I'm considering getting cable TV again, and it might be nice to build a PC around the new Ceton quad-tuner card. I've never used the DVR functionality of Windows Media Center, but it would be really handy if I do decide to stick with cable. However, since I don't always want my main PC to be on, it would be nice to have a PC with less power draw but more storage (for DVR, and maybe I'll back up my main PC's data to it as well?) as an always-on device. Some of you have a lot more experience with this sort of thing, so I'll defer to your expertise. How would you build this PC, or what would you do instead of build this PC? Thanks for any feedback you have.

I'm already thinking maybe the upcoming SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime will be the way to go. Definitely cheaper than building a new PC to do it, and I can just do something else for storage.

How is the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime better than the Ceton option?

Price. I'd still have to have my PC running in order to share the signal with other devices over Media Center, but the initial cost would be way below building a new PC around the Ceton card. It's only 3 tuners versus Ceton's 4, but I can't foresee ever needing more than 3 active streams in this house. I may not go with any of this, though, if I decide the cable isn't going to be worth it to me.

I'd go with "cable isn't worth it". Unless you watch sports (other than baseball, MLB TV is on the PS3 now), all you need is a good Internet connection to watch just about anything you want. The legal options of Netflix and Hulu Plus are already almost enough. Throw in the less-legal options and you've got just about everything.

Forgot about Amazon Unbox too, while it isn't supported by as many devices, it offers a ton of content (pay-per-view instead of flat rate, though).

Good points. My motivation was Conan's new show on TBS, but then the other channels in the Expanded lineup looked like they could be worthwhile. Of course, I already have a lot of stuff to watch, so yeah, cable probably isn't worth it.

I still may want to build a box to back up my PC to, as well as stream media around the house. I still like the looks of the HP MediaSmart servers, as that would probably be the most painless solution for getting the features that I want. What could I gain (and lose) by building my own? Should I wait for a new version of Windows Home Server? I haven't done nearly enough reading.

The only thing to gain by building your own, is the experience of having done so, and being able to pick your exact components.

If you're not looking at a high-end workstation/server, but instead are trying to save money on an average machine, a pre-built is almost always the way to go.

I've never even touched Windows Home Server, so I can't help you there.

Wait for a new version of whs.

I have lost track because it is taking them so long. Will it come in a 64-bit version?

More than likely it'll have a 64-bit version, if it's based off of 2008R2 it may only be 64-bit.

Charles, have you considered Free To Air satellite?

I hadn't even heard of it. What's a solid resource for finding out what content I can get through that?

I suppose I'll follow both pieces of advice and wait for a new MediaSmart machine from HP whenever it's utilizing a newer WHS. How far off is that supposed to be? I haven't kept track.

Probably not terribly helpful but I just found this Lian-Li mATX case...

http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/product/...x=63&g=spec

Fits a full size PSU, Big CPU heatsinks, 7 hard drives, 1 optical and can handle DUAL Radeon 5770s (and possibly larger cards but I haven't found dimensions on others)

Stick a core i5, radeon 5750 and a bunch of hard drives in there and you'd have a pretty killer system.

Everything I have seen/read indicates it to be 64bit only, but we are talking about Microsloth.

Charles, I'll do my best to help you out, as it has been a few years since I had my FTA receiver.

The best resource for finding out which satellites are available per country is LyngSat . There are also many web sites online selling FTA receivers, like this Canadian one , that are good resources.

When I had my receiver, it was extremely popular amongst people I know. But, some people I know, along with myself, ended up selling their receivers. The only reason I sold mine is because I couldn't get the Leafs hockey games. I do know that one other person got rid of their receiver because they had to update it quite frequently, which turned into a hassle. I'm pretty sure if you have the receiver connected to the Internet at all times, or at least easily accessible to the Internet, then this wouldn't be a problem.

Again, I was heavily involved in it a couple years ago, but am off the beat and track now. If it's the same as what it was when I had my receiver, I honestly think it's the way to go. There's a learning curve, but once you're set up, you're able to watch free television from all over the world, in high quality video and audio.

If I can be of any more assistance, let me know and I'll dig around for you.

Hope that helps.

Cheers.

From what I understand most English language broadcasts have gone encrypted now. The "all over the world", still applies, but nothing from home anymore.

Hmm, that's disappointing.

That's what I figured. Their newest kernel is only being built for x86-64 (maybe Itantium too). Microsoft is slow, but AMD launched their Opteron in April of 2003.

If it's based on R2, it has to be x64. If it's based on 7... all bets are off. But given that they based the original on 2003, I'm pretty sure they'll use the server kernel again, making it require 64 bit.

WHS 2 (vail) Is based on Server 2008 and is 64bit only.

A lot has/is changing under the hood.

Jeff

Microsoft has also said that 7 was the last 32-bit OS they'd release.

Windows 8 squared

Until products based on the upcoming Windows Home Server start arriving, I'm thinking of doing NAS for my backup/media streaming needs. I'm looking at the Synology DiskStation 2-Bay along with a couple of WD Caviar Green drives. I like the DLNA aspect. What do you guys think?

Double check that the Greens are compatible with the unit. I've had some issues with WD Green drives in a ReadyNAS Duo. Well, I just had to find a secret firmware editing program, but it could have been bad!

You may have a point about the Greens. Some of the user comments were making me wonder. What drives would you go with?

Oh, I really like the Greens in concept, but if you're going to be doing media streaming, you might actually want something faster. I've heard good things about the Spinpoint F3s, and I'm always a fan of WD Black drives. If the manufacturer has a compatibility list, that's where you should go.

The Spinpoint drives look good. I'm currently using both a 1 TB WD Green and 1 TB Black drive in my system, and I haven't had any issues. The Green rests in an eSATA hard drive dock and is what I use for my media. The Black is in my case and is what I use for all of my games. Does media streaming really call for more performance than the Greens have? I didn't even think of that as a possible issue. Anyway, the Spinpoint drive I'm looking at is on the compatibility list, so I may go that route.

Not sure. Honestly, my experience with greens may be tainted by the speed of the ReadyNAS Duo, and I'm not using it for media streaming.

I've personally had bad luck with compatible with Greens also. Avoid them.

Oh good, it's not just me. They have some strange power management policy that drive enclosures don't necessarily understand. The firmware hack lets you turn that off, but it actually is pretty hard to find.

I've had them refuse to spin up when installed in a normal desktop, controlled by the motherboard's SATA controller.

I have a 1 TB WD Green and haven't had any issues. I wasn't aware of any problems with the drives.

WD "EARS" Green drives (and I think 1 or 2 other WD Green drives), are "advanced format" and don't like some older OS's (IE: Server 2003, others) you can reset the drive format by jumpering pins 7/8.

WD also hs a re-alignment software tool

Jumper not included!

Jeff