HTPC plan (long)

**Kevin P** · 22 November 2004, 09:59 Monday

Just a crazy idea and a way to get more storage and the spinning hard drives out of the audio/HT room - build a server with a RAID array and put it in a closet or basement, and connect it via LAN to the HTPC. This will make the HTPC cooler and quieter and it'll give you access to your music/movie files throughout the house (on other networked PCs).

And since you can never have too much disk space for such an application (especially if you start loading your DVDs onto the drives), an array on a server/servers will give you future expandability.

**David Meek** · 22 November 2004, 10:15 Monday

Kevin's got a GOOD thought there. Isolate the storage away from the HT (all those whirring disks - ya know?) and give yourself almost unlimited expansion capabilities. Plus, the RAID array is great for redundancy. :yesnod:

**goskers** · 22 November 2004, 10:40 Monday

Well, I've thought of that but I really don't know that much about it. How could I get both a high quality audio and video feed off of that setup?

I will also be using this as my main computer so that is another issue I suppose. How can I do normal functions on a setup like this?

Sorry for the beginner questions.

Any thoughts on the audio side of things?

wasser

**Kevin P** · 22 November 2004, 14:31 Monday

A 100Mbit Ethernet connection is fast enough to stream DVD-quality video with room to spare (ideally, it should be a dedicated connection, separate from your home LAN). The server would just house the files, the HTPC would handle the playback duties.

If you want to use it as a "main" computer, it's going to need more stuff on it than I would normally want on a HTPC. In particular, things like anti-virus software, a firewall, stuff like that. These things can slow down an HTPC's performance and affect its ability to render top quality video. I think you'd be better off with the HTPC as just a HTPC and dedicate another computer for everyday use (surfing, email, banking etc.)

As for quality feeds, you'll want a good quality video card such as a ATI Radeon or NVidia 6800+ or similar. For audio, the most important thing is a sound card that has a good SPDIF output on it, so you can run digital audio into your receiver or pre-pro.

**goskers** · 22 November 2004, 15:32 Monday

So, if I am understanding your proposal correctly then I would have all my big HDD's with my main rig with a small one for bootup and such in my htpc?

This is not the exact way that I wanted because I wanted an all-in-one machine but this way does make sense in the end. Keep all the noisy, big stuff out of the quiet environment.

So, what would you guys recommend to do for the input to my DEQX PDC2.6 which is the 'brain' of my audio setup? Here is a link to the backpanel options: http://www.deqx.com/dsp-product/PDC-2-6-backpanel.html
Not sure weather utilizing the onboard d/a conversion would be the best option or not.

Thanks