Streaming21 & WNC Revitalize Digital Lifestyles With WHS

November 23, 2007 — Philip Churchill

Streaming21, the world leader in broadcast-quality streaming solutions; WNC (Wistron NeWeb Corporation), a global leader in wireless communications, IPTV and the Microsoft Embedded Sever team, will present their fully-integrated, end-to-end digital home solutions December 5-7 at IPTV World Forum Asia in Singapore. The live demo is a warm-up event for a worldwide product launch aimed at connecting the digital home with the networked world via must-have “killer” applications, based on Microsoft Home Server.

WNC’s powerful set-top box and reliable server hardware plus Streaming21’s innovative Home Entertainment Server are seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Home Server and Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, making it easy to add or expand applications. The unique Home Sever acts as the central control center for digital home entertainment, automation, surveillance and communication applications. The innovative platform makes ubiquitous access of killer applications for the digital home a market reality. The platform enables media display on TVs and provides an easy management system for personal content through the PC.

The demonstration will showcase the revolutionary platform enabling digital home “killer apps” on IA and home devices through wired and wireless IP networks. It will also demonstrate a new generation of Web 2.0 concepts that are inspired by the universal desire to create community and share personal content on TV with friends and family through easy web-based management. Other key features include Digital Home Theater, Movie Rental, Video on Demand (VOD) with trick play capability, Personal Video Recorder (PVR), Photo Bank, and Real-Time Information Dashboard (RSS: News, Weather, Stocks, Photo Albums, and more).

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Posted in News, Windows Home Server. 4 Comments »

The Biggest HP MediaSmart Server EX475 Review – Ever!

November 23, 2007 — Philip Churchill

Terry Walsh has a hands on review of the HP MediaSmart Server EX475 over on his web site. This is one of the most comprehensive reviews that I have seen on the EX475 unit and is a definite must read if you are thinking about purchasing one. Terry concludes his review by saying:

“Well, I said that HP was a great hardware company and the HP MediaSmart Server has reinforced my belief – it’s small, powerful and looks fantastic”.

Read the full review here.

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Posted in Hardware, Windows Home Server. 1 Comment »

Speed up Data Transfer to WHS

November 23, 2007 — Philip Churchill

Janssen Jones has posted 5 handy hints over at the WHS forums to speed up data transfer when copying material to your shared folders on the home server.

  1. If transferring LARGE amounts of media to the Music, Photos or Videos folder, disable “Media Sharing” for that folder. When Media sharing is turned on, WHS is indexing each piece of material as it comes in. Depending on other factors with your machine, this can cause a significant slowdown.
  2. If transferring LARGE amounts of data, disable “Folder Duplication” for that folder. When folder duplication is turned on, WHS is making two copies of each file you send to the server. Depending on other factors with your machine, this can cause a significant slowdown.
  3. If transferring LARGE amounts of data, be aware that USB drives may not perform as well as SATA drives. Depending on other factors with your machine, this can cause a significant slowdown.
  4. If transferring LARGE amounts of data, be aware that ‘multiple’ USB drives may not perform as well as a single attached USB drive, especially if they share the same BUS. Depending on other factors with your machine, this can cause a significant slowdown.
  5. If at all possible, try to ensure that your system drive is the largest drive when you install WHS. If you install on a small system drive (e.g. 80 GB) and then attach a few large (e.g. 500GB) data drives, sooner or later you’ll run into performance issues, at least in the beta.

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Posted in Tutorial, Windows Home Server. 7 Comments »

More Reviews

November 23, 2007 — Philip Churchill

Scouring the web we have four reviews on Windows Home Server for you. The first is from ZDNet where Adrian Kingsley-Hughes describes Building a Windows Home Server – the easy way! Where Adrian points out the best hardware to use. From CPU and motherboard through Heatsink and fan to Ram, Hard drives and more.

Gadget and consumer electronics site engadget asks How would you change Windows Home Server? They are asking just how satisfied you are with the final product and the (at present) 98 reader comments that are left are well worth a read.

Another review with the perspective of using Windows Home Server in the office environment is Jamie Bsales article Windows Home Server: At Home in the Office.

Finally Connected Home show you how WHS can back up every computer in your home network in Coming Home to Windows Home Server, Part 2.

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Hush HS1 Home Server

November 23, 2007 — Philip Churchill

Hush Front

German manufacturer Hush has released it’s HS1 Home Server. With a power consumption of 45 watts the fanless device is available with a storage capacity of 500GB to 2TB.

Hush Back  

Base price is expensive at €923.53 and includes 1GB DDR2 Memory, 10/100 LAN (Gb LAN upgrade available) and 500GB of storage.

Hush Colours 

The aluminum case is available to order in 3 different colors.

More information (in German) from Hush Technologies and again thanks to the German Homeserver Blog for the details.

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Posted in Hardware, Windows Home Server. 2 Comments »

SCALEO Home Server 1500 available for Pre-order in Germany

November 23, 2007 — Philip Churchill

Scaleo-Germany

Fujitsu Siemens online shop in Germany are offering the SCALEO Home Server 1500 for Pre-order with an expected delivery date of February 2008.

Thanks to German language Homeserver Blog for the details.

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Tranquil PC’s NEW T2-WHS-A3

November 23, 2007 — Philip Churchill

Tranquil PC have another Windows Home Server system, the T2-WHS-A3. Due to be released December 12th (2007) it has a the similar low power (29W) benefits of the T2-WHS-A2, but is limited to 10/100 LAN, although the GBe option is optional at an additional £12 and one eSATA card providing four ports.

T2-WHS-A2

Available in satin black the front panel has a ‘glass effect’ with cool lighting and laser etching for the Power / HDD activity LED’s the unit looks really classy.

  • The system, being fanless, is optimized for near silent operation, and has exceptional reliability characteristics.
  • Powered by the Intel 220CPU for outstanding performance.
  • The standard unit is desk top mounted, but there are options for 19″ rack mounting, wall mounting, or floor mounting
  • Rear panel 12V DC power in / 4x USB2.0 / 10/100 LAN
  • Power supply External AC/DC with country specific power cord
  • PCI expansion 1x slots (spare or populated with Gbe LAN or eSATA 4 port card)
  • HDD support 2x 3.5” HDD support, in cooled, shock resistant sub system
  • Power consumption 29W (base unit)
  • Warranty  24 months RTB

More info and ordering details for the £348 (Excluding VAT at 17.5%) T2-WHS-A3 are available from Tranquil PC.

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Posted in Hardware, Windows Home Server. 2 Comments »