HP MediaSmart Server? - Page 11

Havent heard anything yet. Although I would have originally expected a new lineup to appear maybe by the end of the year it is unclear if possibly Vail will delay this. HP may not want to release a new lineup until Vail is officially released, but the current beta/refreshes for Vail haven't been too encouraging.

You can always get the EX490 and upgrade the CPU and memory yourself. this is what I did with my EX490. the upgrade only takes around ten to fifteen minutes. And you have several CPU choices, even quad core.
I installed a 2.8Ghz dual core(E6300) in mine and put in 4GB of memory.

But I also got my box when the prices were higher so the upgrade cost plus the EX490 cost was around equal to an EX495 at the time.

I did a similar procedure with the EX470 too. It's certainly worth considering.

Anyone having problems with buggy file & folder recognition on the EX495? For example, folder and files that are shown as being there by DLNA devices one day, mysteriously are not the next. In every instance they are visible from the PC. I thought it was perhaps an issue with the DLNA capabilities of the media player, but after seeing the same thing on four different media players now (PS3, Sony S570, WDTV Live Plus and Brite View 550 Mini), I'm beginning to think its a MediaServer issue, not a device playback issue.

I have tried re-booting the server, waiting several hours after adding to or otherwise changing the files on it and have rebuilt the Twonky database a time or two (although I would prefer not experimenting further with that, as it take much time and CPU juice to rebuild each time).

Any suggestions would be appreciated, as I am still pretty much a novice at this, having had the EX495 for about a month now.

Edit - well, as can often be the case, with a little more research, i think I answered my own question, at least as far as the most recent files and folders to go AWOL. Just discovered the EX495 does not support ISO playback, and you can imagine my frustration since I thought I had just figured out what format would best fit my needs and had been converting away. Odd thing is, the for the first couple of files that I converted and loaded onto the EX495, my BriteView 550 did find the folder, the files and played them back, complete with menu functionality. Nothing since that first night though.

Have no idea how that is possible, but conceding that the EX495 will not natively playback ISO files, can software be loaded to it (e.g. VLC Media Player) that will enable ISO playback? If so, what software best fits the bill and how is that load to the EX495 handled?

Thanks again.

Hi to all of you. I have been reading the whole thead for the last couple of hours and I just got theex 485 . I have the same exitement that chris had back in march about starting to rip my collection and stream it to my new projector. I will like to get your advice on how to do this with what I have right now and what I should add to build on to it. First I have a giga network connected cat 6 from MSS to a giga switch and my PC connected to the switch with a cat6 the switch is then connected to the linksys 600n router 3 rooms away via a cat 5 cable. and then a cat 6 to the HT room where I have a PS3 and Xbox 360 . My intension is to store all my music that I have on my pc wma lossless and also stored the music that I converted into mp3 to put into my ipod. Also I would like to rip my BD and dvd collection and stream it to the HT on the ps3 or xbox 360. I will be getting my movie and anydvdhd . would this set up be enough? I have read about the pop. any advice?

X360 and PS3 are both rather weak in the 'blu-ray' streaming department. You should look into a dedicated streamer solution or a home theater PC for streaming HD video.

based on my setting and hardware, which dedicated streamer system you guys recommend?

The Popcorn Hour and Dune players are solid (I have the Dune as being the more stable, ready to go out of the box). The only potential issue I see is you mention WMA lossless where I think these players might not support.

You can see my posts/reviews of HDI Dune here - http://www.mediasmartserver.net/tag/hdi-dune/

And My reviews of the PCH A-200 / C-200

Now Chris with the dune do you use iso with anydvd HD and my movies? Music I also have it on mp3.

If you are talking to the OP (Chris) he has a ex470 and streams standalone ts files to his pch a110/a200 w/ YAMJ (i know because i sold him my ex470 and helped him get set up). As far as the Dune, I have had no issues streaming standalone mkvs and Blu Ray Isos/Folders created with AnyDVD HD

Thanks Damien I will buy the any DVD and my movies tonight and start playing around . I would try getting the dune .got to go flying home closing the plane doors

Notice that streaming BD ISOs (created from AnyDVD) was mentioned. Any hints or tips on streaming DVD ISOs from the EX series?

Thanks in advance.

No difference in streaming BluRay or DVD Isos, it actually has nothing to do with the HP MediaSmart servers but instead what device you are using for playback. If using an HTPC you just need to make sure that the ISO gets mounted correctly, and Windows should be able to natively play back a DVD. If using a media player many support DVD ISOs

Thanks Damian.

Perhaps I just misunderstood, but I thought I had read that HP MediaSmart does not support ISO files.

Thus far I have tried the BriteView 550 Mini, which does support ISO playback according to its specs. When I first encoded the ISO files using ImgBurn, the BriteView did see the folder containing the ISO files and played the first two I encoded, complete with menu functions. Since then, neither the folder nor the ISO files residing on the EX495 are even seen by the playback device. It helps to know that this is not an issue with the EX495 though.

Anyone on the board have experience playing ISOs with either the BriteView or the WDTV Live? Would prefer to stay under $200 for the playback device, but open to suggestions since I've decided ISOs are the format I want to use.

Thanks again.

Thanks again.

The EX495 has no impact on whether or not a player can support a format, it is up to the player (assuming you are just connecting via smb/nfs and not using the UPnP software provided).

Many sub $200 players supports ISOs, such as the PCH A200, and I believe many of the realtek players

OK - sounds like smb/nfs is what i need to read up on, as yes, I have been connecting to EX495 via UPnP functionality of the media player devices(s). I really appreciate you pointing me in the right direction on this. Feel as if I've been running into brick walls for most of the last month while I've tried to figure it out on my own.

Thanks again.

The UPnP software that comes with teh EX495 (I think Twonky) is rather limited. Just use smb and you will be fine. Here is my writeup on how to set up:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2009...ring-from-whs/

Thanks again, Damian. Using that tip, I took another look at how I was accessing the files on the media player, and by simply accessing them through "PC Media" rather than "UPnP" then navigating to the HP EX495, all of the ISO files were discovered and played flawlessly. Additionally I was able to play FLAC files that had previously not been able to play when going through UPnP.

Who would have thought it would be that easy? It certainly helped having your assistance - thanks again, that saved me much time and aggrevation.

HI Damian. I am waiting for the new Dune to start playing some of my ripped dvd. I had set up Samba sharing folder following your tutorial. I have the following question. At the end of your tutorial you say You can now go to your media player and set up a new smb share (smb://ServerName/shares). Can I do this on my PS3 or Xbox 360? if so, how can I do it? For now I will only be streaming dvd's untill I get the new Dune. thanks in advance.

Unfortunately this does not apply to your PS3 or Xbox360. Assuming your Rippied DVDs are in folder structure the best you could do with t he PS3 is navigate to them and play back each vob individually. Otherwise you an try using software like PS3MediaServer for the time being (although not sure how it works on ripped folders)

Thanks Damian. Now For the time being and since Ido not have any Ripped BD's only starting to rip DVD's. do you now the best way playing those ripped DVD from my HP server to the Xbox 360 orto the PS3?

You can install PS3MediaServer on your HP Server. It will transcode your video collection for your 360 or PS3 to play back. The other option would be to use a program called VOBMerge to merge all the individual VOB files into one big VOB file, and then use VOB2MPG to convert that to MPEG for playback. Not sure if you want to go through the hassle though if it is just temporary

I think you are right. [i] guess I will just start rippinginto my server. I have fabdvd software for this. Do you think I should use anyDVD and my movies instead in preparatiion for the Dune?

DVDFab works just as well if that is what you have been using.

I was getting ready to rip my DVD's and BD's onto my HP Mediasmart server. I am also planning on getting anydvd HD. I was only planning on using PS3 and XBOX 360. I was not planning on getting a dedicated media streamer as I felt that these 2 should be good to cover. I also have a liksys dma 2200 that I use as my media center extender. Would would be the best option for me to stream these files. Should I go the PS3Media server route or are there other better alternatives.

Well, the first part is that unfortunately for streaming DVDs and BDs the Xbox360 and PS3 are not ideal choices. I would highly recommend that you get a dedicated media streamer

However, I understand you already have hardware and want to make it work for you, so the option would be either to use PS3MediaServer which will transcode your media to a format the PS3 or Xbox360 can play (I can't comment on how reliable it is but it is very CPU intensive which may not work well with your Media Smart server). You can always try this method. The other option would be to encode your movie library to a format that both can play back, which will get tricky, and encoding can be very time consuming (plus you are losing the original PQ). Let me know what you think.

I thought that we could convert these movies and TV episodes into MKV formats easily. I also thought that the MKV formats can be played easily using the Windows Media center UI, especially if I use Media Browser. The other reason I was banking on the Media center UI was that I could play back content that was stopped in one room from another room (using another extender) and continue from where I had stopped. I might be totally mistaken, but hopefully you can correct any misconceptions that I have. But if none of this is going to be as simple as I thought it would be, what is a good media streamer that I should look for (that is not very expensive) deals on.

Yes, you can play an mkv in Media Browser on an HTPC. However, for the Xbox360 if you want to use WMC in there, you need to have a PC on running WMC as well, you cannot just keep your MSS on. I believe Windows 7 will transcode the mkv for playback on the Xbox360, but the Xbox360 does not support mkv natively

Okay, thanks for clarifying. I do not have a problem having a PC on (since my desktop with Windows 7 is almost always on). But I am hoping that I can still store the videos on my home server and just access it from the Media center interface by adding that folder to my videos library in Media center.

So to test it out run WMC in your Xbox360. I forget exactly how it works but you will need to have your W7 pc on, and then you will need to link them together (I think you will get a pin). That will be a start and then you can start testing out your media from there

Yes, I already got that part working. I can access my TV recordings on my W7 desktop from my xbox 360. I will try to rip a dvd or 2 and see how it goes. Thanks for all the inputs.