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Media Servers worthy of high end - Page 2

post #31 of 512
10/22/10 at 1:32pm
Peter you said "If you want to see the movie correctly without adverts and find the movie metadata easily THE KALEIDESCAPE is the way to go"

MyMovies, dose a great job of "movie metadata" and AnyDVDHD will pull out and the Adverts as well ...I do have to say that K interface is the RBM... maybe they can port there software to work in Windows and then use AnydvdHD what a Great Idea
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post #32 of 512
10/22/10 at 1:34pm
The PC case I use for my client PC's are origenae M10 (mine are black). As you can see, they have a very high end look and feel. They are expensive but worth every penny to me. They are about the size of a Mac mini but slightly taller.

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post #33 of 512
10/22/10 at 1:35pm
Whats the ball park figure
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post #34 of 512
10/22/10 at 1:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taker View Post


MyMovies, dose a great job of "movie metadata" and AnyDVDHD will pull out and the Adverts as well ...

This is true however you are changing the original structure of the disc. When Windows 7 SP1 is officially released, the "play movie direct" feature for My Movies will be officially enabled which will do the same.
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post #35 of 512
10/22/10 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by adidino View Post

This is true however you are changing the original structure of the disc. When Windows 7 SP1 is officially released, the "play movie direct" feature for My Movies will be officially enabled which will do the same.

Can you explain the original structure
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post #36 of 512
10/22/10 at 1:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taker View Post

Can you explain the original structure

The disc will be remove trailers, warning, ads and possibly something linked to the main bd menu options. I don't like changing the original content of a disc. That's just me..
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post #37 of 512
10/22/10 at 1:59pm
Is that all I thought there was some really technical issue .. all that is optional information that you can choose to leave in if you want... I don't want to hijack this thread .. back to the real posts.. sorry "GetGRay" , I owe you a beer at Cedia next year don't forget it or you could come out here to Seattle and collect it.
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post #38 of 512
10/22/10 at 2:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taker View Post

Whats the ball park figure

~$350 for the case. Not too bad IMO.
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post #39 of 512
10/22/10 at 2:28pm
That a lot I was thinking $100 , mine was $235
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post #40 of 512
10/22/10 at 2:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taker View Post

That a lot I was thinking $100 , mine was $235

What do you have?
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post #41 of 512
10/22/10 at 3:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by adidino View Post

~$350 for the case. Not too bad IMO.

$350 just for the PC case is "not too bad"? I've got some stuff I want to sell you

Greg: No problem. These are all issues I'm concerned about, too. But I'll take the beer anyway
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post #42 of 512
10/22/10 at 3:08pm
Thread Starter 
Tony spent some time off-line explaining his setup to me (thanks again). Sounds nice, but I'm still not happy about nothing doing source-direct. One approach I'm considering is going on and getting a main server going (for storage), getting the media ripped, and then I can start playing with one of the clients. I don't think many of them will be too bad for the around-the-house TV's but so far, none has impressed me for the theater. That will only work for clients that are all happy with off-box non-proprietary 3rd party storage.

Another user who is active in a few of the MEdia player threads (Dune, etc.), said he thought right now after all his analysis and probing, the Boxee seemed to be about the best thing. And improving. UI anyway.

Several of them appear to be on the cusp of getting it, but not quite all there yet.

I have Mozex training next week, I'll see what they say makes theirs worth 3-4x (IIRC) a everyday Windows media server.
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post #43 of 512
10/22/10 at 3:46pm
streaming bluray in media center to extenders won't work except for Vidabox it I'm right
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post #44 of 512
10/22/10 at 3:57pm
Thread Starter 
Why not? What did VB do that others didn't? I think Tony is, unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean...

Does VB require proprietary storage boxes? I don't remember off-hand.
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post #45 of 512
10/22/10 at 4:42pm
The Vidabox ThinClienHD is the only media Extender that I know of that can receive bluray stream... it has to be from their proprietary servers... also you can do a search and you will see that a lot of people have posted about not being able to recieve a bluray stream from media servers....dvd works fine but no bluray ..so I built my own media server .. I couldnt stream ripped bluray from my PC because the xbox360 or any ohter media extender wouldn't work.. if you build two computer you can do it.. so thats part of the reason I built my media server....
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post #46 of 512
10/22/10 at 4:50pm
http://www.vidabox.com/products_thinclienthd.php
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post #47 of 512
10/22/10 at 5:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GetGray View Post

Why not? What did VB do that others didn't? I think Tony is, unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean...

Does VB require proprietary storage boxes? I don't remember off-hand.

According to Vidabox there THinclientHD only works with there servers.... I haven't tried it because there are no dealers around here with there gear...and I don't know what the cost of a thinclientHD cost
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post #48 of 512
10/22/10 at 5:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taker View Post

http://www.vidabox.com/products_thinclienthd.php


That unit is just an Intel Atom based PC. The Acer Revo3610 is basically the same unit. They're good but not great when navigating large collections. The current Clarkdale low voltage i3 and i5 processors are much more powerful. I have both for when I was comparing performance for my client solution.


http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-RE.../dp/B002QQ3VE8
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post #49 of 512
10/22/10 at 5:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taker View Post

The Vidabox ThinClienHD is the only media Extender that I know of that can receive bluray stream... it has to be from their proprietary servers... also you can do a search and you will see that a lot of people have posted about not being able to recieve a bluray stream from media servers....dvd works fine but no bluray ..so I built my own media server .. I couldnt stream ripped bluray from my PC because the xbox360 or any ohter media extender wouldn't work.. if you build two computer you can do it.. so thats part of the reason I built my media server....

The Vidabox is not an extender. It's an Atom PC which is being marketed as a client
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post #50 of 512
10/22/10 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taker View Post

The Vidabox ThinClienHD is the only media Extender that I know of that can receive bluray stream... it has to be from their proprietary servers... also you can do a search and you will see that a lot of people have posted about not being able to recieve a bluray stream from media servers....dvd works fine but no bluray ..so I built my own media server .. I couldnt stream ripped bluray from my PC because the xbox360 or any ohter media extender wouldn't work.. if you build two computer you can do it.. so thats part of the reason I built my media server....

All the Vidabox extenders can stream bluray, but only the SlimV3 and Rackclient can pass bitstream HD Audio, the others can only do the lossy (though you can setup these boxes to decode the HD audio and pass it as LPCM). I have never had any issues streaming bluray to my Vidabox extenders, in fact as stated earlier I was able to stream bluray to each of my extenders (9 of them) simultaneously without a hitch. Vidabox claims their servers are proprietary, but honestly in simplified terms it is just Windows Home Server Box, RAID 6 (hardware), My Movies Server Edition, AnyDVD (all this software integrates on its own) and a shared "My Movies Folder". Vidabox uses Total Media Theater Platnium for Bluray playback and WMP for DVD playback (you can configure TMT to be the default player for DVD if you choose). They burn in a File Structure opposed to. ISO.
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post #51 of 512
10/22/10 at 5:36pm
None of those boxes from Vidabox are "extenders" as in what Microsoft consideres an extender, like the XBOX 360. These are small PC's with an Atom processor running Windows 7 and the newest versions will be i3 based processors. That's why you are able to stream bluray to them.
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post #52 of 512
10/22/10 at 5:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:


They burn in a File Structure opposed to. ISO.

I followed you until that. Please elaborate.
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post #53 of 512
10/22/10 at 6:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GetGray View Post

I followed you until that. Please elaborate.

From my understanding from Vidabox and others. When ripped to an ISO file all the contents if the Bluray are burned into a single file ISO, supposedly ISO take up a bit less storage but are more easily corruptible. When ripped as a "File Structure", basically an exact mirror of the Bluray disc is saved in the exact same structure as on the disc. This is supposedly more stable. I can only comment on my experience; The Mozeax system I had ripped to ISO and I had nothing but trouble with movies not playing correctly or at all, Vidabox uses the File Structure (though you can set to ISO I believe), and I never seem to have any issues with movies playing or becoming corrupt.
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post #54 of 512
10/22/10 at 6:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by adidino View Post

None of those boxes from Vidabox are "extenders" as in what Microsoft consideres an extender, like the XBOX 360. These are small PC's with an Atom processor running Windows 7 and the newest versions will be i3 based processors. That's why you are able to stream bluray to them.

Yes your absolutely correct they are not extenders (ie Xbox360), they are as you said PC running Win7 or Vista. Their Thinclients are a bit underpowered to put it simply, but their Rack Client are more robust. Mine are running 8gb RAM, 256 SSD's, NVIDIA 9800GT, and Xonar 1.3 card.
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post #55 of 512
10/22/10 at 8:13pm
Thread Starter 
I am tickled to have a brand new user choose to pop in with this much technical info re that line. Really I am. But it is curious. Dont' get me wrong, I wouldn't care a bit if you were the engineer in charge of product development. That would be awesome. In any case, welcome to the forum. Now if I may take advantage of your experience with VidaBox:

When you say "mine are running...", you mean Vidabox's thin (rack?) clients? Or do you mean some other box you put together that's working with it.

Extremely important to me is source direct video (and audio) output. I've asked them on a couple of occasions re source direct, what do you know along those lines? The sales folks said "interesting input" with my brief conversation re same. If you have any support channel or inside line, please let them know how much we'd like to see this. And/or let us know their plans (if any) in this area. If they want to move to the front of the pack, here's their chance.

What IS their particular mandatory video processing doing to the video stream. Or more importantly, what will it pass perfectly unaltered? Frame Rate, color space, video levels (PC or Video), scale, etc. Back when I was creating and authoring my popular calibration DVD, I found it was no simple task to get a PC to leave all that alone. At any point of the process, particularly playback. Very difficult, very easy to have wrong, and not much way to know it without special tools.

Thanks!
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post #56 of 512
10/22/10 at 8:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pcb2122 View Post

From my understanding from Vidabox and others. When ripped to an ISO file all the contents if the Bluray are burned into a single file ISO, supposedly ISO take up a bit less storage but are more easily corruptible. When ripped as a "File Structure", basically an exact mirror of the Bluray disc is saved in the exact same structure as on the disc. This is supposedly more stable. I can only comment on my experience; The Mozeax system I had ripped to ISO and I had nothing but trouble with movies not playing correctly or at all, Vidabox uses the File Structure (though you can set to ISO I believe), and I never seem to have any issues with movies playing or becoming corrupt.

It's nothing unique with Vidabox. It's an option in My Movies to select ISO or file structure for Bluray or DVD. Vidabox just chose to use file structure as the default.
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post #57 of 512
10/22/10 at 8:21pm
Thread Starter 
I expect it's a personal preference thing, but given a choice, I'd normally choose the move only (vs. the raw/iso of the disc). Its very annoying to have to navigate the warnings and forced trailers to get to the menu sometimes. But, I would like to have access to the movies main menu for scene selection, setup options, etc.
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post #58 of 512
10/22/10 at 8:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GetGray View Post

I expect it's a personal preference thing, but given a choice, I'd normally choose the move only (vs. the raw/iso of the disc). Its very annoying to have to navigate the warnings and forced trailers to get to the menu sometimes. But, I would like to have access to the movies main menu for scene selection, setup options, etc.

Scott - If you go with My Movies, I think you will find yourself experimenting with different rip options until you finally settle on something. As I mentioned earlier on the thread, My Movies "play movie direct" feature will work once Windows 7 SP1 is officially released. Just hit play, it will go straight to the movie. No need to pull out the adds during the rip process. Either way is fine though I guess. It's all going to be personal preference.
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post #59 of 512
10/22/10 at 8:41pm
Thread Starter 
Well since someone suggested to me (elsewhere) that Boxee appeared to be the best pick from their research recently. So I went to have a look at a boxee "box". Holy ___. I thought the sinking box was their logo, not the real thing. The "titanic case" thin client. Lets see Middle Atlantic make a shelf for that baby HA!. What were they thinking? Doesn't inspire me. I believe I can rule that one out unless anyone knows otherwise.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038JE07O
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post #60 of 512
10/22/10 at 8:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GetGray View Post

Well since someone suggested to me (elsewhere) that Boxee appeared to be the best pick from their research recently. So I went to have a look at a boxee "box". Holy ___. I thought the sinking box was their logo, not the real thing. The "titanic case" thin client. Lets see Middle Atlantic make a shelf for that baby HA!. What were they thinking? Doesn't inspire me. I believe I can rule that one out unless anyone knows otherwise.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038JE07O

May as well get a Dune. Same basic idea really...
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