This is a thread devoted to my living room home theater. I use this room also as my office and as my living room. We will have the Christmas Tree up in this room soon. I am making this thread so that I can ask questions and put my posts in one area. I hope that everyone enjoys the pictures and doesn’t make too much fun of me!

I have a Shark Rack that I got off of E-Bay for like $150 bucks and it is about 44U or about 7 feet tall! It is currently being used as my theater rack and Projector mount. I have room on the bottom of the rack to build some sliding drawers that I am going to put my movies into once I get them built. The top of the rack has two spots for two 4U computer cases, I figured that hot air rises and they will create the most heat. I know that they will be loud and if need be I have a closet that I can put the whole rack into and just buy a ceiling mount for the Panasonic 3000 projector (Brand new model).

My room is about 24' by 16' the short wall has a fireplace along one wall and a wall of bay windows along the opposite wall. The long wall has two doors evenly spaced with about a 10 foot wall between them, opposite of that is another wall of windows with a French door at one end. Between the two doors I have my very large work desk. Above this I put a 100” 16:9 screen. I ran a 40’ hdmi cable under the floor from the rack opposite of the desk to a 24” dell monitor on the desk that is also attached via DVI to my laptop on the desk. I thus can easily switch it between being a second monitor for working and playing PS3 when not. I also ran a long optical cable from my laptop to the rack so that I can play sounds /music from the laptop. The 100” screen sits above this desk and I bought a special moveable articulating monitor mount that will let me bend the monitor down out of the way and I can just close the laptop so that nothing will be close to being in the way of the screen. I am planning on getting some black cloth to cover the rest of the wall not covered by either the screen or the desk. But it is not too bad and this is down on my priority list. I also have some blackout curtains picked out to go in front of all of the windows and the two doors that are on the same wall as the screen. When not watching a movie the curtains will cover the screen when watching the movie the will slide in front of each of the doors. I found a curtain ceiling track that is one piece and goes around corners very easily. I will put this on the walls with windows and when not watching movies the curtains will easily fit on the spaces on the walls not covered in windows. But right now it is not that bad and I might just stick with the normal pull down shades that I already have. My problem is that we just didn’t have a good room to put it and I spend all of my time in the living room anyways so it might as well be there. I could have put it downstairs but it gets really cold downstairs and if I am going to spend all of this money it might as well be somewhere that I will use it! Advise: Be careful with long HDMI runs. I have spent about $300 just to deal with long HDMI runs and sometime it still acts up.

Oh here are the components of the system:
Onkyo TX-SR674S 7.1 Channel Up-Converting A/V Receiver (Silver) (this selects my HDMI input and controls the sound)
Sony 40Gb PS3 (we use this to watch DVD’s and BD movies, and I use it for games)
Samsung DTBH260F HDTV Terrestrial Receiver (this is used to watch TV very infrequently, mostly just watch the Steelers!)
Channel Master 9521A Remote Control Antenna Rotor (this controls the direction of the antenna and is controlled by a small IR remote. Some channels require me to change the direction to get continued signal.)
Panasonic PT-AE3000 projector (the crown jewel it is breathtaking!)

So far I would say that I am in the $6K range for everything that I have. Just wait until I add the HTPC/20TB server!

http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww292/fly4christ78/IMG_0350Large.jpg

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/7295/img0351largeia0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/8619/img0352largeyu4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/6172/img0353largesk0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/6799/img0354largetw9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/4417/img0356largejb1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/9939/img0357largeij1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I have decided that instead of worrying about lost remotes what I need to do is get one remote to control everything. My other problem is that I got a new rack for all of my AV equipment and I can not control everything in the rack from every seat in the theater. I thus need a RF remote. Of course other problem is that I am a pilot and I am gone alot and my wife and visiting parents sometimes are not able to get everything set up correctly and I often get a call while out of state for directions as to how to do things. I have the following components.

Onkyo TX-SR674S 7.1 Channel Up-Converting A/V Receiver (Silver) (this selects my HDMI input and controls the sound)
Sony 40Gb PS3 (this I know is RF, and will be a problem, we use this to watch DVD’s and BD movies, and I use it for games)
Samsung DTBH260F HDTV Terrestrial Receiver (this is used to watch TV very infrequently, mostly just watch the Steelers!)
Channel Master 9521A Remote Control Antenna Rotor (this controls the direction of the antenna and is controlled by a small IR remote. Some channels require me to change the direction to get continued signal.)
Panasonic PT-AE3000 projector (comes this week, I can’t wait!)

My question is what remote should I use? I can put little emitters on the rack door (screen mesh) or directly on the components, but I can not put an IR emitter in front of them all to hit them all at the same time. I know the PS3 will be a problem and I could live with two remotes if I have to. Also is there a way to program the remote to change the direction of the antenna when ever I change the channel (I get about 15 different channels)? In the future I would like to expand and have a remote that could control lights and maybe even open the curtain in front of the projector screen. Also in the future I want to add a HTPC and a 20Tb media server. Can you guys recommend a reasonable remote, I just blew a big chunk on the projector so money is really a problem right now, but I maybe can get this for Christmas?

http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww292/fly4christ78/IMG_0358Large.jpg

I think that I might have found a good remote the Q50 by Nevo Universal Electronics.

http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww292/fly4christ78/q50-layout-1.gif

Take a look at the website and tell me what you think…
http://www.remoteshoppe.com/index.php?itemid=555
http://www.mynevo.com/html.php?page_id=345

http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww292/fly4christ78/q50-box.gif

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/4293/nspreviewgt9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I am installing all new UPB switches in my living room, kitchen, and dining room. I will have control boxes in each room. For now they will all be controled via either those boxes or I have also ordered a IR remote module for controlling the UPB lighting. For now I will probably attach this IR module in my Home theater rack where I hope to attach it to a programmable remote. My question is this maybe I can skip that part and just have some kind of Z-wave to UPB bridge. Is there some kind of Z-wave controllable UPB module? Anyone have any suggestions?

I am not sure if you guys can do anything for me but I will just spill some ideas on this page and you guys can tell me what you think…

I currently have about 2000 some DVD's that I would like to put on a server so this is no small feat. I have decided that the investment of 2000 DVD’s warrants a server/HTPC. That would put me at, at least 10TBs min with 14 1.5TB drives at $129 on new egg or amazon something like 14 drives to start would be $1820. That would give me the ability to start with twice my needed spaces as I will no longer will be getting DVDs but BDs. I am willing to take the risk at letting a drive fail as I have all of the DVD's so a Windows Home Server ($99) I think would be the way to go. From there I have no idea what to do except that I have been planning on room in my rack for two 4U 4-space rack-mount cases. One for the server and one for the HTPC, that is in-less that could be one computer in the same somehow? I have never built a computer. I know I have the physical skills as I am an aircraft mechanic and love the wiring etc. But I just don’t think that I could do a project like this on my own. One last thing, I foolishly started this rack-mount system of mine with silver components etc, if there is anyway possible silver would continue this theme. I might be forced to sliver paint though. The NORCO RPC-4020 while not silver would be maybe a good choice for a case. It has 20 bays and with 14 full to start I could still grow it larger. As large as 30TB with the current drive but WHS doesn’t care what drive I use so maybe someday the drive will be even larger! So $1820 drives + $290 case + $99 operating system has me well over 2K and that is just part of the parts in the list. I of course would like the HTPC / Home Server to be able to play BD and be full HD and have a HDMI output. I guess what would be nice would be to find a build list somewhere that someone has already built and tested and work from there. Has anyone seen a build list that is close to what I am talking about? My questions is there any way to keep this below $2500 if not that is ok too I just am not made of money. Thought or ideas?

I am not sure if you guys can do anything for me but I will just spill some ideas on this page and you guys can tell me what you think…

I currently have about 2000 some DVD's that I would like to put on a server so this is no small feat. I have decided that the investment of 2000 DVD’s warrants a server/HTPC. That would put me at, at least 10TBs min with 14 1.5TB drives at $129 on new egg or amazon something like 14 drives to start would be $1820. That would give me the ability to start with twice my needed spaces as I will no longer will be getting DVDs but BDs. I am willing to take the risk at letting a drive fail as I have all of the DVD's so a Windows Home Server ($99) I think would be the way to go. From there I have no idea what to do except that I have been planning on room in my rack for two 4U 4-space rack-mount cases. One for the server and one for the HTPC, that is in-less that could be one computer in the same somehow? I have never built a computer. I know I have the physical skills as I am an aircraft mechanic and love the wiring etc. But I just don’t think that I could do a project like this on my own. One last thing, I foolishly started this rack-mount system of mine with silver components etc, if there is anyway possible silver would continue this theme. I might be forced to sliver paint though. The NORCO RPC-4020 while not silver would be maybe a good choice for a case. It has 20 bays and with 14 full to start I could still grow it larger. As large as 30TB with the current drive but WHS doesn’t care what drive I use so maybe someday the drive will be even larger! So $1820 drives + $290 case + $99 operating system has me well over 2K and that is just part of the parts in the list. I of course would like the HTPC / Home Server to be able to play BD and be full HD and have a HDMI output. I guess what would be nice would be to find a build list somewhere that someone has already built and tested and work from there. Has anyone seen a build list that is close to what I am talking about? My questions is there any way to keep this below $2500 if not that is ok too I just am not made of money. Thought or ideas?

The problem you may run into trying to stay under your budget is on a RAID card. The cheapest RAID card that I found that supports both 14+ drives and SATA II is a $400+ open box card ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816121012R ). Other cards at retail would be around $700. I can make you a build with specs if you would like.

Well I want something that will work, I am not the kind of guy to skimp on something, I am the kind of guy who ends of saving money because he spends extra and has it last twice as long as the guy who skimps. Can you make me a build list?

Ok what do you guys think of this set up, of course I would only need one system not five like he has. Project Galaxies (http://www.networkisdown.com/showthread.php?t=276&page=10)or you can look at his other page here. http://www.hardforum.com/showthread....highlight=okie

Sorry I am so ignorant about all of this stuff guys I guess I just don't understand all of the differnt parts. Ok here is Galaxies set up can you guys expalin what each part does.

Biostar TF720 AM2+ Motherboard w/ Onboard Video
AMD Athlon X2 4050e 45w Processor
2 x A-Data 2GB DDRII 800 Memory Kit
2 x Supermicro SAT2 MV8 SATA Controllers PCI-X 8 Port
Norco 2040 20 Bay Hot Swap Rackmount Case w/ 1 Internal HDD Bay
Corsair 750TX 750W Power Supply
1TB Seagate SATA Drive for Operating System
20 x Seagate SATA Drive for Storage
Microsoft Windows Home Server Operating System

I think that I might have found a good remote the Q50 by Nevo Universal Electronics.

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/540/q50layouted3.gif (http://imageshack.us)

Take a look at the website and tell me what you think…
http://www.remoteshoppe.com/index.php?itemid=555
http://www.mynevo.com/html.php?page_id=345

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/4058/q50boxro2.gif (http://imageshack.us)

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/4293/nspreviewgt9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I have two of these running my whole-house setup and theater. Very easy to program once you get used to the software. I would say it has a short-to-medium learning curve. They are very flexible and are capable of taking pronto/hex ir codes. I have found that out of all of the "RF" type remotes I have owned, the response time from button push to response is virtually zero.

pkarakis
You live not far from me did you get your remotes from a dealer or did you get them from ebay and then do it all yourself. I infer that you did it yourself, my question is where did you get your remote and do they offer any customer service if it creates blue smoke? I understand that Nevo does not want to deal with end users and thus if you get your remote from ebay you are screwed if you have a bad one. I have seen people on ebay at times that claim to be dealers but I don't know if they would actually act as a dealers since they sold it to you over ebay? Thoughts?

You have a PM

PM Back

Ok so this server will be out of my rack downstairs and feed via CAT6 to a popcorn hour and and PS3. Since it will be used for a few hours a day and then when it is used I will only be using one drive at a time (well that depends on which operating system I use) But lets say WHS could I have some way to spin down the other hard drives since I will not be using them. That will save me hard drive wear and also power cost. I am not worried about the power costs as much but HD wear would be nice to conserve. If the drive are not spun up then they are less likely to fail right? I have heard good and bad things about spin down, I could spin down the whole system and that way the 18+ hours a day I am not using it I don’t have to worry about it. I also have quite a few flights at times and am out of town for days at a time sometimes.

I really want to want the WHS, but flying with out a backup plan kind of worries me, yes I own the discs so no big deal but 1.5TBs is like 300 DVDs so that is like days of work to reedoo! I am so confused I like the idea of having my WHS system back up all of my computers every day and be able to duplicate all of that info for safety and not have to loses any drive space and use as much as possible for movies but I hate rework. I also don't know if I feel like spending tons of money for expensive RAID cards that I could be using on getting more hard drives. The unRAID sounds like a good deal because of simplicity, low power usage, low costs but I am limited in size and I already have at least 10TBs of storage needs now and that does not include any BD media, who knows how fast that will grow and how big each will be! Ugg! Can someone just have an ultimate build list and make the decisions clear!

do you drink a lot of coffee?

Nope I just don't have to fly anywhere for a few days so I have way too much time on my hands... I really don't like coffee actually, "dirty water" Dr Pepper is my source of caffeine. I posed that all last night because I fell asleep on the living room floor at like 7pm until 10 then I was awake for an hour then my wife woke me because we had a field mouse running around the house, then I just couldn't fall asleep until like 6am then woke again at noon. What a night/day... sitting in my home theater I have no idea if it is night or day...

Anyone want to try to talk me out of a Popcorn Hour and into a HTPC. From what I have read HTPC's can be a real nightmare. At times being very finicky and hard to understand. As you can see I am Ignorant enough maybe something easy will be nice…
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww292/fly4christ78/a-110T.jpg

some high end gear for sure

well whiskey, it seems to be working thus far, trying to ballance this vers having the wife go crazy over too much new stuff is sometimes a challange, but it is twice as nice as being alone with twice as much stuff!

Ok can I say that I love this place, AVSforum is the best. Over the last few days I have been offered more help! Via the forums for sure but the huge help has been the PMs from people who have sent me good advise and offered to help me and sell me things at cost etc. I will not reveal any screen names because I want to keep my sources to myself because I am selfish! Kidding, but I do respect them and want to thank them.

Ok so with the help of a very knowledgeable fellow AVs-er (Lets call him Mr. X) I think I have decided the majority of what my media server system will look like. I have decided on the unRAID for a lot of reason, one being simple and easy to take care of. If you have not realized yet I have zero professional training on computers (except for the typing class I had in 9th grade, which was on an ancient type writer) anyways I hope to put this system together and have to change as little as possible. Other reason include that I need the safety of not losing the entire system if two drives fail. The main thing holding me back is the fact that I am limited in drives and if I am going to have a case that can take 20-22 drives (NORCO RPC-4020) why would I get an operating system that would not let me fill all of the slots. But with the help of Mr. X I realized two things #1. technology changes so fast that I need to build for what I need today and maybe the next few months, because you never know in a few everything could change and it has taking me years to get 2000DVD’s! #2 Rumors have been heard about unRAID expanding to beyond the pro license limit of 15 data storage drives, maybe twice that many drives? (Maybe not) Another thing good about the build list that I will share below is that if I change my mind in a few months and change to WHS nothing I have will go to wais minus the zip drive with unRAID on it. Well now I understand that WHS is limited to 16TBs and what I am proposing below with 11 drives (to stat with) would be too large by a ½ TB! So I guess if I need a WHS I will have to build a small machine later to do it, maybe with 3 1.5TB drives?

Ok on to my build list and my ideas behind what I got. First I have to restate my mantra when buying electronics and computers. Can I get something for just a bit more that will last me twice as long. I currently have a laptop from 5 ½ years ago maybe 6, well anyways I paid a bit more and did my research and it has lasted me a good long time. I actually got the 5 year service warranty with it because my brother has received about 3 new laptops that way because a few years in they don’t have parts to fix it so they would just give him a new laptop of the same level he had before. Anyways I digress… So I have decided on a few parts that to some might seem a bit much for a unRAID system but I hope will help that system last to a good old age. (AKA we are splurging on the processor.) I also decided with Mr. X’s help that I need a top of the line power supply, “save money on everything but the power supply.” According to a friend of Mr. X his 24 drive system only draws a maximum of 680W even on start up of all of the drives at the same time, so 750W power supply should be good. Ok I am also doing something silly with the memory by filling all of the slots (but for the price why not!).

Ok finally here is the actual build list, I will be getting everything from newegg except for the hard drives which are still on sale at Amazon (edit same price now! NO SALE!), the Kingston RAM direct, and the operating system flash drive from Lime Technology.

NORCO RPC-4020 289.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219021)
Supermicro AOC-SAT20MV8 64-bit PCI-X133MHz STAT Controller 97.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815121009)
X2 97.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815121009)
Supermicro MBD-X7SBELGA 775 Intel 3210 ATX Server MOBO 269.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182142)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB 187.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036)
RAM 4 X 2GB (8GB total) 64.00 (http://shop.kingston.com/partsinfo.asp?ktcpartno=KVR800D2N6K2/4G)
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W 99.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006)
unRAID server Pro License on Flash Drive X2 169.00 (http://lime-technology.com/?page_id=44)
ABS SATA To Molex Power Adapter 4.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812263002)


Hard Drives:
1.5TB Seagate (They were on sale and now I have to pay $10 more each!)
11X $129.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337)(15TBs Usedfull) $1539.89 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337)

Total = $2821.82

At $188.12 per TB that is pretty cheep, I think… What do you guys think? I am looking for helpful criticism. I have decided what my system will be like but what I am looking for is helpful ideas about things that might not go together etc. Also if you notice any minor things that I should add let me know that too. What I am trying to stay away from is second guessing myself and being happy with what I have, and not changing something at the last min that will mess me up. As of right now I am planning on “pulling the trigger” after Christmas sometime maybe in the middle of January. So if something big changes between now and then please let me know. Any big sales let me know also expecally the hard drives as I am getting 11 of them to start with.

Ok since we are talking about servers, now that I have a build list now I need to think about software. Since my system is unRAID my understanding is that if I want something on one of my three laptops to be backed up I will have to install something onto the laptop itself not the server. So my question is what should I use to say have my laptops save all of the documents and pictures on each of my laptops. Another software item that I am looking at getting would be the ability to get documents off of a computer at home while I am away. I am a pilot and when I am on a trip I take my main laptop (desktop replacement) with me. At times I need to print something that is on that laptop but I do not have a printer with me and if I do I don’t usually have the time to set it all up. At all of the airports I go to I have access to a computer with internet access that have printers. Is there some way that I could access my backups on my unRAID computer while at an airport a half world away? Also what other software should I read up on. Thanks for your replies… I know it is a bit off topic but not too far off topic…

No one has anything to say about my build list or my software questions? Bummer...

Ok I have all of the UPB lighting installed and I even put a new security system up on the outside of the house. Now I can have scenes with my lights. I have a scene for watching movies that slowly dims all of the lights in the upstairs and turn some lights on as backup lighting. Another scene is set up for using the computer that turns the lights all off but puts two lights at 50% each. The security system tells me when someone has pulled into the driveway and another one in the car port that lets me know when someone is messing around in my carport. Also I have a sensor on the top and bottom doors of the barn. Mostly I wanted this setup so that I could know about someone pulling into the driveway. With all of my curtains closed to watch movies/games on the projector I never know when someone is in the driveway. We live in the country so someone in the drive is a special rare thing.

The UPB lights were thanks to a friend of mine who installs home automation systems. I could have never done that on my own. The switches are easy enough but the programming is something that would have taken me a long time to figure out. My friend is currently working on a very big project that will include Red Green Blue (RGB) LEDs that can make any color and let you fade through different lighting scenes or be controllable. I think it will be used to point toward the ceilings in different rooms and I think that it might even be used in the garage, something about lighting some special windows on the garage doors? Some people still have money I guess…

The UPB lights were thanks to a friend of mine who installs home automation systems. I could have never done that on my own. The switches are easy enough but the programing is something that I

"The security system tells me when someone has pulled into the driveway"


What did you use for a driveway sensor? I need something too, as my driveway is long and I can't hear any cars pull up at all even if the stereo is not on.

Most I've seen have been motion sensor based, and there are so many deer and dogs around here that it would be going off all the time.

I've been looking at the Dakota Alert, it has a probe you bury under/near the driveway that only triggers for cars, and will not give false alarms. And the receiver module looks to be pretty adaptable to other automation/security systems with 4 standard relays and a 12 trigger output. As well as accepting other dakota wireless input devices like motion or extra driveway probes.

http://www.dakotaalert.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=32

http://www.firstdetection.com/images/wpa3000_6.jpg

http://www.firstdetection.com/images/wr3000_bv_6.jpg

Good luck on the server also, I'm working on the same thing and can't decide between using Unraid or WHS, they both have alot of pro's and con's.

My friend has one of those on his barn which is a 1/4 mile down the road from his house. He says that lighting storms set off the sensor and he got tired of it an just uninstalled it. He was thinking about using two and if they both go off to send the alarm. The thing with my system is that you can set a delay, so it will look for movement then wait lets say 2 seconds and look for movement again. You can delay the one I have up to 3 mins.

My system is the Voice Alert System 6 "Wireless Annunciator System" It is made by Cross Pint Industries www.vociealert.com. Like I said above a friend of mine (he was my best man at my wedding) helped me out getting a bunch of this stuff. He got them as a dealer from www.homecontrols.com the main unit is part number CIVA6000S and the extra transmitters are CIVA6000T. I don't know what they cost. The catalog that I have has the Dakota system that you mentioned above on the same page as what I have. The picture that you posted looks a lot like the back of my unit with the cover off. It is able to be attached to other security equipment.

About the server, I think that the real solution to go with with the server is to have two. A very large server from movies etc with unraid and another small server for WHS. Take the WHS and have like three or six drives and you could tripple your protection. Media is huge but work documents etc are very small. Someday I might add a small WHS just to back up all of my documents on all of my laptops. I could probaly build a cheep WHS for about 6-8 hundred...

Just curious... have you given much thought to noise?

Have you ever heard how loud 14+ hard drives spinning in unison are? There is going to be a surprising amount of sound coming out of that rack. Have you ever spent time in a server room that has a decent number of hard drive arrays? Power consumption is pretty huge also, as well as heat output.

All of these things can probably be managed, but it's something to spend some time considering before you plop down your cash. I know I wouldn't want to watch movies a few feet away from a 14 drive array, personally. Is the rack going into another room?

Yea I have a place in a room down stairs that would work out to put the server. I have a few rack rails from my old rack that I had put together. I will just put it down there... Silly to have a real rack and not put it in there but you are not the first to warn me about the noise. Thanks for the feedback. I will probaly start with it in this rack just to work out the kinks and then move it downstairs.

Yea I have a place in a room down stairs that would work out to put the server. I have a few rack rails from my old rack that I had put together. I will just put it down there... Silly to have a real rack and not put it in there but you are not the first to warn me about the noise. Thanks for the feedback. I will probaly start with it in this rack just to work out the kinks and then move it downstairs.

If you have another room to stash the gear in, and you're ok with the jump in your electric bill (I'd guess $5-10 per month, although that's just a guess), that should work out pretty well. Just be sure that room has enough ventilation, because those drives will be putting out some heat, as well. Although with just one computer and 14 drives, it shouldn't be too bad, from a heat perspective. The room temp may go up a couple of degrees, but nothing unmanageable.

The Room that I am talking about using downstairs is the furnace and storage room so a few degrees would be ok and also I could just put a box fan blowing on the server all of the time and no one would know… or hear it… As far as power is concerned should I be thinking about a UPS? I was thinking that a nice surge protector should be ok but what do you think?

The Room that I am talking about using downstairs is the furnace and storage room so a few degrees would be ok and also I could just put a box fan blowing on the server all of the time and no one would know… or hear it… As far as power is concerned should I be thinking about a UPS? I was thinking that a nice surge protector should be ok but what do you think?

As far as UPS's are concerned, only you can determine what your comfort level is with various levels of protection. A UPS capable of running a rack with a hard drive array isn't going to come cheap. Personally, I'd want a UPS capable of running things long enough to do a proper shut down of the systems so no data is lost.

As you mentioned, you don't care that much if you lose data from a hard drive death, since you have the disks.

The question I'd ask, though, is how many hours is it going to take to re-rip all of those disks? It'll take a LOOOONG time to repopulate 10-20 tb of movies from the original disks. You have a lot of money sunk into this system... I wouldn't want a $30 surge strip being all that stands between your gear and a bad power surge/lightning strike that kills the whole thing.

Are you thinking something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842102006 It is kind of alot but... you know not too much if you need it... I would not lose all 15TBs I would only lose everything that is being transfered right?

Are you thinking something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842102006 It is kind of alot but... you know not too much if you need it... I would not lose all 15TBs I would only lose everything that is being transfered right?

That link didn't work for me.

I'd look at a rackmount server-grade UPS from APC.

This 450VA unit (http://apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SC450RM1U&total_watts=25) is the minimum model that I would consider... and it's pretty skimpy protection for the kind of draw you could have, especially if you're planning to plug more than just the HTPC and drive array into the UPS.

Better would be something like this 1000VA unit (http://apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SC1000&total_watts=25), which should have the guts to power your computer and drives (and other stuff, depending on how heavily you load it down) through a power spike or other outage. If you want to do the math, you can determine your actual power draw of your system and see how much backup you truly need for your desired runtime.

As to what you would lose, you never know what's going to go up in smoke in an event like that. You could have ALL the electronics fried if it's a bad enough spike (like a lightning strike or something), in which case a good APC UPS will save your bacon, because IF they somehow can't protect the electronics, they have a guarantee that will reimburse you for your lost gear. More likely, though, in a bad spike you would lose the power supply in your computer (which is supposed to sacrifice itself to protect the motherboard and other parts). Ditto for the hard drive enclosure. The problem with RAID technologies, though, is that the data is spread over many drives. If you lose too many drives, ALL the data is useless, even the data on the drives that survive the event. "Too many" in a 14 drive array partially depends on how it is configured, but most likely you're talking about more than 2-3 at once, and all your data is toast. The good news, of course, is that this is VERY unlikely to happen absent a major power event, which is why mega corporations trust their data to these sorts of arrays... and why mega corporations use serious power backup arrays (delivered with forklifts) to make sure there aren't any power events that can take out multiple drives at once.

Of course, those same mega corps also run backups, in spite of all those protections.

All I can say is, given how many hours I have spent loading data onto my two little 750gb drives, I wouldn't want to risk running them NOT plugged into a UPS.

Who is your server manufacturer. I am looking into buying a Rack and I'm a little over whelmed. Middle Atlantic seems to be the predominate company, but I am not real sure.

I like the fact that your rack is clean and seems to be scalable.

Any info would be great.
Dallas Knox

Currently I see my future needs as requiring 4 new computers. I currently have three laptops that we use for surfing and a little bit of working. But I now need to have the ability to edit video. I also now need to have the ability to have a TiVo / DVR function which I would like to do with a computer. Also I need to store 14-18 TB of video in a server or some kind of network accessed storage. My forth need is to have a server to run windows home server to back up each of my three laptops and any other computer that I have. I see that as being 4 computers, 1 for video editing, 1 HTPC, 1 massive server maybe unraid? and one server for Windows Home Server. My question is this, can I instead put all of my needs into two computers, one killer fast video machine that can crunch video like it is no big deal and also act as my TiVo / DVR, and the other machine to be a huge Windows Home Server?

First let us talk about the fast video machine: I would like it to be able to do the following things: 1. Edit video with out getting bogged down, 2. Be able to have four DVD drives, one or two for input data and two or three for burning DVD’s it would also be nice if I could use all 4 drives at the same time to copy video files to the huge Windows Home Server. 3. Be able to play a few cool new computer games. 4. Record live TV that is coming from a killer antenna and either store it locally or store it on the huge Windows Home Server, so I am looking for a TiVo DVR function. 4.5 I need to be able to control this DVR function with a RF controller as I will be watching TV in another room, through a wall about 15 feet or so from where this computer will sit. 5. It would need to be able to send video/audio via HDMI to my current Home Theater receiver. 6. I would like to have a dual monitor setup with one of the monitors having the ability to watch TV that has gone from the fast video machine to the home theater receiver and back. If I ran it strait from the fast video machine I think I would have audio delay issues due to the receiver processing time. The home theater speakers would be able to be heard from the video station see below for more on my current setup.

Second let us talk about the huge Windows Home Server: I would like it to be able to be the hub of all my computers and store info for them and back them all up. 1. I have 14-18 TB of video I need to store and send to the fast video machine, or PS3. This 14-18TB of video does not really need to be incredibly safe, meaning if I lose it due to drive failure, no big deal because I have all of the data stored else ware 2. I would like it to have space that would be accessible to any computer in the network where they could store media such as music, pictures or even word files that would be backed up incase of drive failure. This would not need to be very big maybe ½ TB or maybe 1TB? 3. I would like the fast video machine or the PS3 to play videos off of this server. 4. I would like this server to automatically each night back up each of the computers on the network. They are all laptops and have very small hard drives.

Since I right now do not have a network I am trying to figure that out too, but I need to be able to have any of the laptops or the fast video machine be able to print off of the Laser Printer, it is a Lexmark E240n, the “n” stands for network meaning that it has a cat5 input on the back but I have never used it. The network would be hard wired and unfortunately since I live in the middle to no where the whole network would only be connected to the internet via an AT&T air card that now is plugged into a Linksys wireless G router.

Currently I have my house set up so that I have my office which is an unused bedroom (where the fast video machine and one of the laptops will go) next to my living room. On the wall between the living room and the office there is a bedroom closet, I have put a full size Shark Rack server rack in that wall so the front of it opens up into the living room and the back of it opens up into the office. I have it well vented with 1U shelf fans etc. My point of telling you all of this is to say that the server could be put in server rack facing the office and my desk which would have my video editing station would only be about 10 feet away or even less if needed. See above for my dual screen idea for the video editing station.

My current plan is to start with the fast video machine and as soon as I get it up and running and have the money start working on the huge windows server.

My questions are how can I make the above happen? Unfortunately like everyone now days my means are not unlimited. I am the kind of person who likes the new stuff but buys something a few months after it comes out so I do not pay the premium. I do believe that quality things do save money in the long run. I am currently typing on a laptop that was a quality machine for its time. I got it now 5 years ago! and I have had zero problems with it except for the screen and that was only in the last few months. I got my wife a computer for Christmas a few years ago off ebay for cheep and it has been nothing but trouble, but she doesn’t use it for anything but facebook and email so we are ok. I just ordered two books on computers and building computers off of Amazon and I have not yet received them. I would like to build these machines myself to save money and learn about how to do it myself. Can you help me? I am specifically looking for a build list for the fast video machine, a suggestion on what hardware and software I will need to make the TiVo / DVR thing work. I want to know if you know of a RF remote that runs a HTPC. I am also wondering if you could tell me what I would need as far as speed ram etc I would need for what I am trying to do with the fast video machine.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2655/img3904fl.jpg

this is the wall between my living room (Theater) and my office. You will see the projector and the Shark Rack server rack. Also note the door into the office.

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7875/img3905a.jpg

This is the front of the server rack with the door closed.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/3667/img3906n.jpg

This is the front of the server rack with the door open. Note the receiver on top of a fan rack shelf with the PS3 right below it. Below that is a HDTV receiver for over the air TV. That is siting on a battery back up and then I have a switcher below that. Take my advise never try to start a rack in silver!

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/9348/img3907z.jpg

This is the office side of the server rack. I have plenty of room in it and I have lots of empty shelves. It is about twice as deep as I really need it to be for what I have in it.

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6766/img3908q.jpg

this is my office where the fast video machine will go