SH1FT Setup v2.0

V

vischo

Gawd
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
854
I'm going to slowly update this thread with all the different rooms/setups in my house.

This is my current home/theater/office/pc/server setup. Updated from http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1252288 The exhaustive details will follow after the photo gallery.

Last Updated: December 1, 2009
December 1, 2009: Comcast 16/2 Internet
November 9, 2009: Added TouchSmart, bedroom, and office photos.
November 2, 2009: More photos.
October 28, 2009: Server photos and setup information.
October 27, 2009: Home Theater setup and photos.

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Windows Media Center with MediaBrowser (Windows 7).

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Looking at Blu-ray rips inside MediaBrowser.

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Casino Royale (Blu) with TotalMedia Theater.

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Looking at DVD rips inside MediaBrowser.

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Harman Kardon

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Logitech Harmony One and ZuneHD

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HDHTPC (Jetway JNC62K nVidia 8200 HDMI, AMD 4850e, 2GB RAM, Apex MI-100, Blu)

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Office setup across 2 MIKEAL desks.

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Kitchen PC, HP TouchSmart 600t

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Bedroom setup, Xbox 360 as a Windows 7 Media Center Extender. 23" Samsung (needs an upgrade).


And now the details.
SERVER aka HPSTORAGE / HP MediaSmart Server EX495 Windows Home Server
Intel Pentium Dual-Core 2.5Ghz / 2GB DDR2 RAM / GBe NIC
Windows Home Server PP2 / Disk Management / GridJunction / uTorrent
8TB Storage / (4) 2TB Western Digital Green Drives
500+ DVDs / 30+ Blurays / 1800+ CDs / 20+ TV Series

DESKTOP aka WIN7DESKTOP
Intel Core2Quad / 4GB DDR2 RAM / 160GB Raptor / Dell S2209W 1080p + Acer 19”
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 / Adobe Master Suite CS4 / Office 2007 Enterprise / FileZilla / Zune

HTPC aka HDHTPC7
AMD 4850e / 2GB DDR RAM / 500GB HDD / Jetway JNC62K / Blu / Apex MI-100 / HDMI 1080p 7.1 LCPM Output
Windows 7 Ultimate x86 / Windows Media Center / MediaBrowser / Netflix / Hulu / AnyDVD / Total MediaTheater

Laptop aka WIN7LAPTOP / Toshiba Satellite L45
Intel Core2Duo / 2GB DDR RAM / 500GB HDD / Windows 7

Kitchen PC aka WIN7TOUCH / HP TouchSmart 600t
Intel Core2Duo 2.1Ghz / 4GB DDR3 RAM / 320GB 7200RPM HDD / nVidia GeForce G200 / TV Tuner


Home Theater Setup
Samsung PN50A510 1080p 50” Plasma / Harman Kardon AVR-254 / Ikea DIODER LED Lights
Polk CS1 Center Channel / Polk M20 Front Speakers / Polk M10 Surrounds / MTX 12” Subwoofer
Logitech Harmony One Remote / Xbox 360 / ZuneHD

Office Setup
Harman Kardon AVR-247 w/ Polk M10 Speakers / Ikea MIKAEL Desks / Xbox 360
HP ProLiant DL360 G5 / (2) Xeon Quads / 20GB RAM / OS: (2) 60GB RAID0 / Data: (3) 72GB RAID5
Runs Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V / VMs: SBS 2008 Premium / Server 2008 w/ CRM 4 / Office Communications Server 2007 R2
Fortinet FortiGate 60B Wifi Firewall

Bedroom Setup
Samsung 23” 720p LCD / Xbox 360 / Logitech Harmony 520

Network
CAT5e / HP ProCurve 1800-24g / D-Link DIR-655 / OpenDNS

Camera
Nikon D50 w/ 18-200mm VR Lens + 35mm F1.8

To Do List
SSDs for Desktop and HTPC
WHS PP3 and then WHS V2.0
HP 8530w Laptop



 
Last edited:
Looking at your old thread, it looks like you went from a projector to the plasma (unless these are two different rooms). If this indeed the route, how are you handling the trade-off of size for the nice plasma picture?

Also, I like that interface. Is that Windows Media Center or is that the MediaBrowser program?

Nice setup!
 
Yes, different house, new setup. Plasma is nice, good size for the room. Sunlight is still an issue. But nighttime movie watching is great.

Media Center (Windows 7) with MediaBrowser.
 
I've had a couple Harmony remotes and this one is the best yet. The touchscreen is a little over the top, but...
 
I REALLY like everything you have going so far, everything is very clean and neat.

When do we get some more pictures? I would like to see you wiring closet and office server.
 
Thall860 said:
I REALLY like everything you have going so far, everything is very clean and neat.

When do we get some more pictures? I would like to see you wiring closet and office server.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Windex goes quick around here. More to come soon, just installed the HP TouchSmart this week (Kitchen PC). I'm going to have to let you down on the wiring and office, that's where the mess is at. :)
 
Wow, that looks really good.

Let me ask this. With all of the add-ons you have for Windows 7 WMC, how well does it play nicely with MKVs and AVIs? Also, are you using an app/add-on that will automatically scrap info like XBMC does?
 
I haven't used MKV's in awhile. All formats are VIDEO_TS and BDMV structure. Everything runs smooth.

MediaBrowser does do pretty good at automagically grabbing metadata, but with MetaBrowser you can control the metadata, covers, etc.
 
vischo said:
I haven't used MKV's in awhile. All formats are VIDEO_TS and BDMV structure. Everything runs smooth.

MediaBrowser does do pretty good at automagically grabbing metadata, but with MetaBrowser you can control the metadata, covers, etc.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I've been using XBMC for a year now and I've finally got a good procedure for adding new media: Dumping the movie file over to my Movies folder, run XBMC, Update Library and watch.

It seems that with WMC, even with Media Browser and other add-ons, you have to integrate more steps into getting the same results.

The thing with XBMC is that it's easy and certain skins look amazing. However, I've ran into performance issue and it seems like scrolling through my libraries are just slow and choppy.

Enough about me, I didn't mean to hijack a thread. I just had some Q's about WMC7.
 
mediabrowser just finds your metadata... all you can do is clear the cashe... it does a decent job


setup looks great.... how much does that touchsmart get used in the kitchen. I am thinking about getting that new HP 22" multitouch LCD when it is for sale and having my own touch PC in the kitchen. just not sure how much it would get used..
 
I did get a little buyers remorse after getting the TouchSmart, but it is actually being put to good use. The kitchen is active at least twice a day (breakfast and dinner) and also when guests are over. Music and recipes etc. on hand while cooking is definately nice.

Next step is going to be taking advantage of the central calendar and post it notes features.
 
Thall860 said:
I REALLY like everything you have going so far, everything is very clean and neat.

When do we get some more pictures? I would like to see you wiring closet and office server.
Click to expand...

As do I. You have a great setup. Looking forward to future updates. :)

So do you no longer use the HTPC? I was curious because I have been wanting to use the sweet look of WMC but I have a PS3 in the living room and would rather not build a HTPC if I could just buy a 360 and extend it with full support streaming from my server.

I have all of my movies in MKV right now that run beautifully with the DiVX add-on, but if they don't work correctly then I may start re-ripping them and storing them that way.
 
Thanks all for the positive feedback.

I run a FULL setup, Windows Home Server, Windows Media Center and X360 extenders.

I suppose you could get away with running WMC on your desktop as well as file storage and then extend to either X360, WD TV, or Popcorn Hour.
 
Nice setup!

How is that HP Touch smart working for you? can you watch blu-ray rips on it? live tv?

Do you watch live TV using media center? or are you using media center for media playback only?
 
TouchSmart should be powerful enough for Blu-ray. The BD drive was an option. I haven't tried it myself, but it should play with TMT.

Not using LiveTV anymore, but WMC is a great DVR. Just Hulu, Netflix, and DVDs/Blu.
 
Since it was asked:

Shot with Nikon D50 w/ 18-200mm f/3.5 VR + 35mm f/1.8 Lenses
 
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