Gauging interest, home media network

[Tin]

Short term goals:

• Ease of use
• Central location for all of your music and movies
• Automatic ripping, tagging, and encoding of CDs, DVDs, and Blurays
• Redundant storage, keep those files safe from a hard drive failure
• Easy backups via USB storage
• Player control via web browser, tablet, smartphone, or remote control
• Easy to use web GUI for media server
• Stylish, yet functional
• Multiple options for audio output
• Live TV and DVR capabilities, if requested by customer
• High quality audio playback via lossless files (e.g. FLAC)
• Ability to play 1:1 uncompressed Bluray rips (dependent on amount of storage required by customer)
• Sync audio playback between players, great if you're entertaining guests and wish to have the same thing playing in any room with a player
• Compatibility with streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, etc

Future goals:

• Ability to stream media over the internet to wherever you may be
• Auto-add media players by retrieving credentials from existing players, no fuss setup

There will be no predetermined cost. My philosophy is that instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, to go with a tailor-made approach. I realize income isn't unlimited for everybody, so meeting certain price points will save you money. The main factors are the amount of storage you wish to have, the quality of audio playback you desire, and if you wish to have live TV/DVR capabilities. I can go as far as you want

 

[chunkybs]

i would be interested for sure. i'd love a unit that would find all the shows i want online and download them so i can watch the shows i like without paying $150+ for cable.

 

[Tin]

Thinking something like this for the server side...

...and on the player side.

 

[The Man]

I'd be interested for sure....

Plex and Chromecast is nice.....but limited to using torrents for movies.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Tin]

I'd be interested for sure....

Plex and Chromecast is nice.....but limited to using torrents for movies.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk 2

You can still torrent movies with this as well. I can always add in a web GUI for that, too

 

[jspec]

Brand it and create a website.

 

[95 Z/28 LT1]

This is a great idea. You should come up with a few predefined packages or levels that give someone to start with. Then have options that can be added in for additional cost for the customization part.

If they will run stable and are easy to use, you could get people buying them for their non-tech parents and people who otherwise might not.

 

[Tin]

This is a great idea. You should come up with a few predefined packages or levels that give someone to start with. Then have options that can be added in for additional cost for the customization part.

If they will run stable and are easy to use, you could get people buying them for their non-tech parents and people who otherwise might not.

That's what I'm shooting for. Most of it isn't difficult to use, but there will always be some that will need to be taught. It's like anything else. My mom finally learned how to use her DVR from WOW, only took a couple of years :lol:

 

[347convert]

Now... we are talking.

 

[motownrx7]

I build my HTPC for $200+ installed Kodi from www.kodi.tv and got rid off cable TV. Kodi with add-ons is all you need. I watch walking dead, etc. Half hour after it air in HD.

 

[BigWheelinBubba]

I build my HTPC for $200+ installed Kodi from www.kodi.tv and got rid off cable TV. Kodi with add-ons is all you need. I watch walking dead, etc. Half hour after it air in HD.

You don't even know all of the things that are possible with Tin's setup! He and I are brothers and we live together so I experience his creations on a daily basis and am always amazed with his stuff.

 

[motownrx7]

Maybe so but all I need is in a $200 HTPC and one piece of software.

 

[Tin]

I build my HTPC for $200+ installed Kodi from www.kodi.tv and got rid off cable TV. Kodi with add-ons is all you need. I watch walking dead, etc. Half hour after it air in HD.

Yep, Kodi is the way to fly. I plan on implementing a few other things along with it. I'll have it so a video can be paused in one room, and picked back up in another, editing out commercials on the fly for live TV recordings, auto transcoding for portable devices, plus a few others. Kodi will be the front end for media players, the back end will be a stripped Fedora distro purpose built for this and include the web GUI for ripping, tagging, backups, etc.

 

[moneypit]

Home security?

 

[Zarken]

With the way this sounds, I might be interested in a couple units. Depending on that starting cost. This would be my first jump into something like this as I have always used my TV for a computer monitor anyways.
Was considering one for myself.
Then if cost is pretty nice, get a unit for my Boss. He has a nice 160" projection system setup in his basement/bar with a fairly decent sound system. Since he lives in the woods, this would be a decent addition for long term use.

 

[motownrx7]

Tin, any in site on streaming live TV.

 

[Tin]

With the way this sounds, I might be interested in a couple units. Depending on that starting cost. This would be my first jump into something like this as I have always used my TV for a computer monitor anyways.
Was considering one for myself.
Then if cost is pretty nice, get a unit for my Boss. He has a nice 160" projection system setup in his basement/bar with a fairly decent sound system. Since he lives in the woods, this would be a decent addition for long term use.

As it stands now, we're looking at $700 for the media server with 8GB of RAM, quad-core Celeron, Bluray drive, and 2TB worth of RAID 1 storage, or $800 with 4TB. The CPU itself only consumes 10W of power, so this can be an "always on" system and remain friendly towards the electricity bill. The media players will range from $125 to $250 each depending on audio output capabilities. The $125 option would only have HDMI audio, perfectly suitable for somebody with an AVR or somebody that has no additional audio system. After that, I will offer USB audio devices capable of 32-bit/384KHz output, and possibly DSD64 (direct stream digital) for those who want higher quality audio capabilities. DSD is the format of SACD (Super Audio CD), whereas CD audio is in the PCM format.

 

[Tin]

Tin, any in site on streaming live TV.

You live near me, you should come check out what I got going on one of these days

 

[sn95_311]

id be very interested depending on start up cost , and if there is an option to stream live tv ,., ive been trying to cut out my cable bill for years

 

[Bateater]

I assume you'd use usenets?