Using XP as a media server (tried Linux)

Alien18

Alien18

Alien18

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2 Jan 2005
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189
Hi All,

I have posted previously in the Linux forums, when I tried out Linux for the first time ever.

I want to build a media server to stream video and music and photos to my PS3, having tried Linux I have decided it's more trouble than it's worth (while I enjoyed my Linux experience overall - but the software capable of streaming to the PS3 just doesn't seem to be quite there yet - plus I had numerous other problems I couldn't seem to solve - the most important being that it froze every time I stuck a DVD in) I think I'm going to stick with what I know, Windows XP SP2.

The reason I'm posting here is two-fold, firstly, does anyone have any experience using XP as a media server? is there anyway to streamline it so that it's not running lots of process that it doesn't need to (therefore leaving more processing power for transcoding).

Secondly, one other option is Windows Home Server but research tells me it's not the best at media serving. What are your opinions on WHS with regards to streaming, and can you install normal program on WHS (such as TVersity)?

Sorry for the long winded post, any help will be much appreciated.

Alien
 
Well, as someone who has just set all this up, using WHS no less . . . .

I couldnt get TVersity running on WHS properly. Im currently using Twonkymedia. Works a charm. As long as you let them through the firewall manually, then they work. You may have more luck using TVersity, but it didnt like me. Tried a few installs of it too.

That said, ive never transcoded video or anything like that yet, but twonky does come with a free trial. Im only after it for music.
 
I have been through the same process as you!

I have tried Linux, but just could not get it sharing reliably.

I downloaded a program called nlite, which takes your xp cd, and helps you de-bloat it.

I made install that slimmed down xp, i think it was around 100mb, and is currently using about 70mb RAM (it has been on for about 3 weeks).

With AVG and downloading happening in the background, the CPU usage is never above 5% (this is on a athlon 2600+) So plenty of room left of transcoding.

Good luck with it,
 
Superb, I did try googling for ways to streamline XP but obviously I was trying the wrong search strings.

I recently specced a PC:

Intel C2D E2160 (1.8ghz)
Asus Vintage V3 barebones
2 x 512mb PC2-5300 DDR2 RAM
Samsung Dual Layer DVD-RW
Samsung Spinpoint 500gb HDD

And that comes to little over £200!

I will review that spec as it was based on a Linux set up and not having to transcode (I was going to encode all my DVDs, etc, to stream instead). Might try to get in 2x1Gb of faster RAM and maybe a 2Ghz processor, prices have probably decreased a fair bit since I specced that a few weeks ago, lol.

Thanks for the help - I'll look at nlite.
 
No probs!

I would defiantly get 2gb of ram as its cheap as chips at the moment!

That processor will be fine, and if you feel its a little sluggish they can be overclocked hugely without drastic cooling.

Good luck with the build, its very satisfying when its complete!
 
strelly said:
No probs!

I would defiantly get 2gb of ram as its cheap as chips at the moment!

That processor will be fine, and if you feel its a little sluggish they can be overclocked hugely without drastic cooling.

Good luck with the build, its very satisfying when its complete!
Click to expand...

Do you think the speed of the RAM is enough? It the max the Barebones can take!
 
Sorry about that!

My ram knowlage isnt the best so i would go with which ever is cheapest. The ram isnt a major factor when file sharing so i imagine you could compromise somewhat.
 
Yeh that's what I'm thinking. But there would probably be a fair bit of transcoding too, which I sure is CPU intensive but not sure how RAM intensive it is.

Any ideas?
 
strelly said:
I have been through the same process as you!

I have tried Linux, but just could not get it sharing reliably.

I downloaded a program called nlite, which takes your xp cd, and helps you de-bloat it.

I made install that slimmed down xp, i think it was around 100mb, and is currently using about 70mb RAM (it has been on for about 3 weeks).

With AVG and downloading happening in the background, the CPU usage is never above 5% (this is on a athlon 2600+) So plenty of room left of transcoding.

Good luck with it,
Click to expand...

Hi,

I've had a read fair bit about nlite now and I think it's exactly what I'm after, thanks. Do you have any tips for streamlining? Was it easy to get it down to 100mb with 70mb RAM usage?

Also, this may be a little off topic, but can anyone recommend any software that will convert DVD to PS3 & PSP format with the ability to batch encode (If i want to convert a movie to both PS3 and PSP format, or for encoding an entire series, etc)?

I've had a little search but nothing stood out, so any recommendations are welcome. It'd have to be a one program (can't be doing with using 2 or 3 programs to convert the majority of my DVD catalogue! lol)

Many thanks,
Alien18
 
Alien18 said:
Hi,

..I've had a read fair bit about nlite now and I think it's exactly what I'm after, thanks. Do you have any tips for streamlining? Was it easy to get it down to 100mb with 70mb RAM usage? ..
Click to expand...

I loosely followed this guide:

http://i64x.com/eeexp.php

It is designed for an eeepc, but it slims it down very well.

I found it took a couple of attempts to get it working, i think i was being too minimalistic!

Good luck!
 
I had a play with nlite last night and followed the instruction (roughly) on that link and managed to get XP (with SP2) down to 170mb! I'm going to try and install it on the partition where Linux was installed.

The thing is I used Vista's Disk Management to delete the two partitions the Linux create (one being the smaller swap file - i think?). One of them Vista now sees as Free Space (the smaller swap partition) and the other as Unallocated space (the larger).

When I tell Vista to allocate the unallocated partition it says there isn't enough room! Do I need space free on my other partitions (currently in use) to be able to perform this operation?!

Also, anyone have any response to the PS3 conversion software I posted about previously please?

Many thanks,
Alien18
 
Alien18 said:
Superb, I did try googling for ways to streamline XP but obviously I was trying the wrong search strings.

I recently specced a PC:

Intel C2D E2160 (1.8ghz)
Asus Vintage V3 barebones
2 x 512mb PC2-5300 DDR2 RAM
Samsung Dual Layer DVD-RW
Samsung Spinpoint 500gb HDD

And that comes to little over £200!

I will review that spec as it was based on a Linux set up and not having to transcode (I was going to encode all my DVDs, etc, to stream instead). Might try to get in 2x1Gb of faster RAM and maybe a 2Ghz processor, prices have probably decreased a fair bit since I specced that a few weeks ago, lol.

Thanks for the help - I'll look at nlite.
Click to expand...

It might be worth getting a single stick of 1gb ram as those boxes only have 2 dimms which would mean you couldn't up your ram anymore. I got the same box and bought 2x1gb, it's very cheap at the moment.
 
Zap said:
It might be worth getting a single stick of 1gb ram as those boxes only have 2 dimms which would mean you couldn't up your ram anymore. I got the same box and bought 2x1gb, it's very cheap at the moment.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty certain I'll be getting 2x1Gb RAM.

I've just gotta pay of my credit card (should be done well before the end of the month) then, I'll be ordering my parts.
 
Hi,

I tried to boot my XP off the CD I made (using nLite). But it froze really early on at the stage where it says "Windows is starting" (or something like that) at the bottom of the blue screen, in the white strip.

Anyone had this happen to them before? Is it something I did when removing features? Any clues?

Many thanks.
 
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