Experience Level: Standard

iHomeServer is an add-in for Windows Home Server v1 and Windows Home Server 2011 which allows you to manage Apple’s iTunes media player directly from the WHS Console/Dashboard.  iHomeServer starts iTunes automatically when the computer starts, keeps it running and allows you to manage iTunes without having to physically access the computer. It also makes it easy to add new media to your iTunes Media Server.

Features:

Automatically start iTunes on boot-up

iHomeServer runs an instance of iTunes within its own Windows Service that automatically starts when your computer/server does. Therefore iTunes is always available, even when nobody has logged into the computer.

Runs iTunes on systems with no sound cards

iTunes is meant to be run on a normal desktop. However, today’s microservers are ideal to run as a headless iTunes media server, but most do not come with sound cards. This would normally prevent you from automatically starting iTunes when the computer boots, because iTunes will present a message indicating there is a problem with your audio/video configuration. iHomeServer actively watches the iTunes process for these messages and dismisses them transparently in the background to ensure iTunes starts successfully. You can view any messages that iTunes has presented using the iHomeServer ‘Messages’ window

Manage iTunes from the Windows Home Server Console

iHomeServer supports starting and stopping iTunes from the WHS Dashboard / Console. You can also view and manage all your iTunes media libraries and playlists, directly from the WHS Dashboard – creating and managing iTunes playlists, adding, removing and playing tracks – most of your day to day tasks can be performed remotely from your laptop, but controlling your WHS server’s instance of iTunes.

Create multiple “Watch Folders” to synchronise your iTunes library with your existing media folder structure

One of the issues people face when running iTunes on servers is how to add new media to the server. The last thing you want to do is have to open iTunes manually on the server whenever you need to add a new CD or track downloaded from Amazon.

iHomeServer makes this easy. Create ‘Watch Folders’ that watch areas of your file system (such as the WHS Music and Video shares). Any content already in these folders will automatically be added to your iTunes library. iHomeServer actively monitors these folders so if new media is added, or existing media is modified (eg due to a modification of metadata), iHomeServer will update the track in iTunes transparently. You can even watch network locations or remote storage if your keep your media on another server or NAS.

Edit your iTunes server’s metadata and Cover Art remotely

iHomeServer allows you to view and edit the metadata of tracks stored within the iTunes library running on your server. This can also be done remotely via the Windows Home Server console.

You can even set track Cover Data within your Server iTunes library by copying and pasting from your local PC.

Perform batch metadata and cover art updates

Not only can you update the metadata of individual tracks, you can also use an existing track’s metadata as a template to set a collection of related tracks, just like the iTunes ‘Get Info’ interface, but via the WHS Console.

Automatically delete orphaned tracks

If you delete files directly on your file system, iTunes will keep the track in its library, but when you attempt to play the file, you will get an error indicating that the file no longer exists. iHomeServer can automatically remove deleted tracks from Watch Folder locations so that you have confidence that all your tracks in iTunes exist. You can also ask iHomeServer to perform a complete sweep of an iTunes library to look for orphaned tracks and automatically delete them. These functions are ideal if you reorganise your media folders in order to avoid duplicate files appearing.

iTunes Process Monitoring

In addition to handling iTunes for any pop up dialog boxes that might disrupt your iTunes streaming or prevent iTunes starting up successfully, iHomeServer also monitors the iTunes process and restarts iTunes automatically if it crashes.

Supports all iTunes native functionality – AirPlay, Remote, Wifi Sync, iCloud and Home Sharing

Take advantage of all the major functions within iTunes but benefit from them being ‘always there’ and not having to turn your desktop on first. Wifi Sync, AirPlay, iCloud sync and Home Sharing all work with iHomeServer.

Use the Apple Remote app (for iOS) to remote control your iHomeServer’s iTunes instance and AirPlay your media library to all your favourite devices!

The Apple Remote app for iOS devices is a fantastic partner with an iHomeServer/iTunes microstation allowing you to remote control your server’s iTunes instance and direct media streams to other devices such as Airport Expresses, Apple TV (1 and 2), iPhones, iPads and other AirPlay compatible hardware devices.

Developer: Ed Steward

Download: iHomeServer (WHS v1) | (WHS 2011)

Release History

v2.0.28 (28th January 2012)

• First release for Windows Home Server

CES 2012 is upon us again.  NETGEAR, like many companies, use CES to announce new products that will be available to the consumer in the upcoming year.  Among the new NETGEAR products is a series of networking devices from DSL to Cable modem/routers to integrated media storage routers to high speed WiFi adapters and more.

A few of the items are as follows.

The N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit DSL Modem Router (DGND4000)

is a CES 2012 Innovations Design and Engineering award honoree product.  This device provides an integrated DSL modem with high performance wireless router with speeds of up to 450 Mbps for demanding applications such as streaming HD video and multiplayer gaming. The router also includes premium features such as ReadySHARE® Cloud for remote access to the USB hard drive and ReadySHARE Printer to convert your USB printer into a networked printer.

NETGEAR’s N900 Wireless Dual Band USB Adapter (WNDA4100)

connects a notebook or desktop computer to a wireless network with ultra high speeds and is perfect for demanding applications like streaming HD video, downloading large files, and online gaming. The WNDA4100 delivers up to 450 Mbps WiFi speed on 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz frequencies and is the ideal complement to the N900 Dual Band Wireless Router (WNDR4500) and Media Storage Router (WNDR4700). Push ‘N’ Connect offers a secured connection and easy setup at the push of a button.

Finally, we have the NETGEAR CGD3700B/CGE3700B, which is the industry’s first concurrent dual band WiFi cable gateway to receive modem certifications for both DOCSIS 3.0 from CableLabs and EuroDOCSIS 3.0 from Cable Europe Labs. The NETGEAR CGD3700T is the first model of its kind based on an Intel chip set to receive DOCSIS 3.0 modem certification from CableLabs.

The attached press release provides additional information on these products as well others covered in separate posts.

Show Press ReleaseHide Press Release

Continuing the My Movies updates from this morning, the guys over at Binnerup Consulting have also released an update for the Windows Home Server 2011 edition of the add-in. WHS 2011 users jump straight to version 2 of My Movies (there’s no first release available) which is in testing.

Pre-release 7 brings with it the following fixes:

• Fix: DvdInfoCache folder was incorrect.
• Fix: mp3HD encoding did not work with latest version of encoder.
• Fix: Different minor bugs in monitoring
• Fix: Videos share was added to wrong registry location on Create DefaultSettings
• Fix: Incorrect installer handling could lead to various issues when upgrading rather than uninstalling and reinstalling

Download: My Movies for Windows Home Server 2011

As Terry indicated in a review of the ealier iXL Power PC, Tranquil PC is getting back to their roots in the media center arena.  The all new Sandy Bridge powered ixLS PC is an awesome looking example of their current media center push.

Tranquil + Sandy Bridge + media center + silent just sounds and looks like an excellent combination.  And they are here now on a first come, first served basis.

The announcement:

The Intel Sandy Bridge powered ixLS PC is now available to order.

Orders are accepted on a first come, first served basis.  Orders will commence shipping from

You can select either i3, i5 or i7
(although the i3 versions will not ship until February 22nd, and thereafter)

Starting at £389 the ixLS is a power PC that will go places, fast!

As a PRE-ORDER offer – Tranquil have announced the following coupon code will give you a £59.00 discount, bringing the base price down to £330 ! – the COUPON CODE to use is SANDY

To learn more about ixLS systems – please click here

To get the low down on the Main Board and CPUs + full user guides, please click here

More Info: Tranquil PC

Yesterday’s exciting news about the public release of the Windows Home Server Vail Preview caught many Micosoft observers off-guard, but certainly lit up the web yesterday. The news spread quickly, and as well as our 12 part mega preview of the release, there was a huge amount of coverage across the web. Here’s a selection of our favourites – recommended reading:

Microsoft WHS MVP Coverage

MediaSmartServer.net
Windows Home Server Vail Overview and Release
How to Install Windows Home Server Vail From a USB Flash Drive
Windows Home Server Vail Installation Guide
Installing Vail On to  VM Using VM Workstation
Installing Vail On To a Virtual Machine Part 2 – VMWare Server
How to Install Windows Home Server Vail On the HP MediaSmart Server

Home Server Show
Home Server Show Feature List
Home Server Show 87 – Vail Released

Using Windows Home Server
Windows Home Server Public Preview
Installing the Connector Software for Vail
What is the Windows Home Server Vail Launchpad

MSWHS.com
Windows Home Server V2 (Vail) Review – Part 1
Windows Home Server Code Name Vail Available

Tom on Tech
Announcing Windows Home Server Code Name Vail
Windows Home Server Vail Public Preview in Depth Part 1
Windows Home Server Vail Public Preview in Depth Part 2

Home Server Blog (German)

Öffentliche Beta von Windows Home Server Codename “Vail”
So installiert sich der neue Windows Home Server
Was ist Neu beim neuen Home Server?

Mon Home Server (French)

Vail : La prochaine version de Windows Home Server se dévoile
Vail : Téléchargez la bêta publique maintenant

Tech Pundits & Publications

Windows Home Server Code Name “Vail” public preview announced – Neowin
Windows Home Server Vail Public Preview Available Now – Windows Observer
Windows Home Server Vail spotted- Ubergizmo
Microsoft releases beta of Windows Home Server ‘Vail’ – ZDNet
Windows Home Server “Vail” Beta (Public Preview) Released – Redmond Pie
Download Windows Home Server Codename Vail Public Beta – Softpedia
Windows Home Server ‘Vail’ hits public beta – Seattle Post Intelligencer
Windows Home Server “Vail” Public Preview – Paul Thurrott
Windows Home Server ‘Vail’ beta now available for download – Engadget

I thought it was time to update everyone on my “problem”.  The short story?  I am confused.  The long story?  I am *really* confused!

Once I got to a point in my TS-659 Pro review where I could actually do more than just document things, I started to play around a bit more with streaming from different sources.  The results?  Read on.

First, I moved the powerline adapters around and changed Ethernet cables in an effort to improve the signal.  Without much success.

To give one an idea of transfer rates, which is a question that one asked in a previous post:

• Thru my Gb switch: ~ 40MB/sec
• Thru my powerline adapter:” ~3MB/sec

Next, I tried to play a movie stored on the TS-659 Pro vs. the same movie store directly to my media server and on my HP X510.  I started with my reference movie, The Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring, and found the following.

• X510: the movie would play anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes before sound loss would occur.  Once started, the problem became progressively worse.
• TS-659 Pro:  After watching ~ 30 minutes of the movie (a couple of times), I could get an occasional temporary loss of sound.
• Media Player: played without problem.

Next, I tried a couple of other movies, 9 and The Dark Knight.  The results:

• X510: 9 was constantly losing sound.  The Dark Knight did not have a single loss of sound one hour into the movie.   Please note while watching the Batman movie, a backup started for one of my computers.
• TS-659 Pro: 9 was constantly losing sound.  The Dark Knight did not have a single loss of sound one hour into the movie.
• Media Player: No problems on either movie.

I realize that all this is quite unscientific, but I thought the results were quite interesting.  Conclusions?  To tell you the honest truth, I am at a loss.

For words and ideas.  Kind of…

While streaming from the TS-659 Pro seemed better than from a Windows machine, it was far from being it “works 24-7”.  I wonder if the problem has something with the recording format?  Whether it is 720P, 1080i, or 1080p?  Perhaps whether it is Dolby or DTS?  Looking at the DVD boxes really does not provide me adequate information to form opinions, however.  Perhaps ripping to a .VOB format just plain sucks?

Who knows the answer?  Certainly not I.  However, the next time I rip a movie, I will document as much information on the rip as possible.  I will rip to various formats.  Perhaps translate my current rips?

Regardless, I just wanted you all to know that the quest goes on with no end in sight.  I guess in the interim, I will simply have to copy over a movie to my media player when I want to watch something.  Kinda kills the concept of central storage.  Kinda kill the concept of browse and play.

Oh, well…

A few days ago, I became quite frustrated about an inability to stream video from my Windows Home Server and my television.  You can read about it here.  It was random.  I had problems with 2 different WHS machines, and not with a Linux-based NAS machine.  The *obvious* conclusion is that WHS was somehow basically flawed.  I’ve spent many hours over the past few days trying to figure out what the problem is, and I’m very certain what it is now.  I am very happy to state that it is not WHS!  It is not the DEMigrator.  At least in my instance.

My central distribution point for data in my home is my office.  It contains my workstation, printer, and my 2 home servers.  This is also where I hook up review devices like NAS machines.  I can’t say that it is anywhere near as elaborate as some connected homes that stream music and video to every room.  Those that have that kind of setup; I bow to you!  My network:

In my original testing, there is one scenario that I did not try, which is to stream video from my Windows 7 machine.  I copied the movie The Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring over to my workstation and proceeded to stream that movie from that computer.  The result?  Stuttering worse than with the other scenarios!  The *obvious* conclusion is that this is a Widows problem, in general, and Linux is god in the streaming world!

But it was random.  Sometimes it would stutter almost constantly.  Sometime hardly at all.  My wife had rearranged the family room and the problem seemed to have gotten worse, in general.  I was beginning to think that the Linux success was a just a stroke of luck.  Or maybe Linux is the god of streaming.

Anyway…

It was time to eliminate hardware sources.  I took my HP X510 WHS and moved it to the family room.  I hooked it directly into the switch behind my television and started up The Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring.  Again.  Sidenote: I do not think I will ever need to watch the beginning of this movie again.  It is engrained into my brain!  End of sidenote.  The result?  Absolutely no problems!  Perfect playback!  I started up my netbook.  RDC’d into my WHS.  Checked CPU and network data.  Started a backup of that machine.  Copied over some stuff.  The result?  Not a single hiccup.  The network at that point:

So, I dismantled the setup and moved the WHS machine back to it’s normal spot.  Fired up the movie again.

Stutter, stutter, stutter.

I changed out the switch in my room.

Stutter, stutter, stutter.

I got a nice long Ethernet cable and bypassed my powerline adapter.  The result?  Not a single hiccup.  Once again, I tried the other machines and experienced *success*.

Why had the QNAP NAS box worked originally?  I do not know, and it has been repacked for shipment back to QNAP.  However…  I do have a TS-659 Pro sitting here that I have done some preliminary review documentation for.  Once I get to a point where I can check streaming, I will be watching the beginning of The Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring.  Again.

For those who have suggested turning off such things as NIC Checksum Offload, I did this on the HP machine.  I found no difference either way.

For me, I had really been ready to blame Microsoft.  I had really been ready to blame Windows Home Server.  Some have suggested the DEMigrator is the problem.  I had been *almost* ready to blame that also.

In the end, I was simply ready to make hasty conclusions.  Debugging network problems is tedious and time consuming.  And/or perhaps I do not have the right tools to help debug network problems.

Any suggestions?

The moral?  Don’t jump to conclusions.  Eliminate the variables.  Have patience.  Sometimes I need to retell myself those little things.

And finally, back to my original problem.  For whatever reason, powerline is not providing a great User Experience for streaming.  Running Ethernet cable are not a very good option for me.  Upgrading to wireless N and getting a wireless N media receiver does not sound very appealing either.  Suck-a-la-poo, what do I do!?

Recently, I finished up a review of the QNAP TS-259 Pro NAS computer.  One of the points I made in that review was a seeming inability to play movies through a media player on my television without losing sound and/or experiencing reduced picture quality from a WHS machine.  But not on the QNAP machine.  I mentioned this prior to the publication of the review to Terry and he had experienced similar problems.  He was in the process of putting together a test WHS machine to test out a few things when I pinged him on this.  It is interesting to note that he experienced no problems streaming with that build.

I have also noticed several threads in the WGS forums recently that seem to indicate that other users have had similar problems.  In the interests of putting together a Connect issue, I thought it might be useful to put together a thread in the forums asking for input from users who are having problems streaming media in their home.  Or if you have not been experiencing problems, we would like to hear about that also.

All I ask is that you take a few minutes and answer a few questions on the components in your system.  From beginning to end.

NOT HERE, THOUGH!  In the forums, at the link at the end of this article.  Comments are cool, but please save the answers for the forum.

Here is a list of the questions:

• Computer make & model. If self built, please document major components.
• Computer NIC make, model, and driver version
• WHS PP? & ALL updates installed?
• Have you switched Ethernet cables (one at a time at all applicable connection points)?
• Switch(s) (if applicable) make(s) & model(s)
• Router make & model
• Router firmware version
• Media receiver make & model
• Media receiver NIC make & model
• Is the media receiver wired or wifi?
• Media format you are having problems with

For reference, here is my list (to be repeated in the forum thread).

System 1:

Computer: HP X510

NIC: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller, Driver 5.742.1125.2009

OS: WHS @ PP3 and all updates as of 31Mar10

Ethernet cables: have traded out cable to eliminate as a possible problem source

Switch #1: D-Link DGS-2208

Switch #2: Linksys PLK300 Powerline switch

Router: Linksys WRT110, FW 1.0.05

Media Receiver: QNAP NMP-1000, FW 1.1.4 wired to powerline switch

Problem Format: .VOB files

System 2:

Computer: Self-Built

  – MSI K9A Platinum MB

  – AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ CPU

  – 2GB of memory

NIC: Realtek PCIe RTL8168/8111, Driver 5.708.1030.2008

OS: WHS @ PP3 and all updates as of 31Mar10

Ethernet cables: have traded out cable to eliminate as a possible problem source

Switch #1: D-Link DGS-2208

Switch #2: Linksys PLK300 Powerline switch

Router: Linksys WRT110, FW 1.0.05

Media Receiver: QNAP NMP-1000, FW 1.1.4 wired to powerline switch

Problem Format: .VOB files

If you want to list any add-ins being used, that might not be a bad idea to include that information.

So if you are having problems (or not), make a list.  Check it twice.  Head over to the forums and let’s see if we can find a common hardware or software component out of all the possible problem areas.

Forum Link: WGS

Although news of the various releases of TwonkyMedia Server have been picked out here at WGS, we’ve yet to walk through the installation of the add-in.  Maybe it is because the purpose of the add-in is not clear, maybe it is because those with the HP MediaSmart Server get it by default – either way, the various media server products that come under the Packet Video banner are certainly pervasive in the home marketplace. They even find their way into the various NAS systems now targeting the ‘Storage in the Home’ arena.

What is TwonkyMedia Server then? A definition even makes it into Wikipedia:-

TwonkyMedia server (TMS) is DLNA-compliant UPnP AV server software from PacketVideo. It runs on Macintosh, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Home Server, Windows 7 and Linux. TwonkyMedia server is also available for Android and other mobile platforms. TwonkyMedia server can be used to share and stream media to most UPnP AV or DLNA-compliant clients, in addition to non-UPnP devices through the HTML, RSS, and JSON supported front-ends. After the acquisition of TwonkyVision by PacketVideo, TwonkyMedia was renamed PVConnect, but the name was later changed back to TwonkyMedia server.

We Got Served even awarded TwonkyMedia Server our ‘Best Windows Home Server Software’ Reader Award back in 2008. I struggled a little in searching out a purpose for TwonkyMedia Server for Windows Home Server. It seems to exist to overcome some of the shortfalls of the media streaming services in WHS that come from Windows Media Player 10 and is now available for a range of PCs and NAS devices. Media streaming is an area where technology is changing continually – compatibility changes with new products being released and new standards ratified. Twonky has endeavoured to keep up with these standards and also include support for some products that fall outside recognised media player conformance.

Twonky is really a pair of products with the TwonkyMedia Manager working in conjunction with the Server to allow a level of remote control with compatible Media Players.

To quote Twonky themselves:-

TwonkyMedia manager is open, standards-based software, so you’re not stuck using a particular brand of devices in the home. You can share your media with hundreds of popular devices, including TVs, game consoles, A/V systems, PCs, digital media adapters and mobile devices. TwonkyMedia manager even works with Xbox 360®, Sony PlayStation® 3 and Sony PlayStation Portable.

Generally, TwonkyMedia manager and server work with any TV, game console, A/V system, PC, network-attached storage (NAS) device, digital media adapter and mobile device that is DLNA or UPnP compatible.

When I set out to try TwonkyMedia Server, I didn’t really know what to expect. I had bought a licence through the offer announced before Christmas and downloaded version 5.1.2 together with the associated PDF documentation. I had a couple of devices that I thought could benefit from greater streaming compatibility with WHS, but other than that I was looking for it to jump out and convince me this was a show-stopping tool. As to whether it succeeded, we will come to that later. As the Server product is supplied by itself this walkthrough only covers that element with regard to WHS installation and functionality.

Curiously, Twonky have comprehensive installation and setup notes for a standard Windows install, and for Linux. However any mention of WHS seems to be completely lacking. Thankfully, the installation is totally standard. Download the installer (the usual msi file), copy it into the Add-Ins folder in the Software share on the server and then open up the WHS Console. In Settings, go to Add-Ins and then TwonkyMedia Server will be found in the Available list. Click on Install, allow it to complete and close the Console. On re-opening, you will find some new options.

Twonky provides a status tab

and a range of options in a tabbed window within settings

However, there is some very important configuration to complete through web pages served by a built-in web server. This can be accessed by clicking on the ‘Open Configuration Page’ button on the last of Twonky’s settings tabs.

As Windows Home Server is touted as a media storage device, we always keep our eyes open for new devices and reviews for said devices. While the Asus O!Play HDP-R1 may not be brand new, forum member GaPony has gotten his hand on one and written a nice post reviewing the device.

I just received the O!Play from newegg today and while I haven’t spent a lot of time with it, I can say I’m pretty impressed.

Connecting to the network literally took about 2 seconds. I plugged in the cable, clicked the option for automatic DHCP IP and that, was that. I will most likely go back and manually assign a different IP Address at a later time, but there’s no specific need to do so.

Connecting to the WHS server took about 2 minutes because I have a hard time navigating those stupid little on-screen keyboards, but once I hit the Enter button, it was in like Flint.

The main menu is really quite cool, but hides the stark navigation system below. While it doesn’t have the most elegant folder navigation I’ve seen, its quite easy… much like navigating folders in Windows. I’ve tried playing .vob, .mpg, mkv, wmv, avi, .divx, files and the all played without a hitch. When playing the video_ts.ifo files from a ripped folder, the menu works initially, but I don’t see a way to call the menu back up once the movie starts. (I might need to read the manual) It plays DVD .iso files and even Blu-Ray .iso files, which frankly surprised me a little. I couldn’t find any .mov files laying around…. sorry.

Moving on, it can FF up to 32x and does it very smoothly. It can skip forward in user defined segments of 5/10/15/20/30 time slices… again pretty smoothly. Again, its not as elegant as it could be, but its as close to chapter support that I’ve seen on any device.

I was a little apprehensive about upgrading the stock 1.07 firmware to the current 1.17 firmware, but it was as easy as Asus could make it. Just copy the firmware patch onto a formatted thumbdrive, stick it in the USB slot, hit the update option and about 3 minutes later, you’re back up running.

Plugging in an external USB or eSATA HD is a piece of cake. Plug it in, turn it on, give it a minute to read the drive, and its ready to go.

This device doesn’t offer thumbnail navigation for movies… just preview mode or list mode, but its snappy and works well (and saves me time not having to round up thumbnail images). This device is strictly an intranet device, which helps keep things simple. You can us the UPnP to access a server program like PlayOn for Hulu and other stuff, but its really too slow to be useful. On the other hand, streaming your movies from PS3MediaServer work quite well, just not as elegantly as the PS3 does it, and quite frankly there’s no need. This device doesn’t require the services of a PS3MediaPlayer, TVersity, Twonky, or other streaming server because it handles everyting natively… to include DTS and DTS-MA, so far as I can tell at this early stage.

If you’re looking for a straight forward, no frills, easy to use, media player, this might just be the one. Whether connecting to a 30TB server or to a 150GB external HDD, or anything in between, its has been quite functional. The sound and picture quality has been excellant in my testing of from 480p DVDs to 1080p Blu-Ray rips.

At $87.99 (with free shipping) from newegg.com, it may just be too good to pass up. I would strongly recommend it to my friends looking to play there movies from hard drives, or from their PCs over a LAN.

Check out the original forum thread here.

I started this particular article as a review for the Asset UPnP add-in.  Before I could actually start the review, I felt I needed to preface it with several paragraphs about “why” this category of software is needed.

In the end, I felt that before I could do the review, I needed to write a separate article about the “state of media”.  Basically, it is a rather confusing/disheartening/disgusting(?) example of “everyone has a better idea” for multimedia standards.  The end result to the consumer are incompatible formats, lo-fi de facto standards, and a general mistrust of new media devices that make current devices “obsolete”.

Sure, some advancements are necessary.  8-tracks gave way to cassette tapes.  LP records (and cassette tapes) gave way to CD’s.  VHS tapes gave way to DVD’s.  It seems like digital standards are the superior method of storage and transportability that analog standards could never match.  I know, there are the “purists” who *know* that an LP is superior to a CD any day of the week.  In some respects, I have to agree.  Music that was recorded in the glory days of LP’s sound anemic when transferred to a digital format.  This, IMHO, is more a case of the digital format highlighting the inherent limitations of old-school analog recording capabilities (which sounded great on an LP) that a CD brings out.  Also, I have trouble having respect for an audiophile who “swear” they can tell the difference between $1000 speaker cables and $20 speaker wire.

Then again, I have heard Direct-To-Disc recordings on some very decent systems (from the 70’s) that would blow away anything produced today.

Moving on to computer-related digital formats, the proliferation of competing formats has exploded since the introduction of WAV files and the original IBM PC’s.  When I was “hired” by Terry as a WGS blogger, it was supposed to be a job centered around Windows Media Center and related media items.  I think WMC is a great idea that is slowly being killed off by competing business interests (i.e., cable companies, DRM concerns, non-compatible regional broadcast formats, and many other factors).

Windows is a universal Operating System, once the different languages are programmed into the software.  Windows Media Center, on the other hand, is not a universal media system.  WMC deals with all types of media: pictures, music, and video.  While WMC plays/views many types of media files, there are many media types that WMC does not play/view.  And once outside of the U.S., the ability to watch media based on certain broadcasts standards is limited, as well as broadcast internet content.

These statements can be said of many media programs.  Some support more formats than others, some less.  We (the users) have had to deal with different codec libraries and have achieved various degrees of “success” with these libraries.

Enter DLNA.  Short for Digital Living Network Alliance.  It is the goal of “DLNA member companies seek to create new products that are compatible by using open standards and widely available industry specifications.”  If you head on over to the DLNA website, the consumer (and non-member company) can find a significant amount of marketing hyperbole and very little substance.  In order to get a real understanding of how DLNA works, you need to get a copy of the the DLNA Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines, which is available to view only if you already a member or purchase the document separately.

I guess the only thing that matters is that it works.  Right?

And what I mean by “works” is that any media file I have I can play on a DLNA device.  Right?

As long as both sides of the equation (sender and receiver) adhere to the same standards.  Right?

I will be the first to admit that I am not an all-out expert on all the various media formats.  I do detest lo-fi/lo-bit-rate MP3 files.  All my various CD’s have been ripped to the FLAC format.  Microsoft does not seem to think FLAC needs to be supported, which means I use Foobar2000 to play my ripped CD’s.  Which is OK, as Foobar2000 is a decent audio player.  I like the idea behind DLNA, however, it seems that in order to make use of DLNA, one must upgrade their existing hardware and/or software.

Just to basically support ANOTHER format.  It all gets so confusing so quickly.

At least progress is coming to Windows 7 in this particular area.  Using the Asset add-in I mentioned earlier, I am now able to play my FLAC files directly in Windows Media Player.  I may still prefer Foobar2000, but the direction that Microsoft is going by embracing DLNA is encouraging.  A possible foretaste of where other components of Windows 7, and perhaps Windows Home Server, is headed?  Just a thought…

And the number of hardware devices that support DLNA is increasing daily.  It might just be one question you want to ask when shopping for a new television, DVD/BD player, or other media device.

So, my question to all of the WGS readers is; are you as confused as I?  Maybe that is why such solutions as the Popcorn Hour, RipNAS, and others are popular.  Who cares what happens behind the scenes as long as one has that click-n-play solution.  Right?

And from all of you Windows Home Server owners, I would be interested in knowing what formats you need supported that currently do not exist.  As I work on my forthcoming Asset UPnP add-in review, this would give me some feedback as to what other formats I should check out.  FLAC is covered.  Any others?

Over the weekend, the manual for the Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server H340 (now, there’s a mouthful) popped up on the internet and of course, as soon as we got our hands on the manual, we plundered it to find out more about the features that Acer have packed into the product.

Here’s a rundown of what to expect, with (blurry – sorry!) screenshots:

Comedy Contacts at Acer

Before we get into the features, someone at Acer is clearly having a bit of fun in the manual’s Certificate of Conformity. I’ll let you work it out for yourself.

Spot it? Oh, come on!

Right, let’s get back to work…

Specifications

The manual confirms the specifications of Acer’s new baby:

Installing the H340

Like HP, Acer have branded the initial Windows Home Server Connector installation screens, before the standard Microsoft setup wizard kicks in.

Before the home server installation is complete, you’ll need to enter your administrator’s password to start Acer’s Health & Performance Monitor add-in.

The WHS Console will then appear – and you can see that Acer have bundled McAfee’s Total Protection Service for Windows Home Server as the easyStore’s anti-virus solution.

Lights Out

Also included with the easyStore is Martin Rothschink’s Lights Out power management add-in, which provides the ability to set the home server into suspend mode and wake the system at scheduled times using a very cool calendar interface (the add-in is a free download for any home server user, by the way).

In the Lights Out settings page, you can configure the following settings:

• Client computer monitoring – Client computer monitoring is used to check periodically for active clients. When no active clients are detected, the selected action will be executed after the wait time. You can choose to disable client monitoring, put your server to suspend or hibernate mode, or shut down the server.

• Options – You can set Lights Out to wake up your home server on a configured backup time. You should enable this option when you run regular backups.

• Uptime diagram – Recorded uptimes are visualized in the uptime chart. You can choose between a history range of 2 to 14 days. When your server is always up, you can exclude the server from the chart. In the same way you can configure the display of backup times.

When the monitoring for remote access is enabled, the default action is disabled as long as a remote user is logged in. The default timeout from the home server is set to 20 minutes. Lights Out waits 3 additional minutes after timeout.

McAfee Total Protection Service

Acer are following in HP’s footsteps with the addition of McAfee’s Total Protection Service. This is provided with a free 6 month subscription, before paid anti-virus updates are required.

System Information

A comprehensive system information tab displays a wide variety of information on your new home server.

System Information supports the following features:

• Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server – Displays basic information about the home server, such as the specification of the processor and memory currently installed in the home server, BIOS version, and operating system version.

• LED Brightness – Allows you to adjust the brightness of the LED indicators on the home server.

• Remotely Wake Up Aspire easyStore Home Server – Allows you to enable or disable remote wakeup feature.

• Hardware Performance and Health Monitor – Allows you to view the performance data of the home server, and monitor the temperature, voltage and fan speed.

Hardware Performance and Health Monitor Settings

In the Hardware Health and Performance Monitor page, you can configure the following settings:

• Auto Refresh – Sets the refresh interval to tell Windows Home Server how frequently the monitoring data should be performed.

• Performance settings – Sets the performance threshold of the CPU, Memory and Storage.

• E-Mail alert setting – Specify an email address to which alerts should be sent.

• Launch SMTP setup – Configure the Simple Mail Transport setup (to configure your email)

IP Configuration Settings

The IP Configuration settings page allows you to view the home server’s current IP configuration settings or change the IP configuration manually.

Digital Media Server

A DLNA-compliant uPnP media server is also included, to allow you to play back files on the home server to a wide range of media receivers and other audio and video devices. I’d previously guessed this would be TwonkyMedia Server (as HP and Fujitsu-Siemens include) but Acer have in fact developed their own, simply called Digital Media Server.

iTunes Server

The easyStore will also appear as a network device in iTunes, courtesy of the now-obligatory iTunes Server.

One Touch USB Backup

One of the most unique features of the new Acer home server is one touch USB backup. As the manual explains, the USB backup button on the front panel allows you to backup data from a USB storage device to the home server. Windows Home Server copies all files into the Public shared folder first then classifies the files according to media type into their corresponding shared folders – namely Music, Videos, Photos. When Windows Home Server cannot determine file type, the file is automatically stored into the Others folder.

Home Server Wake on LAN

Using Lights Out, you can allow home computers to control the power state of the home server by installing a small, invisible service that sends a Wake On LAN magic packet to the home server whenever the home computer comes out of standby.

There’s a lot more to read and discover in the Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server’s manual – whilst it only has some of the media-centric features of the HP MediaSmart Server, it looks like a great package and most importantly, is being made available globally. Check out the link below to download the manual, and a big thanks to JMA for making it available.

More Info: Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server Manual Download (WGS Forums)