advise on OS for general server /mediaportal server

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Kilack

527 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 9

Trusted

#40017 23-Aug-2009 19:12

Hey Guys,

I currently have a machine in the lounge that is running windows xp 32bit pro which has mediaportal on it, singleseat. I also have another machine that is basically a server but is running windows xp pro also.
I want to scrap the server running win xp and move the tuners out of the box in the lounge and have a dedicated server for mediaportal and everything else.
I have a license for win2003 sitting around (work had an extra license they don't need) that has been sitting around in a drawer for ages and am thinking that might be nice but am unsure if

my two hauppauge nova-s plus tuners, will windows 2003 server 64bit even support these?

the 10 connection limit of client windows is a little annoying, especially as it counts each share even on a single machine.

Going to the hauppauge site it says there is 64bit support for the drivers on vista but not xp.. they dont mention any of the server family...

Anyone know anything about this? there must be people out there wanting to run tuners inside a server..

What about the windows home server? does that come in 64bit? does it need its own drivers? or does it use drivers from one of the other windows family?

So I guess, requirements are..
Allows more than 10 connections.
Allows mediaportal to run on it
64bit so I can use a decent amount of memory
Windows something.
Has drivers for hauppauge nova-s plus (official or not, as long as they work)

Also, the new mb has raid on it, am thinking of using raid-5.
i'd still like to save power when im able to, if im using raid will that stop the setting in windows like shutdown drives when idle for xx minutes still function?

cheeeeeeeeers

GF74

85 posts

Master Geek

#249979 24-Aug-2009 08:09

Consolidation into a single machine is always a good idea, especially if you are going for a stable server platform. I have had a quick look and it would appear that TV Engine on Svr2003 has been done sucessfully (here). It stands to reason that if you can install the TV Engine on Svr2003 then the drivers must also work. You will probably need to turn off driver signing in the OS, but that is pretty easy. Windows Home Server is essentially Svr 2003 R2, so if you have one but not the other, then go with what you have.

Licensing - I am pretty sure the licensing is per seat regardless of the number of shares, so i cannot see how you could max out 10 licenses in a typical domestic environment.

Memory - are you planning on running anything else on this machine other than TV Engine and file shares? If not you could easily get away with 1GB of memory so you do not really need to head down the x64 path if you can stick with the more driver supported x86 spec.

RAID - again the set up you have is not going to tax your average hard drive these days, unless your Raid controller offers other features that you want (e.g. hot swap, redundant drive, etc). i would stick with one drive for the OS, one for TV recording and another for everything else. If you had the same drives configured in a RAID 5 volume it is unlikely that they will ever get a rest. Also, you lose up to 33% of your capacity. Better to invest in another drive to back things up to. Just because it is RAID does not mean you should ignore a good external backup.

Hope this helps.

GF

'Cheap As Chips' HTPC:
Intel P4 3.0 GHz | GeForce 5700LE | 1024MB Ram | HVR3000 & PVR150 | Win7MC

mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#250538 25-Aug-2009 22:49

I have Media Portal TV Engine installed on a WHS server without any problems. From memory I am sure that I had to run the hauppauge 4.6b driver exe in Windows XP compatibility mode, however the drivers installed correctly and the three cards (Nova S Plus, HVR4000 and PVR150) having been running unattended ever since.

Be aware that all of the suggestions recommend storing TV Recordings on a drive that is outside of the WHS managed array. I have my recordings on an external USB drive, but they can be stored on an internal disk provided that disk is not part of the WHS storage set.

From my perspective, WHS is a good solution. I run the 32bit version and it has been very stable. I like the fact that I can decide which folders are mirrored and which are not. I do not have to mirror everything. Disks can also be removed and replaced! Alltogether I am happier with that solution than I was with a RAID option.

Cheers Mike