We featured PlayOn Media Server last week on the site – it’s an application which allows you to view online video from a wide range of sources such as Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, CBS News, CNN and more on devices such as the PS3, Xbox 360 and a growing number of digital media receivers.
With a little tinkering, you can also use PlayOn Media Server with Windows Home Server!

Thanks to the guys at MediaMall Technologies, we have two free licenses (worth $39.99 each) to give away.

All I want to know is:
What is the best TV series of all time?

Head over to the WGS Forums to enter – You have a week to enter and we’ll pull two lucky winners out at random. Whilst the competition is open to all, PlayOn Media Server works best in the USA (as some of the content is restricted to US only viewers), so if you’re outside the US, you may want to give this one a miss (sorry!).

So, the competition closes on February 28th 2009. Get cracking!

More Info: Enter the Competition

Thanks to the guys over at VIA in Fremont for sending us over the Artigo A1000 for review.

I’m in the process of getting this guy built, so look out for a full review next week.

In the meantime, here’s a few unboxing shots for you.

Headline…. it’s the smallest computer I’ve ever seen. Truly fantastic engineering.

Our moderating team over at WGS Forums have this week launched a brand new Windows Home Server Frequently Asked Questions section which is designed to provide answers to the most common questions asked by new (and experienced WHS owners).

The FAQs have been compiled based on common posts we’ve seen on the forums, and currently cover a wide range of topics including:

Upgrading from the WHS Evaluation Edition
How to Manually Uninstall an Add-In
Troubleshooting Windows Home Server

and a whole lot more.

Head on over to the WGS Wiki to check out the list and feel free to shout if there’s other topics you’d like to see covered.

More Info: Windows Home Server FAQs

Western Digital have just launched a new 2TB drive – the maximum capacity of your home server just got a little larger.

Check it out:

As hard drive capacities increase, the power required to run those drives increases as well. WD Caviar Green drives make it possible for energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation.

Reduced power consumption – WD has reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to standard desktop drives with the combination of WD’s IntelliSeek™, NoTouch™, and IntelliPower™ technologies.

Helps enable eco-friendly PCs – WD Caviar Green drives yield an average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over standard desktop drives making it possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation.

Cool and quiet – GreenPower™ technology yields lower operating temperatures for increased reliability and low acoustics for ultra-quiet PCs and external drives.

Massive capacity – Capacities up to 2 TB offer the most available capacity for storage-intensive programs and space-hungry operating systems, like Window Vista®, with plenty of room left over for photos, music, and video.

Perfect for external drives – External drive manufacturers can eliminate the need for a fan in a high-capacity product with a WD Caviar Green drive, the coolest and quietest in its class.

IntelliPower – A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance.

IntelliSeek – Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration. View demo >

NoTouch ramp load technology – The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.

Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) – Employs PMR technology to achieve even greater areal density.

StableTrac™ – The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations. (2 TB models only)

Low power spin-up – WD Caviar Green drives consume less current during startup allowing lower peak loads.

Advanced power technology – Electronic components deliver best-in-class low power consumption for reduced power requirements and increased reliability.

Ideal For
Environmentally friendly PCs and external storage requiring lower power consumption and cool, quiet operation.

More Info: Western Digital

Nic Fillingham from Channel 10 caught up with Todd Headrick at CES to talk through some of the latest home server hardware announced at the show, which will be hitting the market later this year.

You can check out the video over at the Windows Home Server Team blog.

More Info: WHS Team Blog

Alex Kuretz over at mediasmartserver.net has the lowdown on a software update for the HP MediaSmart Server (EX470/475).

The update brings some minor improvements and bug fixes to the home server, and now includes the ability to manually rollback the update if there’s an issue.

Check out Alex’s post for more.

More Info: mediasmartserver.net

Two podcasts from CES this week with Windows Home Server news and views.

The Home Server Show features extended interviews with Todd Headrick from the Windows Home Server team, plus chats with HP and PVConnect.

The Media Center Show this week has a round table discussion with Media Center and Home Server enthusiasts which was recorded out in Las Vegas.

Both well worth checking out.

If your home server is running with Seagate drives, then make sure you check out this knowledge base article regarding a serious firmware bug with the following drives:

• Barracuda 7200.11
• DiamondMax 22
• Barracuda ES.2 SATA
• SV35

If you’re affected, contact Seagate and they’ll provide instructions to resolve the issue.

More Info: Seagate

On my return to the UK from CES, I was surprised to see a new VIA Artigo A2000 barebones kit waiting for me at home (nice work, VIA).

Will be spending time this week building the system and seeing how well it works with Windows Home Server. Look out for a Hands-On review early next week.

At CES on Saturday I spent an hour with D-Link talking through the range of new products they’re releasing for 2009. Whilst their business has traditionally been focused on wireless routers (and indeed there’s a pretty cool new router slated for release this year with a built in digital photo display) their range of networked storage devices and peripherals is growing all the time.

One major new product line for this year is a new home/small business surveillance system utilising 802.11n wireless cameras.

To date, there has been no IP camera solution available for Windows Home Server, and whilst these new cameras cannot currently be controlled via a WHS add-in, D-Link tell me there are plans to support Windows Home Server in the future (they were displaying the camera plugged into the new Acer easyStore Home Server).

The new DCS-1130 is currently controlled via a website, and features easy installation and setup, mobile 3G and Web monitoring, 16x digital zoom, sharp resolution, and multiple profiles. It connects to the home or small business network using 802.11n Wi-Fi with WPS support, or via a standard network cable. You’ll also be able to pick up a wired-only camera (DCS-1100) if you don’t need a wireless connection.

Other cool feature is the ability to monitor the cameras via a live feed through any 3G enabled phone or mobile device, using a 3GPP player.

The cameras all come with stands, or can be wall mounted easily via screwholes on the rear of the device.

So, if you’re looking for a home surveillance solution that’ll record to a storage device and allow you to monitor you home through the day, make sure you check this out. Expect the new models to land in the first half of the year.

More Info: D-Link

Padding around the floors of CES this week, one big trend I saw from the big Consumer Electronics manufacturers was the launch of the networked TV.

Sony, Samsung, LG and Toshiba were all showing off TVs with ethernet connections which could be used to display Yahoo widgets (which were everywhere and causing a lot of interest) as well as content from YouTube, Picasa and others.

A couple of models were boasting DLNA compliance, which meant that they could very easily connect to other compliant storage devices around the home (like a home server running Twonky Media Server, perhaps?) and playback Music, Videos and Photos without the need for any kind of separate set top box, extender or digital media receiver.

I think this is great for two reasons – firstly, who needs more boxes under the TV? Secondly, the big CE guys are very experienced in communicating features in simple and easy ways for consumers to understand. Sure, they’ll all create silly names for network playback like BraviaLink Display+ but, the feature will work every time, consumers will understand what it does and best of all, whilst the TV will be able to play lots of content in the cloud, it will reinforce the benefits of a home server, acting as a hub for all of your media.

This is probably the main reason we didn’t see any new Extender news from HP, Linksys and D-Link at CES this year, but expect to see more networked TVs, DVD and Blu-Ray players heading your way in the next few years.

Here’s a few shots I took of networked TVs around the show:

LG showing networked TVs and the same NAS device displayed at IFA last summer, as part of a “Connected Home” exhibit.

We’ve already discussed Toshiba’s adoption of Windows Media Center:

Sony’s DLNA compliant TV will play content from compliant devices including home servers:

as will Samsung’s own DLNA compliant offering:

With millions of dollars about to be spent by these guys educating consumers on the connected home (let’s face it, TV companies have to sell TVs and there’s not a lot of other news for them to shout about right now) there’s a huge opportunity for Microsoft and home server manufacturers to jump on board and shout about how their products will realise the value of the TV purchase.

The next version of Windows Home Server will be DLNA compliant out of the box – up until then, TwonkyMedia Server gives any home server DLNA compliance for $30 bucks or so. Things are becoming a lot more simple for consumers who want to get this stuff working together.

The next 24 months will be interesting – let me know what you think.

Last night at CNTRSTG here in Las Vegas, Ian Dixon hosted The Digital Lifestyle Awards Party.

Ian used the event to announce the winners of a series of Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server awards, voted for by listeners to his weekly podcast.

I got the chance to meet with some of Ian’s listeners who were here for the show along with other Microsoft MVPs, bloggers and podcasters.

I’m delighted to say the We Got Served picked up the award for Best Windows Home Server community, which is a great honour and recognition of the work we do here at this site.

I promise I didn’t cry during my acceptance speech, but did want to thank everyone who contributes to WGS, including our writers, forum moderators, wiki contributors and readers. Thanks, of course, also to our advertisers and sponsors who help us keep the site running, and most importantly, to everyone who took time out to vote for us.

What a great start to 2009! Ian will have his awards show online in the next few days.