Hi all. New to this forum. I'm a intermediate to somewhat advance user.
I'm hoping someone here can point me to some good information on something I'm trying to do.
My goal is to create a media server. I want it to hold all my pictures, all my videos, and I'd like to convert all my DVD's (400+) to digital format and store them as well. Then, I'd like this to be accessible by all my household's computers, as well as my TV.
I know the best way to do this is probably via a NAS (network attached storage) for holding everything. Also adding a PS3 to my TV/entertainment center should help give me access to the media on my TV. Simple networking will handle the other PC's in the house.
I've read up on a LOT of the NAS out there, and discovered, no matter which one it is, it's pretty much 50/50 split of the reviews. Only downside of technically savy people...we're very picky and vocal! hahaha
I've pretty much decided for my money / size needs, I'm gonna go with the Western Digital ShareSpace NAS:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...t_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
4TB's is a lot of space...of course if I go with a RAID 5 config, I'll be down to about 2.4 Tb...but I'm considering going with RAID 1(striped) to get a little more.
Trying to find out how much space a DVD would take was hard. I want the least amount of quality loss. So, while i found many different answers, most of which were completely different, the average seemed to be about 7GB per DVD.
I'm thinking I should go with DVD Shrink as far as ripping my DVD's, since it lets you pick and choose what parts of the DVD you actually want (i.e. I don't need to copy the french audio or spanish subtitles). This will reduce (roughly 20%??) the amount of space i'll need for each DVD. Hoping to get down to 5 1/2 MB per DVD.
my 400+ DVD's would then need 2.15 Tb. My pictures and other stuff probably needs 200Gb, putting me pretty close to the 2.4 mark, which is why I'm thinking RAID 1. Or going RAID 5, and just doing most of my DVD's until 2TB HD's go down in price. hahaha
In any case, I'm here cause I want to check and make sure I am heading in the right direction, and see if anyone can point me to any further information/sources for added details.
I'm really trying to get more info on this stuff myself, but I am literally amazed at how little detail is out there.
With how mp3's revolutionzied the way we all think about music, I'd think someone would be jumping to do the same thing, but with movies/video/pictures/etc.
Also, any information on getting the PS3 to access these ripped DVD's would be appreciated. I plan on using Gb Ethernet connection from the NAS to the PS3 (and all the devices, really).
I'm hoping someone here can point me to some good information on something I'm trying to do.
My goal is to create a media server. I want it to hold all my pictures, all my videos, and I'd like to convert all my DVD's (400+) to digital format and store them as well. Then, I'd like this to be accessible by all my household's computers, as well as my TV.
I know the best way to do this is probably via a NAS (network attached storage) for holding everything. Also adding a PS3 to my TV/entertainment center should help give me access to the media on my TV. Simple networking will handle the other PC's in the house.
I've read up on a LOT of the NAS out there, and discovered, no matter which one it is, it's pretty much 50/50 split of the reviews. Only downside of technically savy people...we're very picky and vocal! hahaha
I've pretty much decided for my money / size needs, I'm gonna go with the Western Digital ShareSpace NAS:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...t_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
4TB's is a lot of space...of course if I go with a RAID 5 config, I'll be down to about 2.4 Tb...but I'm considering going with RAID 1(striped) to get a little more.
Trying to find out how much space a DVD would take was hard. I want the least amount of quality loss. So, while i found many different answers, most of which were completely different, the average seemed to be about 7GB per DVD.
I'm thinking I should go with DVD Shrink as far as ripping my DVD's, since it lets you pick and choose what parts of the DVD you actually want (i.e. I don't need to copy the french audio or spanish subtitles). This will reduce (roughly 20%??) the amount of space i'll need for each DVD. Hoping to get down to 5 1/2 MB per DVD.
my 400+ DVD's would then need 2.15 Tb. My pictures and other stuff probably needs 200Gb, putting me pretty close to the 2.4 mark, which is why I'm thinking RAID 1. Or going RAID 5, and just doing most of my DVD's until 2TB HD's go down in price. hahaha
In any case, I'm here cause I want to check and make sure I am heading in the right direction, and see if anyone can point me to any further information/sources for added details.
I'm really trying to get more info on this stuff myself, but I am literally amazed at how little detail is out there.
With how mp3's revolutionzied the way we all think about music, I'd think someone would be jumping to do the same thing, but with movies/video/pictures/etc.
Also, any information on getting the PS3 to access these ripped DVD's would be appreciated. I plan on using Gb Ethernet connection from the NAS to the PS3 (and all the devices, really).
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