Home PC Media Centre Server Software

majiktripp

Does anyone know of any home pc software (similar to TVersity) but better that allows you to access a Home Media Server over your network? It would be something similar to Apple's Front Row or Microsoft Home Server. Any idea's?

SouperComputer

Theres lots of ways to do it. it depends on what your server/client situation is.

What is your server/network setup currently?

majiktripp

Its nothing flash just a home network setup. One main PC whcih has a lot of media stored on it. I have the wireless netowrk setup and workign fine, several laptops using it and all have access to the main media pc. I would just like to be able to stream videos from it an pictures etc instead of having to connect to shared drives on it and copying the files to the laptops in question and viewing them that way.
I have TVeristy running on it as it was free so I thought I'd trial it out but it doesn't seem to be very good, I also got the Microsoft Home Server beta version but that requires a wipe and reinstall which is a road I don't really wan't to go down.

BlackWizard

I was in the same situation a while ago too. Never got a real good answer.

So I ended up using a web server on the machine with the videos. Using the divx web player I was able to let clients stream from the web server.

But since I couldnt be bothered making a full blown web application to let me upload and host all the videos, I installed phpBB and embedded each video into it's own thread. The great thing about phpBB is that its Free and its very easy to organise the eventual mess that builds up.

Windows Media Home Server sounds great, I have the beta version myself too. But I really don't have the time to start creating new partitions and trying it out.

PogMoThoin

Are you familiar with linux? this is what i use & I sshfs 2 my main pc to add the files from the main pc permanently to the laptop. Could use cygwin to be able to use this with windows laptops. Its great, when i open the music folder on the laptop its got all the music from my main pc, and noting stored on the laptop. will be changing things around as i'm putting the media harddrives in an old dell & gonna put it in the attic as a server. You also will be able to access your server over the net from anywhere as long as you open port 22 of your router.

Guide here

SouperComputer

Webguide for MCE is worth a shot. Otherwise, all you really need to a permanent map to the network drive, and a frontend on each client computer.

For the frontend on a Windows Machine you can use:

Webguide
Mediaportal
Windows Media Center, assuming some of your computers have it already.
GB-PVR


If you want dedicated hardware that is cheap to use as a set-top-box kind of deal, you can use:

Original Xbox with XBMC Xbox Media Center installed
A G3 or G4 iMac with Geexbox installed (its linux, but doesnt really need much config or linux knowledge)

There are other options, but id say at least one of the above will work for you.

Joe_Soap

I have Winamp Remote set-up on my pc downstairs and I have it streaming to my XBOX 360 upstairs. My only gripe is that fast-forwarding doesn't work the best. I initially tried TVersity but that wasn't realiable.

SouperComputer

If its just audio, Slimserver is worth a shot. You can stream it to winamp, VLC or its own Java-Based hardware emulator, Softsqueeze.

subway

the simple answer is you dont have to copy the files over at all.
open the network folder and double clikc the file.

in a windows pc it will start playing immediatley.
if your thinking mpeg 4 a wired netword will have bandwoth for 2 or 3 hd streams, 20 or 30 sd streams
if the network is wirless with a good signal you can probably expect to get at least 1 HD streams or around 10 sd streams