Ok - I have decided to start working on a media server for the house.

My plan is to create a machine that will house all of our movies (VHS and DVD), Music and pictures.

Now - here is the tough part. I want to be able to have a nice user interface connected to the TV and be able to pull this wirelessly over the network. I was looking at the Linksys DMA-2100 and the D Link DSM-750 boxes as possible options, but I understand that these boxes are not able to view the .VOB files that the rip of a DVD makes.

Is that correct? I have heard that there is a hack to allow the Vista media center see and play these files, but that it does not work on the media center extenders. So I am not sure that they will work. I was looking at the popcorn hour unit, but that does not work on a wireless network.

Can anyone else out there point me in a good direction?
I ultimately want to be able to view all my movies, music and photos on a TV, but it has to be wireless, and I would prefer to have the movies work the way they are intended, meaning I would like to be able to skip chapters if I want to instead of using fast forward.

Any help is appreciated - I feel like I am just running in circles now. Thanks

Ok - I have decided to start working on a media server for the house.

My plan is to create a machine that will house all of our movies (VHS and DVD), Music and pictures.

Now - here is the tough part. I want to be able to have a nice user interface connected to the TV and be able to pull this wirelessly over the network. I was looking at the Linksys DMA-2100 and the D Link DSM-750 boxes as possible options, but I understand that these boxes are not able to view the .VOB files that the rip of a DVD makes.

Is that correct? I have heard that there is a hack to allow the Vista media center see and play these files, but that it does not work on the media center extenders. So I am not sure that they will work. I was looking at the popcorn hour unit, but that does not work on a wireless network.

Can anyone else out there point me in a good direction?
I ultimately want to be able to view all my movies, music and photos on a TV, but it has to be wireless, and I would prefer to have the movies work the way they are intended, meaning I would like to be able to skip chapters if I want to instead of using fast forward.

Any help is appreciated - I feel like I am just running in circles now. Thanks
Your wireless criteria is a biggy.....plan on having issues

To minimized stuttering video you may have to re-encode to a lower bitrate...the higher the bitrate the more likely you will get stuttering video.

If you have 2.4Mhz cordless phones you may find that when in use your video stream will stop.

IMO I would find some way around the wireless constraint.

Your wireless criteria is a biggy.....plan on having issues

To minimized stuttering video you may have to re-encode to a lower bitrate...the higher the bitrate the more likely you will get stuttering video.

If you have 2.4Mhz cordless phones you may find that when in use your video stream will stop.

IMO I would find some way around the wireless constraint.
If you use a newer pre-N router that works on the higher frequency - like the NETGEAR WNHDEB111 HD/Gaming 5 GHz Wireless-N Networking Kit, then wireless should work well enough (at least I hope so in the one spot I need it :)).

Your wireless criteria is a biggy.....plan on having issues

To minimized stuttering video you may have to re-encode to a lower bitrate...the higher the bitrate the more likely you will get stuttering video.

If you have 2.4Mhz cordless phones you may find that when in use your video stream will stop.

IMO I would find some way around the wireless constraint.

Yep... I replaced all my cordless phones with the new DECT 6.0 standard phones which use a different band and so far my Wifi performance around the house is much improved.... Still have no plans on streaming hd video but before just having the receiver near my airport express in my garage would cause the music to glitch badly...

Sean

I don't have any cordless phones in the house - we only have cell phones and my wireless signal is pretty good. I am planning on putting an 802.11n network in if this works.

My main concern is whether or not I can watch the .VOB files on the windows media extenders (so far I have not been able to find that answer). If I am not able to play the .VOB files, what file type should I use, and will I still be able to use the chapter skip options like a normal DVD?

If all you need to do is maintain bandwidth sufficient for DVD playback, give some though to powerline networking. It is a heck of a lot cheaper than dual-band pre-N, and it seems to work fine for me. I happen to be using an ActionTec unit, but others should be similar.

Look for units meeting the HomePlugAV standard. There are other powerline adapters on the market, some are even rated faster, but they have other issues that make them less useful.

For my play-out server, I am using an unRAID box feeding a Popcorn Hour. Except for some hitches removing encryption (not unRAID's or PCH's fault), it works like a champ.

SirWired