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The Rev
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Sep 13, 2006
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Hey guys,

I'm curious to see if anyone here has a setup on their TV similar to what I'm putting together.

Ok...I have a Viewsonic Media Player and two separate 1 TB external hard drives that connect via USB. The media player plays HD and connects to my TV via HDMI. On one hard drive I roughly have 100 Blu-Ray movies (computer files) and I have the other hard drive filled with all my favorite TV shows (computer files). I plan to keep building external hard drives.

I'm basically trying to put together a huge library of movies, tv shows, sporting events, etc and downgrade my TV package to the basic package. I'm looking for any tech gadgets I can upgrade to make my setup better. Since technology is always changing, there must be something someone is using they can recommend to me. For instance a media player with more than one USB outlet, so I don't have to switch out hard drives when I want to watch something else. Anybody do something similar?
 

New member
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htpc... ideally you have a dedicated pc connected to the TV, running either.. XBMC or Windows 7 (for Windows Media Center). Then you have a seperate server /w all your content (and some sort of backup).Right now I have a Zotac MAG miniPC outputting 1080p and 7.1 to my receiver, and then a Dlink DNS-323 /w 2 2TB drives in it
 

The Rev
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Very interesting CG...this is what I'm looking for.

I've actually never heard of a mini-pc. I googled the one you have and it looks like it's a very compact size. I think I saw there are 4 USB outputs on the pc. This may be a stupid question? Could I connect the pc to my tv via hdmi...and just have four hard drives connected to the mini-pc?

A server eventually makes a LOT of sense, especially since i'm about to go over 2 TB worth of stuff.

Thanks buddy
 

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Very interesting CG...this is what I'm looking for.

I've actually never heard of a mini-pc. I googled the one you have and it looks like it's a very compact size. I think I saw there are 4 USB outputs on the pc. This may be a stupid question? Could I connect the pc to my tv via hdmi...and just have four hard drives connected to the mini-pc?

A server eventually makes a LOT of sense, especially since i'm about to go over 2 TB worth of stuff.

Thanks buddy

Yep - that'd work fine - it might not be pretty from an aesthetics standpoint. That's why I opted for the dlink NAS. But yea, I have that mini zotac connected /w hdmi and watch a ton of 720p and 1080p stuff. Works great.
 

The Rev
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aesthetics meaning from a setup point (too many wires and such)? Yeah, I was thinking of that...

On the pc itself, I would imagine you would use Windows Media Player setup on Windows 7? Do you control the pc via a remote control?

Checking out the dlink server, I would imagine one of those Roku/any other network media player could work as well, in case I didn't go with the mini-pc? Sorry if these seem to be dummy questions...haha.
 

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No problem - love talking about this stuff... roku is great for paid services, but can't stream your content. Most devices have this problem (good for one thing, but not others) - which is why I went with the pc. Media Center is the easiest thing to run, its on windows7 (any version but "business") - although I use xbmc live, because its not as demanding in terms of resources (ram, processor, etc). Both require some setup, but there are many good guides and forums to help.

I do use a remote to control the pc, it works well. I also have a mini keyboard (its the size of a remote) for more "intensive" tasks.

Aesthics meaning yea, more wires, more drives/directories to keep track of. Not a deal breaker though, just somethhing to think about.
 

RX Dream Team
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Oct 12, 2007
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I have a similar set-up AL, just have the Western Digital Media Player and a 2TB hard drive. I need to get the live version so it connects wirelessly though.

I do the same though, have a bunch of bluray movies\shows\sports on the drive and watch them in my home theater.

A few of the blurays have DTS audio so the media player has to be connected to a receiver.

Love talking this stuff also, and discussing set-ups and such.

On another note, I just had my last external HD die on me, 1.5 TB of bluray movies down the drain. Wife plugged in the wrong power supply and fried it, lol.
 

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