[capaill]

Hi all,

I was about to buy my first media server for my house, namely a HP ex490 or ex495, but now with them being discontinued, should I still pick one up if they become available or look for something else?


My goal is for streaming dvds,music, tv shows possibly to a yet to be built HTPC, ..and so is the ex490 realistically fast enough. A lot of you seem to upgrade their cpu's.


Is their any argument for Vail running better on a drobo than whs/hp mediasmarts?


thanks

derek

 

[catmother]



Quote:
Originally Posted by capaill /forum/post/19590116


Hi all,

I was about to buy my first media server for my house, namely a HP ex490 or ex495, but now with them being discontinued, should I still pick one up if they become available or look for something else?


My goal is for streaming dvds,music, tv shows possibly to a yet to be built HTPC, ..and so is the ex490 realistically fast enough. A lot of you seem to upgrade their cpu's.


Is their any argument for Vail running better on a drobo than whs/hp mediasmarts?


thanks

derek

The EX490 is fast enough even with the Celeron.

100 off at Costco online with an extra Hitachi 1 TB drive.


have one for ~ 2 weeks now and am satisfied. Several sites will continue to support the Mediasmart as will HP, for now.


CPU upgrade and memory augmentation detailed instructions are available on the net.

http://www.mediasmarthome.com/articl...nds-On-Review/
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2009...490-and-ex495/


With the Costco return policy you will not go wrong.

 

[ptsenter]

Just-in-time for you Maximum PC - Jan 2011 issue - has an excellent article how to build Vail-based system. I'd build a very similar system. As an author noticed it's not only matter of upgrading a processor. Having PCIe x16 slot is even more important.

If you prefer pre-built I suggest to wait a little. My guess HP will have it next quarter. And HP is a good choice.

 

[Ein]

HP is out of the WHS market. No need to wait.

 

[pmcd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ein HP is out of the WHS market. No need to wait.

Since when? That doesn't leave a lot of choice.


philip

 

[Ein]

 http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b...to-retire.aspx

 

[Geff33]

I have an HP ex 470, HP ex490 and a home made server all using WHS V 1.0. If your goal is just to stream movies (including blue ray rips) , music, pics etc. the HP ex490 is enough. I do not have any problems playing all my movies on Popcorn hour or my HTPC and music on Logitech squeezebox You do not have to change the cpu. It is a decent server.


However, the only disadvantage I see, after owning these servers are a limited hardrive bay space. As my media library grew, the smartservers did not have enough hard drive bays available. I eventually built my own server box using UNraid as the OS of choice . So far I am happy with it.

 

[pmcd]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Ein /forum/post/19635555

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b...to-retire.aspx

This is not reassuring.


philip

 

[catmother]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Geff33 /forum/post/19636918


I have an HP ex 470, HP ex490 and a home made server all using WHS V 1.0. If your goal is just to stream movies (including blue ray rips) , music, pics etc. the HP ex490 is enough. I do not have any problems playing all my movies on Popcorn hour or my HTPC and music on Logitech squeezebox You do not have to change the cpu. It is a decent server.


However, the only disadvantage I see, after owning these servers are a limited hardrive bay space. As my media library grew, the smartservers did not have enough hard drive bays available. I eventually built my own server box using UNraid as the OS of choice . So far I am happy with it.

Storage expansion is easy with the 490/495, see here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=335


The operative word is Mediasonic.


And the 490/495 have the Esata port multiplier so all drives in a Mediasonic are visible.