Building a Home Media Server

[bigboss]

I've looked at Innuos Zen+ products but they are expensive. I want to build my own media server. This is what I need:

1) I should be able to rip my blu rays automatically into a hard drive.

2) The rips should be uncompressed with full metadata and cover art. It should support 3D as well as Dolby Atmos.

3) It should be able to build a movie wall I can simply browse through.

4) I will want to create a mirrored back up.

The players I have are: Oppo 103D, Apple TV 2 (jailbroken), Boxee Box, PS3, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast.

Something like mymovies looks very good. Any suggestions as to how to build one myself, similar to this:

http://www.innuos.com/en/catalog/go/zenplus-xl-mkii-movie-music-server

 

[bigboss]

I've looked at Innuos Zen+ products but they are expensive. I want to build my own media server. This is what I need:

1) I should be able to rip my blu rays automatically into a hard drive.

2) The rips should be uncompressed with full metadata and cover art. It should support 3D as well as Dolby Atmos.

3) It should be able to build a movie wall I can simply browse through.

4) I will want to create a mirrored back up.

The players I have are: Oppo 103D, Apple TV 2 (jailbroken), Boxee Box, PS3, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast.

Something like mymovies looks very good. Any suggestions as to how to build one myself, similar to this:

http://www.innuos.com/en/catalog/go/zenplus-xl-mkii-movie-music-server

 

[Q5]

Hi BB,

Maybe this site will be a starting point.

 

[expat_mike]

There are many implementations for home media servers on the web, and there is no one single best solution.

http://mymediaexperience.com/first-htpc-tips/

The hardware can be fairly simple, so the most difficult aspect seems to be identifying the best software (mainly an intuitive user interface).

I think Ifor has posted about using a Raspberry Pi based media server, so maybe he can help.

Regarding cases, you can buy a ready made computer case, but a cheaper option could be to buy an old non-working CD player off ebay for a tenner, strip the insides out, and install your media server inside the case. It would be a cheap option whilst you prototyped your server, and maybe ok for the final design as well.

 

[expat_mike]

Hi BB,

Maybe this site will be a starting point.

It says that they are discontinued at the top of the page - otherwise they do look nice.

 

[bigboss]

Hi BB,

Maybe this site will be a starting point.

It says that they are discontinued at the top of the page - otherwise they do look nice.

There's a link for the new model on the same page. It does look very nice, exactly what I'm looking for!!

I have no experience in building computers, so I hope it'll be an interesting journey.

 

[Q5]

Hi BB,

Maybe this site will be a starting point.

It says that they are discontinued at the top of the page - otherwise they do look nice.

There's a link for the new model on the same page. It does look very nice, exactly what I'm looking for!!

I have no experience in building computers, so I hope it'll be an interesting journey.

I know you have spoken to Allan@IdeallAV before, he has someone who builds these and maybe he can help.

https://www.idealav.co.uk/product/home-theatre-media-servers/

 

[expat_mike]

There is nothing to be worried about, because PCs are modular, and you will be buying standardised parts.

The most important thing is the planning - check you order the right CPU for the motherboard, and that the heatsink is the right one for the motherboard. Also check that you order the correct type of ram for the motherboard, but most memory retailers have compatability checking tools on their websites.

 

[bigboss]

There is nothing to be worried about, because PCs are modular, and you will be buying standardised parts.

The most important thing is the planning - check you order the right CPU for the motherboard, and that the heatsink is the right one for the motherboard. Also check that you order the correct type of ram for the motherboard, but most memory retailers have compatability checking tools on their websites.

        

Thanks. There is helpful advice on matching components on the same page:

http://www.quietpc.com/st-fc5-evo

Just have to choose RAM and HDD (WD Red).

 

[john1000000boy]

Not sure if the Apple TV 2 can be jail broken now? My unit was blinking its light before I managed to jailbreak it. I took it to my local I T company and the owner( a friend of a friend) said that you cannot jailbreak them since the newest Apple TV has come out?

not sure if u already have a jail broken Apple TV 2 bb?

cheers

 

[stavvy]

Watching this thread with interest. Have always wondered about building a server (as a thought exercise) to store music/movies. Never seen a case I like though so would like to make one from scratch to blend in with the HiFi. Best of luck! Will be looking forward to updates.

 

[bigboss]

Yes, already jailbroken few years ago. I haven't updated the software. Yet to update it, I'll follow Firecore's advice about which update to do.

 

[Series1boy]

I'm keen to do this too, so will be watching this thread closely !

 

[cheeseboy]

bb let me know if you need any help.

Those innous boxes appear to be all off the shelf parts, as you've already found the case they use it seems.

I think on top of that they just put on a very slightly customised version of vortexbox.

I think the cpu they are using in the box is an Intel i3 4170 which would tally up with the ultra vague specs on the website, but I also lean towards that for the passive cooling case as anything more than that might get a bit hot in that case.

Are you looking at an all in one box that will do playback as well, or is it literally just going to be a media server?

I would gerenally suggest doing a trail run if one can if you have a spare pc sitting around - try installing vortexbox and see how you get on with it. If it does everything you want, then buy the parts. Obviously if you don't have any spare kit it's a bit of a moot point.

 

[bigboss]

Thanks cheeseboy. Innuos has 2 versions: the vortexbox version is for the Oppo which only shows up as simple folders on the Oppo.

The other version with fancy cover art and movie wall is mymovies. That's the more expensive Innuos version. Mymovies won't play with Oppo, and if I want Atmos with mymovies, I'll need a media player like Dune HD (any player that does DTS HD).

Any advice on mymovies or alternative, and Dune HD or alternative?

I really need to read up about Plex and XBMC as a starting point, then read about Vortexbox and mymovies. I'll also install Vortexbox on my laptop as you suggest and see how it is. That's my homework for this weekend. Any advice in this regard will be appreciated.

I am determined to make one myself even though it'll be a steep learning curve.

Is there an all in one box which will allow uncompressed ripping blu ray discs and store full metadata and cover art, build a movie wall and also play the movies including Atmos which isn't as expensive as Kaleidescape ?

 

[bigboss]

Don't you need minimum i5 for Atmos?

 

[naughty573]

Don't you need minimum i5 for Atmos?

1) Atmos has nothing to do with DTS-HD, (im stating this because of what you said in the post prior to the one i quoted) what you need is something that can bitstream Dolby TrueHD

2) as long as the CPU can play HD video its fine, since the CPU or even your graphics card will not be decoding the audio stream - you are bitstreaming that ie it passes through via HDMI and the AVR does the decoding UNLESS your AVR does not feature HDMI but does have multi-channel input and then thats the only time your source needs to do the decoding and output the analog signals to the AVR via RCA interconnects .... ATMOS will always need to be bitstreamed since no processor or AVR will have 11.1 channels of analog inputs for multichannel audio

3) XBMC is now known as KODI so dont look for XBMC anymore ie you would be better served by calling it by its new name

4) most media players and computer based apps will not allow you to play frame stacked 3D files and will only allow the side-by-side variety or top-and-bottom variety so be careful if you are using makeMKV to rip to MVC (the frame stacked 3D file format which is the 3D version of mkv) .... this is only important if you are going to have 3D files in your collection

 

[cheeseboy]

The other version with fancy cover art and movie wall is mymovies. That's the more expensive Innuos version. Mymovies won't play with Oppo, and if I want Atmos with mymovies, I'll need a media player like Dune HD (any player that does DTS HD).

you can load kodi on to a jailbroken apple tv2 and the amazon fire iirc. These will give you the option of the cover art/movie wall for displaying. I'd suggest having a look in to that as I've not found a better player than kodi to be honest.

I really need to read up about Plex and XBMC as a starting point, then read about Vortexbox and mymovies. I'll also install Vortexbox on my laptop as you suggest and see how it is. That's my homework for this weekend. Any advice in this regard will be appreciated.

Plex is a 2 part thing. It has a media server and playback client. You can get playback clients for smart tv's etc, but you also need to run the server. Kodi on the otherhand is just a playback device. I think the biggest issue you are going to have is with the 3d. I think they are working on it for the next Kodi release, but it's not that well supported at the moment.

As for testing out Vortexbox, you might want to try it in a virtual machine. Try Virtualbox or the free vmware player. That way you can run it and see how you get on with it and see how your clients (apple tv etc) all interact with it.

Is there an all in one box which will allow uncompressed ripping blu ray discs and store full metadata and cover art, build a movie wall and also play the movies including Atmos which isn't as expensive as Kaleidescape ?

Not sure, it might be possible to install vortexbox, then install kodi on top of that.

One thing of note though, how many blu rays do you have? If you are looking at full fat uncompressed you might run out room pretty quickly.

 

[daveh75]

you can load kodi on to a jailbroken apple tv2 and the amazon fire iirc. These will give you the option of the cover art/movie wall for displaying. I'd suggest having a look in to that as I've not found a better player than kodi to be honest.

Kodi dropped support for ATV several versions ago, so not really worth the trouble.

Plus since Amazon pulled Kodi from the app store and with the release of Fire OS 5.X breaking Llama, launching Kodi is a clunky affair.

It's worth installing Kodi on a PC or Android tablet to have a play with though.

 

[bigboss]

Thanks for all your helpful suggestions. Will make a note for homework this weekend.

What about mymovies then? We know it works well. Any experience of it?

 

[cheeseboy]

Kodi dropped support for ATV several versions ago, so not really worth the trouble.

Plus since Amazon pulled Kodi from the app store and with the release of Fire OS 5.X breaking Llama, launching Kodi is a clunky affair.

ahh didn't know that, cheers.

It's worth installing Kodi on a PC or Android tablet to have a play with though.

definitely. I'm surprised more people on here don't use it to be honest. given it can also be used to play music with remote app available.

 

[bigboss]

I have loads of blu ray discs (100-200), so thinking of getting 3 X 4TB WD Red drives.

 

[cheeseboy]

I have loads of blu ray discs (100-200), so thinking of getting 3 X 4TB WD Red drives.

ok, a very very rough estimate of 200 blu ray discs at full fat will be approx 10tb, so providing you are not running any form of redundant raid on the system you will be ok as you will lose approx 1/3 of space for the parity data (the bit that allows you to lose a drive and still continue). If you are planing to run some form of redunancy then you may need to add to the array when you start to reach the limit.

It's also worth nothing that if you're looking at 3 drives, the case from the other page will not work as there is not enough room in it. Either way that's something to think about when you come to buy the hardware - do you want a box that's out of the way so nobody sees, or do you want it in your hifi rack.

 

[bigboss]

Is there anything a NAS drive won't do?

What if I get a 4-bay NAS which will allow me to have upto 24TB space? I already have an external blu ray drive and an ultrabook. I can directly copy into the NAS using AnyDVD.

The Oppo will play with without any fancy movie wall. Is there any media player which can automatically build a movie wall and bitstream HD audio codecs including Atmos to the AV receiver?

 

[daveh75]

Personally I'd just use a small form factor PC with Kodi.