Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater HTPC / Front projector questions

First I'd like to say that I love my Epic 80 system, the sound is nothing short of amazing.
I am new to the HTPC/PJ and just had a few questions. I have already built the actual HTPC computer. I think that it will be easier to just list the components first,

HTPC components
Soyo KT 333 dragon Ultra(platinum edition)MB--with built in SPDiF
Atholon XP 1700
ATI AIW 7500
Pioneer 16x DVD rom
4 drives connected to RAID 0
512 Megs ddr ram

Audio components
Denon 3802 as preprocessor
Denon 8300 front 3 channels
2 Denon 8200's 4 rear channels
Epic 80 7.1 system
And comming next week NEC LT 240K DLP projector(yeah!, can't wait)
I'm trying to get everything set up so when the projector arives I don't have to do too much.
I'm planning on using the descaler software,and was just wondering how to set it up for the best performane with the NEC. Does anyone know the progressive scan Custom Timing and Resolution strings that I would be able to use.? Here are the specs for the NEC
1024 x 768 pixels native, up to UXGA (1600 x 1200) with Advanced AccuBlend
I guess that I would like some comments or suggestions so I can be pushed in the right direction.
Thanks

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4 drives connected to RAID 0

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Eek! You're a braver man than I. I hope you back up often.

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I'm planning on using the descaler software,and was just wondering how to set it up for the best performane with the NEC

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I don't see anywhere what you're planning on using to get the signals INTO your computer, or are you only going to be dealing with media you're downloading?

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Does anyone know the progressive scan Custom Timing and Resolution strings that I would be able to use.? Here are the specs for the NEC
1024 x 768 pixels native, up to UXGA (1600 x 1200) with Advanced AccuBlend

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I don't actually as I haven't bothered yet. However, I'm willing to bet you could find them on AVS.

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I guess that I would like some comments or suggestions so I can be pushed in the right direction.

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Does that model projector have a VGA or DVI input? If not, you'll need a transcoder to connect it via Component video.

Some things to play with:
http://www.mythtv.org/
http://myhtpc.net/releasenotes/index.php?showthis=23

Ask any specific questions that you have.

While Semi_On and others answer all your HTPC questions, what screen are you going to beam onto?

kcalvano,

I'm still concerned about your use of RAID 0 and you haven't replied yet. I just want to make sure you're aware that four drives in RAID 0 will effectively increase your chances of losing all that data by a factor of 4x. If any one of the drives fail, all data will be gone.

Are you sure you don't mean RAID 0+1?

RAID 5 is the way to go.

I don't think I have ever rebuilt a system successfully with RAID0+1. Sometimes on Raid 5. But it is best is a backup is stored in a different media. How many times will the HTPC be upgraded in sofware. I would just back it up when new software is installed.

RAID 5 is definitely the way to go, via a Adaptec Ultra320 with about 1 gig cache. But most RAID 0 I've seen are IDE setups that generally only allow 2 drives per channel. That is why I asked if it was RAID 0+1. Possibly could be two RAID 0 arrays.

Don't forget the hotspares! RAID 5 gets even more reliable when you throw in a hotspare.

The servers I'm currently supporting have two arrays:

1. a 2-drive mirrored array (RAID 1) that contains the operating system.
2. a 3-drive striped with parity array (RAID 5) that contains the data.
3. one global hotspare drive that takes over if any of the other drives fail.
   

We can sustain a simultaneous failure of 2 drives (one from each array), and then an additional drive failure in the data array (after the hotspare kicked in) and the server would still hobble along without data loss.

And don't forget the tape backup! I recommmend at least an 8 tape AIT3 library. Oh wait, home machine, not server....

Hmm, that's a good config, Peter. I'm working on one now where I might put in a 2 drive RAID1 and a 7 drive RAID5, but I don't have any hot spares. Maybe I should... However, it just seems so ridiculous to use two 180 GB drives for the OS. That would only leave me 4 180s for the data, which is pretty small these days.

With RAID 5, your total capacity is X(n - 1), where X is the drive capacity and n is the number of drives. One drive's worth of data is dedicated to parity info. The good news is that the more drives you have in the array, the less overall space is used for parity. Still, no matter how many you have, you still can't lose 2 drives simultaneously without the whole array going down.

Please understand, I say this with the greatest respect and affection...

You guys are geeks.

< taking a bow >

I always take that as a compliment.

That stopped being an insult when all the geeks of the 80's became billionaires.

Geek is fine...that's the proper terminology.

As for the RAID5, I believe whoever it was was saying they could lose two drives because of the hotspare. This is not technically true though. Even with the hotspare, the data needs to be rebuilt onto the hotspare drive before a drive can fail again.

...which is precisely why I said

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and then an additional drive failure in the data array (after the hotspare kicked in)

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Yes, I know that...

:-P

However, I'm dealing with quite a bit of data here, and with the particular array that my client has, 6 drives + 1 hotspare is the only way to go. Sure, you can have 2 sets of 6 drives + 1 hotspare, but the client wants to use those sets with separate servers due to performance issues (I'll have to do research on what the saturation levels can be) Therefore, I would have to use 2 drives for the mirror, and 4 drives for the RAID5, resulting in approximately 170 GB wasted on the mirrored drives and a total storage capacity of the RAID5 at, say, 500 GB.

...

What was my point, anyway? That actually doesn't sound too bad...

And yes, I am a geek. Peter's just trying to be geekier than thou. And I, naturally, am trying to out-geek him.

How can you out-geek me without knowing your way around Cisco IOS? Hmmm??? < poke > < poke >

I still know more UNIX than you.

And I'm on staff for one of the premier computer enthusiast websites on the planet which I think out-geeks you both.

Yeah...but even though you are on staff, you could still be the accountant. hehehehe

Mine is bigger than yours!!! HAHAHA...

I write for the front page! (though admittedly I've been absent for a while due to my real job)

slashdot?

No one really writes for /.

www.arstechnica.com

How many unique hits a day?

Oh yeah. You rock. I love Ars Technica!

i think he out-geeked us.

I don't think I'm allowed to reveal that, curtis.