Does anyone have any DIY options for a home media server to rival the likes of kaleidascape etc?

Question

Looking for a solution to allow me to stream DVD movies, in all their surround sound glory, around the home.

Does anyone have any tried and tested solutions? Since storage space is cheap I'm looking to archive the originals uncompressed and navigate via remote control (artwork preferable) on all of the televisions.

Thoughts so far:

Windows Vista Home Premium PC (with Media Center) in living room. MyMovies 2 addon loaded (to deal with artwork, dvd ripping etc).

XBOX 360 in bedroom 1

Linksys DMA2100/2200 in bedrooms

PS3 on future television

Kaleidascape have an easy to use system, but at $16,000 for a base system... way too expensive considering it's all PC based hardware anyway.

Happy to share potential HTPC spec if anyone is interested.

Answer 1

sure kaleidascape is a neat all in one solutions but to expensive you can use Vista media center with a dvd changer like the sony or backup your own dvds to the HDD and cheap pc's as clients over a giga LAN.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2183/2086...

and read!

http://www.onetipaday.com/2007/04/17/how...

Answer 2

There are cheaper systems than Kaleidascape, but nothing as sleek.  For DIY,  there is no single solution that works for everyone.  The best course of action is to buy a media extender for each TV and supply a wired network connection between your server and each media extender.  Which media extender you choose is the toughest decision.   Popcorn Hour, TVIX, Mediagate are just a few of the more popular extenders.  All will stream HD, but they vary is compatible file formats.   Below is a resource for getting opinions on the setup of others and first hand experience of all the different media extenders.  Good Luck