Windows Home Server questions

[irishBoiler]

So, I've been looking over this WHS concept. I just had a couple more questions before I pull the trigger on this.

1.) I have an Xbox 360, what is the best (quality) video format I should encode movies in to stream to it and view it on my computer and any computer on my network without additional software?

2.) I heard it comes with a SharePoint site, is there any truth to that? Is it just WSS installed and you set it up or does it come with a config wizard? Could I make it web facing and let family (with logins) access pictures/video?

3.) Can I store all of my music on it and just have iTunes sync my ipod with a nonlocal path? - Nevermind, I found a thread on this titled "iTunes Server"

4.) I looked at the WHS FAQ, but I still don't completely understand how to write my own add-ins for it? Anyone know any good dev websites for it?

5.) Does anyone know if there's a WHS v2 coming out (or at least confirmed in development) based on Windows Server 2008?

6.) Would the following specs (old computer) be able to handle the job of streaming video/music in real-time?
Pentium 4 2.8Ghz x2
1 GB Ram
Geforce FX5200
160GB HDD
1 TB HDD (to be added)

7.) What's the power consumption like? Can I just leave it in sleep mode and have it turn on when the 360 or a client want to access data on it?
Thanks in advance

 

[nitrobass24]

So, I've been looking over this WHS concept. I just had a couple more questions before I pull the trigger on this.

1.) I have an Xbox 360, what is the best (quality) video format I should encode movies in to stream to it and view it on my computer and any computer on my network without additional software?

2.) I heard it comes with a SharePoint site, is there any truth to that? Is it just WSS installed and you set it up or does it come with a config wizard? Could I make it web facing and let family (with logins) access pictures/video?

3.) Can I store all of my music on it and just have iTunes sync my ipod with a nonlocal path? - Nevermind, I found a thread on this titled "iTunes Server"

4.) I looked at the WHS FAQ, but I still don't completely understand how to write my own add-ins for it? Anyone know any good dev websites for it?

5.) Does anyone know if there's a WHS v2 coming out (or at least confirmed in development) based on Windows Server 2008?

6.) Would the following specs (old computer) be able to handle the job of streaming video/music in real-time?
Pentium 4 2.8Ghz x2
1 GB Ram
Geforce FX5200
160GB HDD
1 TB HDD (to be added)

7.) What's the power consumption like? Can I just leave it in sleep mode and have it turn on when the 360 or a client want to access data on it?
Thanks in advance

1) Im not sure about Xbox360 as I dont have one, but Im sure you can prob do x264 mp4's.

2)No it does not come with SharePoint Server website, you could set one up though if you have SharePoint. It does have a regular ASPX web site preconfigured.Yes it is already setup for looking at your files. There are some cool addins, like Webfolder, webguide.

3)Yes, I see you already found the thread.

4)http://www.tentaclesoftware.com/blog/

5)Yes it is development but I bet we dont see it for a while as PP2 has not even become beta status. I would say this time next year we might see V2.

6)Yes it will work fine.I would add another 1gb of ram. You wont need that video card, except for install.

7) I cant tell you what your power consumption will be. if you have this system setup go ahead and check and see how many watts its pulling from the wall.


I would check out the xfiles installer, on the WGS forums.
There is a link for it on the FAQ