[TheShadowWRX]

Hello Everyone,


Currently I am just using my HTPC and Xbox 360 in my two room apartment, but I just bought a house and am doing a whole house install. I have an old computer that I built a few years back and I was wondering if you guys thought this computer could be beefed up to be a media server:


This is the motherboard it has: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131464


I can get more ram, new processor, etc... Or just use my Coolermaster case and start from scratch.... Either is fine just wanted some input. The current processor is a Pentium 4 3.4ghz.


I also need to get some media extenders for each room - 4 in total. I was looking at the Popcorn units as well as the offering from SageTV. Do you guys think I should get one of those or build a few myself? If I go the home build route, could you guys recommend some software to run on the server and extenders? I mainly just want iTunes and my DVD/TV Show library. It would be great if it would show cover-art with little blurbs about each movie or show.



Thanks guys,


Mike

 

[hirent]

If all you want to do is to share/stream DVDs and Music, your current system is more than enough. I share Blu-Ray ISOs on a P4 2.4 GHz; so you should be fine.


Do you have Vista or XP?

There are add-on plug-ins available for Vista's Media Center; one of the best that I like is Media Browser. It sorts your movies and displays info from IMDB, and also has Cover Flow display (a la new Ipods), it looks really cool. See it for yourself.

There is also My Movies which I used for a long time but found to be too bloated.

Install TV Scout for TV shows.

Also, check out Music Browser, it allows to browse for music folder wise in Media Center.


If you don't have Vista, download the free trial of Microsoft's new OS Windows 7. The trial runs till August of next year. From all accounts 7MC is much better than VMC. Win 7 will run on 3.4 GHz.

I have XP, Vista and 7 on my P4 with 2GB ram.

 

[candre23]

Do you plan to use the PC strictly as a server, or is it going to act as an HTPC and a server fro your other boxes?