rhconcepts 0 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Please help me find the best way to run all this. Here is what I have and what I use them for. 1. 3T network storage drive holds all my movies 2. 3 Mini ITX AMD A6 media PCs all running windows 7 with 4 gig of ram 3. HDhomerun Prime cable card tuner to watch cable on the 3 WMC tv's What I want to do is to stop using WMC to index my movies and start using MB. So far I have MB server and MBC all running on one pc and thought about doing the same setup on the other computers. Or should I leave one on all the time and use it as a server? What would be the benefits of using one as the server, or running the server on each pc? If I record things can I tell the server to share the recording folder like I do with my network storage drive for my movies? Last question lol. Can I remove the movie tab in WMC because I going to be using Media Browser from here on out? if so how do I remove it? Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee 204 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I'm pretty sure having more than one server using the same data/media will give you issues somewhere down the line... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee 204 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 http://www.patchou.com/projects/media-center-themer/ This little beauty will let you do many things with WMC one of which is remove/add strips 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhconcepts 0 Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 I just don't want to run a PC 24/7 if I don't have to. I see MB has software for NAS drives but not sure how that works and I dont know anything about NAS drives. Can I use my WD my cloud as a NAS drive or do NAS drives run windows like a server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee 204 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 If you search modern8 in here it will give you a theme to look at.. Can't link as I'm on tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14910 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 We're working on getting the server on many linux platforms including some NAS devices but not true "NAS drives" as the server does require some processing power to operate. A NAS is, by definition, supposed to be just Network Attached Storage although many of the commercial ones are actually small servers that can run something like MB server. I don't think your MyCloud is going to qualify though. Therefore, your best bet is to designate your main htpc as your server and link the other machines to it (MBC will find it automatically if it is running). You can let the main one sleep and the others will attempt to wake it if you don't want it running all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37056 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 a synology would be an example of what the server will be able to run on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhconcepts 0 Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 I need to change my pic lol, I really dont look that mean all the time lol. Ok I have a few dual core AMDs around the house that I could run as a server and having it wake up from network activity would be nice if it works. But why does MB need a server? Cant the program be made to run as a client only and grab the movies from a NAS. I like how the server has the profiles and being able to use the server away from home. But I really only need it on 2 computers because WMC is to buggy when it comes to keeping the movie library up to date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee 204 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Lots of advantages to server based. Main one access away from home on clients... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianW 1052 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 The server keeps track of playstate (i.e. what has been watched and what hasn't) - this is especially useful for TV shows so MB always knows where you're up to in a series. It then doesn't matter which client you use - the playstate follows you around. Also, if you have different users - the playstate is recorded per user, remembering where each user is in each series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhconcepts 0 Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Ok so this keeps getting better and better. I did setup users today and only allowed PG movies for my daughter. I'm loving it so far. Now back to running one of them as a server. The one pc will not go to sleep at all now, If I force it then it wakes right back up. So I turned on "only wake with magic packets" I can still wake the server from the other pc using a a magic packet program. But what can I do to make the server sleep and wake without using magic packets. If the client could send packets when it starts that would be great, but i don't see that happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14910 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 MBC does send a magic packet to the last known server upon waking (if this option is enabled in the Advanced config page). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhconcepts 0 Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Thanks ebr, I was reading the other post about wol and didn't know it sent magic packets. I did turn on a option in the client i think to attempt to wake server but it sound like your talking about the server its self. I have not seen the server go to sleep yet scene I installed the server. Should I have the server run as a service? The only thing I have on that can wake the server is magic packets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhconcepts 0 Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Ok here is my problem so far. The server is waking right up after it goes to sleep and its being woke by the network card. If go into the power management for the network card and put a check in the "Only allow a magic packet to wake this computer" it stays sleeping. But then if i do that the server goes to sleep when im using the other PC and after the movie is over the MB client locks up because the server is sleeping and wont wake up. I think it goes to sleep because the moves are on the WD my cloud and not the server so once the movie starts im only talking the the WD my cloud. I can wake the server with a magic packet program and that's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14910 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hmmm... That's interesting. I can try and re-send the wake command periodically during playback I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhconcepts 0 Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Ok after hours of playing with my network I found out MBC is not waking the server with magic packets but it does with just WOL. I also found that my HDhomerun Prime is what was waking the PC right away. Not sure why but that will be another project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hifiaudio2 47 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) a synology would be an example of what the server will be able to run on There is no alpha or beta of a Synology based MB server install at this time, correct? I would love this. I can beta test as well if that is helpful. My Synology is the 1812+. Edited January 9, 2015 by hifiaudio2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhconcepts 0 Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 Ok so im all done and here is my last post for this matter. I tried to run the server on one of the MC boxes but the pc would never sleep because of the HD home run tuner. And with "wake using magic packets" turned on the pc would not wake at all when the other pc tried to talk to the server. So I made a dual core amd, 6gig ram pc to run as a server for MB only. Now this one goes to sleep and wakes up with magic packets turned on and so far its running good. I have not tried movies yet because im transferring all the movies from my WD my cloud to a hard drive on the server. I hope the dual core 2.6GHz cpu will be good enough to run the server. I started a new post about the CPU part.. Thanks everyone for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bxsteez 3 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Ok so im all done and here is my last post for this matter. I tried to run the server on one of the MC boxes but the pc would never sleep because of the HD home run tuner. And with "wake using magic packets" turned on the pc would not wake at all when the other pc tried to talk to the server. So I made a dual core amd, 6gig ram pc to run as a server for MB only. Now this one goes to sleep and wakes up with magic packets turned on and so far its running good. I have not tried movies yet because im transferring all the movies from my WD my cloud to a hard drive on the server. I hope the dual core 2.6GHz cpu will be good enough to run the server. I started a new post about the CPU part.. Thanks everyone for the help I actually have a similar setup as you. I have 4 HTPCs connected to TVs and 3 hdhomerun primes and I have one win 7 PC running a server that runs MB Server as a service. Besides the lack of ability to restart the service it works pretty well. The WOL packets work pretty well. I use to have a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo systems with 4GBs of ram as the server but since I started to have to transcode for remote access i had to update that setup. It works well if you aren't doing any transcoding so your 2.6GHz system should be just fine. Here is a video running Modern8 if you are still interested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhconcepts 0 Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 I actually have a similar setup as you. I have 4 HTPCs connected to TVs and 3 hdhomerun primes and I have one win 7 PC running a server that runs MB Server as a service. Besides the lack of ability to restart the service it works pretty well. The WOL packets work pretty well. I use to have a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo systems with 4GBs of ram as the server but since I started to have to transcode for remote access i had to update that setup. It works well if you aren't doing any transcoding so your 2.6GHz system should be just fine. Here is a video running Modern8 if you are still interested Thanks for sharing. I gave up on the server and now I run a server on each pc. The server I made was going to sleep as movies would be playing, and the Ipad didn't like the server at all. So I have only one that is allowed outside the home in case I want to stream movies. My daughter was in the hospital for two nights so I made the one server stay on and we used the WiFi at the hospital to stream her movies to the ipad, it worked great and it was HD quality. I see nothing wrong with running a server on each PC because the movies are on my WD cloud drive. So I think im going to stay with media browser and I will be sending in a donation after seeing what it did for my daughter at the hospital. She was so happy and so was I If anyone is wondering what I had for speeds here you go. Home 49/12 Mbps Hospital 10/5 Mbps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bxsteez 3 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Thanks for sharing. I gave up on the server and now I run a server on each pc. The server I made was going to sleep as movies would be playing, and the Ipad didn't like the server at all. So I have only one that is allowed outside the home in case I want to stream movies. My daughter was in the hospital for two nights so I made the one server stay on and we used the WiFi at the hospital to stream her movies to the ipad, it worked great and it was HD quality. I see nothing wrong with running a server on each PC because the movies are on my WD cloud drive. So I think im going to stay with media browser and I will be sending in a donation after seeing what it did for my daughter at the hospital. She was so happy and so was I If anyone is wondering what I had for speeds here you go. Home 49/12 Mbps Hospital 10/5 Mbps Tweaking the server to do what I want has taken a bit of work. It was harder on MBC 2.x but ebr incorporated the wake up server stuff which was great! I have a friend doing what you are doing as well and it seems to be working. Glad it all worked out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now