Hi,
I was wondering if I could get a second opinion on the best way to set up my HTPCs at home given such hardware configuration (2 HTPCs and 1 Domain Contoller / File server)
My Current setup:HTPC_A (log-on as Username: "Mediauser"):Windows Vista
Hardware TV Tuner
Local Contents:-150GBs of video xvid files from TV recording (in a local harddrive)
Network:
-My Music folder: GPO (Group Policy) redirected to \\server\users$\mediauser\mydocuments\mymusic
-My Documents folder: GPO redirected to \\server\users$\mediauser\mydocuments\
-2 network Mapped drives called 'video' and 'cue_music' to network shared folders on the Server
Current MC13 Settings: MC13: auto-import from My Music folder, 'cue_music' mapped network drive and local harddrive (for the 150GBs of xvids)
HTPC_B (log-on as Username: "Mediauser"):Windows Vista
Local Contents:no local media files
Network:
-My Music folder: GPO (Group Policy) redirected to \\server\users$\mediauser\mydocuments\mymusic
-My Documents folder: GPO redirected to \\server\users$\mediauser\mydocuments\
-2 network Mapped drives called 'video' and 'cue_music' to network shared folders on the Server
Current MC13 Settings : MC13: auto-import from My Music folder, 'cue_music' mapped network drive
Domain Controller / File ServerLocal Contents:
-2TB of movie files: Blu-Ray /HDDVD ripped to MKV, remuxed TS files, direct Blu-Ray / HD-DVD clones (network share enabled folder called 'videos')
100GBs of music files: in CUE format (table of contents for an APE file) (network share enabled folder called 'cue_music')
-100GBs of WMA Lossless CD ripped from MCE2005 (in local folder My Music (\\server\users$\mediauser\mydocuments\mymusicfolder) (This is where GPO points the 'My Music' folder to for the 'MediaUser' account)
Settings:
Group Policy redirected all My Music, My Pictures, My Videos to a Server Shared folder (ie: \\server\users$\%useraccount%) for each user. This way every user will have access to the same files no matter which computer they log-in on at home.
All HTPCs auto log-in with the Media account, so they automatically have the same contents in their My Music, My Videos, My Pictures.
Current usage:
I share the folder on the Server containing all the media files, and tell MC13 on each HTPC to auto-import from My Music and 'cue_music' folder for now. I haven't told MC13 to import anything from the 'videos' network folder yet, since I don't know how MC13 handles such video files.
Question:
Sorry for the long windedness, but with all the buzz about UPnP, Library Server, etc, I wonder if I am using MC13's capabilities properly to it's full advantage. Is this the best set-up? Or such I use a centralized database and uPnP server that people around here are buzzing about?
Edit: I should add that all the media playing/recording/ripping happens on the HTPCs not on the server. Nothing happens directly to the server, it doesn't even have a CD-ROM drive and it out of reach in the basement.
The network is 1GBit, so it's sufficient for most streaming and copying purposes.
Any response appreciated!