Hi, I hope that what seems like one of the most helpful communities online can help. This might seem like I'm being lazy, but due to a family emergency I won't be in a position to research the answers myself, which I should be doing I know.

 

I am looking to build a media server, this will be my first build and having heard nothing but good things, I had decided on unRAID for the OS. I will be starting with three drives (2TB or 3TB - I am open to advice!), but the Fractal Design case I have will hold ten, and I will eventually be looking to move to this number (though I realize that it will necessitate purchasing a Pro version). The server will be streaming media files over a wired/wireless network to an HTPC/HDTV in 1080p running XBMC, an HDTV in 720p running XBMC, and various tablets and mobile phones via a Plex add-on.

 

As well as the Plex add-on, I want to have multiple TV tuners on the server so that it can stream video (an EPG and different channels) to each set.

 

Can you advise me what the best hardware for this set-up is in your opinions please? If this post should be in another area of the forum, accept my apologies - I will re-post it asap. If circumstances didn't dictate it, I wouldn't be taking the easy way out, and for your help and patience I am very grateful to you all

Hi,

maybe you should tell us a bit more about your plans and capabilities.

 

- besides the TV, XBMC and mobile clients...do you already own some parts and plan to re-use them?

 

- what TV cards do you plan to use...what technology (DVB-S2, DVBT, analog - USB, PCIe - w/o CI card)?

 

- do you have experience with that part for TV set-up along with your XBMC components?

  ...BTW: you do NOT plan to run XBMC alongside unRAID on the same HW, do you?

 

- do you also plan to view TV recordings besides EPG and Live-TV?

 

- streaming FullHD over wireless will not make you happy unless you transcode/downsize the content.

  ...do you plan to do that on the fly or rather cater for sufficient disk-space and store transcoded content for each device in parallel?

 

- are you familiar with linux and adding / customizing an install

 

- how much money is in your pocket for this?

 

...if you want to reduce risks and become more flexible in your decisions, I'd rather suggest to go for a fully virtualized build.

Once you figured out on how to do the virtualization stuff, you can get along for each individual system/OS (unRAID, tv-recorder/tuner, transcoding) based on standard HOWTOs....no tweaking inside required.

I have to admit that I have left a lot of unanswered questions; I figured that if I gave out all the info I had straight away, my first post would be so long that people would just look at it and decide not to read it! j/k....in answer to your points, the only hardware I have thus far is a Fractal Design Define R4.

 

I'm looking to save on having a set-top box next to both HDTVs, and will be recording Live TV to the server (so pausing Live TV would be beneficial, but by no means essential).

 

The technology with regard to the TV card was something that I was going to have to research, as I know nothing about TV tuners other than how to install and operate one in a stand-alone PC.

 

I'm not planning to run XBMC on the same H/W as unRAID (although I would like to run the Linux version of XBMC on the HTPC if possible. BTW, what would make doing this - if I HAD planned to - a bad idea?) You can tell from my questions that I'm far from being experienced in this!

 

I plan to view recorded content, and was aware of the whole wireless issue. What would have to be done anyway would be for the content to be transcoded to 720p to display on the second HDTV (which is not FULL HD). I'd also need to transcode HD programming/existing movies in order to play them (via Plex) on my tablets/smart phones - this I have tried with Plex already and works well. So all transcoding would be done on the fly, something that I know will affect my CPU requirements.

 

I am a little (with the emphasis on "a little") familiar with Linux, and installing/customizing an install), and have approximately $600 (initially) for this build (which explains why I am starting with only three drives, two of which I already own). I know this figure almost to the penny, as it is an insurance check that I will be receiving. Hey, it's an ill wind...!

 

Thanks again for any and all help you can provide. Your comments regarding virtualization are very interesting, and something I'd like to learn more about, as virtualization is something that I was intending to research aside from this, so to kill two birds with one stone would be ideal.....

 

 

 

By the way, I love your name. The Ford Prefect character in the original Hitchhiker's Guide was funny as hell!

OK, lets start with some assumptions and build a conclusion from there....

 

Assumptions:

- use unRAID as your NAS/Storage.

  unRaid comes as a bare metal system, based on linux.

  Anything you add does mean that unRAID will be non standard afterwards....you need some linux skills to do that.

  You are limited in your options regarding TV-service with unRAID..there is a tvheadend add-on, but I do not know what state it is in, nor do I know if your HW will be supported.

  plexx add-on should do fine.

 

- your tv service...

  ...needs to be compatible with the XBMC PVR plugin options...assuming frodo based builds..maybe linux or rather openelec

  You need to be able to record to your NAS from it.

 

- you already have at least one HTPC (with XBMC on Win?) to control your TV

 

- you have 600 bucks in your pocket to purchase at least:

  - PSU

  - mobo

  - RAM

  - CPU

  - 1pcs. of 2or3TB disk (you already have a set of two...possibly 2 TB or smaller...your parity disk need to be the largest disk in the array in order for unRAID to work)

  - tuner card(s) (serving two clients and one recording concurrently ?)

 

- virtualization is an option, as your linux skills are not that advanced and your architecture (i.e. regarding tv-cards and technology) is not complete.

  This will require some more advanced - and more expensive - hardware though.

 

Conclusion (my 2 cents):

- Virtualizing might be the best technical option, because you are not limited to constraints of a single system

  I don't know your location and currency/VAT and other refunds, but I doubt that you can purchase such a system with the money available.

 

- building a nice unRAID with enough CPU for Plex add-on should be do-able I think.

  Although I do not know what it takes to transcode to 720p on-the-fly...maybe quite a large CPU and more RAM is required....doing it for mobile clients is within reach, I think.

- building a second small system for tv-services will squeeze the budget very tight, but you could as well consider to run your HTPC as tv-server and recycle these parts as well.

I should have said that I am in Virginia, USA, or will be when I return home from England from the family emergency which has led to this situation. I like the appearance of XBMC, but Linux and Plex on everything would make much more sense to my limited thinking. Plex seems to transcode really well (although not over the internet), so even wirelessly I'm getting a good version of high-def movies on my Nexus and Kindle. I saw that it had an unRAID add-on, and this was one of the add-ons (tvheadend being another, and I'm sure there will be more still) that I am interested in.

 

What you say regarding virtualizing is intriguing, but I have no idea where to start doing what you are suggesting - any pointers?

 

Other than that, your two cents'worth makes very good sense and good reading also...

I believe that for 600USD, you will not be able to build a system for virtualizing unRAID and your tv-server.

You need specialized hardware, which can be found in pure server parts (mobo+cpu+BIOS support of the vt-d feature is the keyword here)

and in order to virtualize unRAID you will need an extra HBA plus cables.

I am running such a system myself (NAS, although not unRAID and ArgusTV, formerly known as ForTheRecord).

In this kind of setup you will pass through real hardware to individual, dedicated systems (virtual machines). In this case a HBA for unRAID to access the Disks in full, native mode+speed

and a TV-card (with PCIe interface...maybe USB will work but not as reliable as PCIe) for your tv-server.

 

You can read about virtualizing unRAID here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14695.0

and about virtualizing a tv-server with ArgusTV here: http://www.argus-tv.com/wiki/index.php?title=Running_ARGUS_TV_in_a_Virtual_Environment

 

Yes, tvheadend is an option that is supported by XBMC at the client side but as stated, I do not know if the unRAID addon is stable.

Also I believe tvheadend is nice for liveTV but not quite comfortable for recordings...is is also not clear which TV cards are supported and

how the linux driver will be deployed to unRAID.

 

Running the plex addon in unRAID is beneficial because the application gets direct access to the filesystem.

However, accessing the unRAID NAS from a virtual machine should be possible at GB-NIC speed as well.

 

When you go the route for using addons in unRAID, you introduce side-effects, constraints and dependencies which the original design does not cater for.

If you are willing to invest time and efforts, with the help of the community many problems can be solved, but there is no guarantee.

With a working virtual setup (which only depends on a compatible hardware list), you can build each system in a virtual machine independently, based on its own standard.

The one thing is shared resources, which are overall higher than with unRAID alone plus some addons.

Thanks - you've given me plenty to think about. It looks as though my best bet is going to be initially just to build an unRAID server and install a TV tuner on it (any recommendations?). The PleXBMC add-on would only be required by my tablets and smart-phones, and since they are running Android and PleXBMC isn't yet available on Android (is it?), I'll have to make do without it on them, and just be sure to watch everything on the HTPC. I neglected to mention that at present I am streaming movies via a Roku box to the 720P HDTV, and they are obviously being transcoded prior to being streamed on the wireless network.

 

Thanks for all your help - it only remains for me to decide on which makes of HDD to buy. This is an excellent learning process!

 

BTW - If I have a 2TB HDD with my current media collection on it, what is the best way of migrating the files to the array that will be created by the installation of unRAID?

unRAID has no drivers for TV tuners, or any video devices for that matter.

 

To do what you propose is possible, but you will need to compile your own linux kernel with the drivers you need.  It is possible for a newbie to do it, but you will be in over your head for a while.  There is a wiki entry on loading unRAID on a full Slackware distribution.  You'll probably need to follow that route.

 

Good luck.  unRAIS is network-attached-sorage.  Anything beyond that is a customization.

+1

I'd suggest to go for two separate boxes...plain unRAID (Plex addon is pure application (no drivers), so less risk breaking your unRAID) and a  tv-server (this  is a different story with unRAID since hardware support is required).

This thread is regarding tvheadend addon for upcoming V5 of unRAID: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=20782.0

Judge for yourself if you want to go that route.

I have 2 ESXi servers - each has 3 VMs installed.  I have an unRAID VM on each box with a M1015 and SAS expander on pass through for unRAID storage.  Each ESXi server also has a Windows 7 x64 VM.  I have SageTV installed on each of those VMs.  I am passing through 2 AVerMedia Duet tuners and a Hauppauge HVR-2250 tuner to one SageTV VM and a single AVerMedia Duet and Hauppauge HVR-2250 along with a NEC based USB 2.0 card to the other.  The pass through NEC USB 2.0 card connects 2 Hauppauge HD-PVRs for HD recording from Component/SPDIF.  The 3rd VM on one ESXi server is Windows 7 x86 VM for sand boxing my internet browsing and WHSv1 for Windows backups on the other.