Maverick,
I am tech-savvy, but not as computer-savvy as you! I am lucky because I really have turned my hobbies into my career. I would do this even if I wasn't getting paid to do it. I love doing it. I'm playing with other people's money. By the way, I'm told that Florida is the largest market for these servers. Especially popular on yachts.
The only other thing I have used is Windows Media Center. I have a new laptop, with Vista Ultimate, and I have movies that I have burned on to an external hard drive. I read this article a few months ago http://lifehacker.com/371636/turn-your-pc-into-a-dvd-ripping-monster. I didn't get it all to work the way they did, but good enough. I can go to Media center and look at my music, my pictures, and my movies. and play those right through media center. It's pretty easy, and I didn't really have to buy anything. It's not terribly living room friendly though. Works fine in my office. This is where the Hangar 18 comes in.
This is way too complicated for my clients. They need a pre-fab answer that is stable. But for someone like yourself, it's really not that hard. I just want to re-mention that ripping DVDs you do not own is illegal. In fact, ripping DVDs you do own isn't exactly on the up & up. My feeling is, you shouldn't have to buy the same movie over and over to get it on whatever device you want to watch it on. But if you are keeping it, pay for it.
--steps off soapbox
I am tech-savvy, but not as computer-savvy as you! I am lucky because I really have turned my hobbies into my career. I would do this even if I wasn't getting paid to do it. I love doing it. I'm playing with other people's money. By the way, I'm told that Florida is the largest market for these servers. Especially popular on yachts.
The only other thing I have used is Windows Media Center. I have a new laptop, with Vista Ultimate, and I have movies that I have burned on to an external hard drive. I read this article a few months ago http://lifehacker.com/371636/turn-your-pc-into-a-dvd-ripping-monster. I didn't get it all to work the way they did, but good enough. I can go to Media center and look at my music, my pictures, and my movies. and play those right through media center. It's pretty easy, and I didn't really have to buy anything. It's not terribly living room friendly though. Works fine in my office. This is where the Hangar 18 comes in.
This is way too complicated for my clients. They need a pre-fab answer that is stable. But for someone like yourself, it's really not that hard. I just want to re-mention that ripping DVDs you do not own is illegal. In fact, ripping DVDs you do own isn't exactly on the up & up. My feeling is, you shouldn't have to buy the same movie over and over to get it on whatever device you want to watch it on. But if you are keeping it, pay for it.
--steps off soapbox
This is my way of thinking design for an HTPC, anyways. I would ultimately love
to be able to put something together that's simple enough that even my mother could use. THAT would (and in my mind, SHOULD) be the the ultimate goal of
any HTPC solution - simple enough that anyone can use, but powerful enough to satisfy the power-hungry geeks like me!
