. ppHowever, experiments with high definition satellite broadcasts show that the Atom specification of the system should be up to the job, provided the USB hardware is able to work around any restrictions and your graphics are accelerated. ppstrongEnjoy your media strongppAll of this should leave you with an incredibly powerful system. You can now listen to your digital music collection, browse your photos and watch your highdefinition movies without worrying about how to store the physical discs or where to find them. ppThe system is also omnipresent. You can access the same content from your netbook in the loft, your iPad in the bedroom and your TV in the living room, as well as allowing other people in the house to use streaming devices at the same time. ppThe only problem with such a system and this comes from bitter experience is that youre never quite finished. Youll always want to update something, tweak a setting or add a new piece of gadgetry to your network. ppTo appreciate your setup fully, you have to resist the temptation to continue tinkering. You have been warned.pimg width1 height1 srchttprss.feedsportal.comc669f415087s116cffcbmf.gif border0div classmfviraltable border0trtd valignmiddleimg srchttpres3.feedsportal.comimagesemailthis2.gif border0 tdtd valignmiddleimg srchttpres3.feedsportal.comimagesbookmark.gif border0 tdtrtabledivbrbrimg srchttpda.feedsportal.comr91701210593u49f415087c669s116cffcbkg92538404345656768141143160168170189191201a2.img border0img srchttpfeeds.feedburner.comrtechradartelevisionnews4XlyuYXYFzys height1 width1a targetblank relnofollow hrefhttpfeedproxy.google.comrtechradartelevisionnews3XlyuYXYFzysstory01.htmTechRadar Television newsa

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