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[LM1957]

I am new to the group, and wanted to know what is the best way to have movies and music stored in one location and viewed by several computers. At present I have all my media on one system, when I try to view the media from that location on anothe computer, I get an error "playback" failed" this is happens with some SD and Blue Ray.

Would it be to my advantage to use a NAS or a separate computer with all my media plugged into the network ?

Just trying to figure out,  what is the best way to make this work ?

Thanks

[hEdly]

LM,
While I have yet to actually install and run JRiver, your question is more of a general network question that would be independent of the software you use.

If you have the money and space, I always recommend building a decent server to store all your media.  While NAS's are now coming with Gigabit networking, iTunes, Twonky, DLNA, etc. built in there are several disadvantages:  expandability; ability to install any media-serving software, speed, are probably the top three.  The biggest 'Pro' for a NAS is power savings, second is usually space. 

To get a really good NAS, though, can sometimes cost as much as putting together a good server.  As your usage of media grows it can easily be expanded.  To save costs, you could run linux.  Windows may give you a bit more flexibility due to the quantity of media software available on that platform, especially if you want to eventually install tuner cards in the server.  Why install a tuner card in a server?

JRiver (and some other vendors out there, but JRiver seems to be the best solution so far) makes the tuners available on the network, so other computers/DLNA devices can actually control them.  It's really a slick setup and what I will be doing once I finally piece together my next server and get JRiver installed (currently working on the wife to get her prepped for a change from the current status quo).

I would definitely set up a central "server" though.  Remember, it doesn't have to be too crazy.  Any computer with a shared folder is a server.  Having a central repository really makes it simple for sharing (but it is also a single point of failure so don't forget backups).  Maybe start off simple.  An older computer to test it out.  If you like it and eventually upgrade, keep the computer name and share-folder-names the same and none of the computers on the network will know the difference.

Put music, photos, and movies in different folders. How you set those directories up is up to you.

Best of luck.

hEdly

[kensn]

Don't know if this is the best way .. But it is how I do it..

I have a NAS (little cheap FreeNas setup) with 4 drives. The Drives are as follows:
1) M: (for Music files)
2) V: (for Movies)
3) W: (for TV)
4) d:  (for data backup)

I have My "Main PC" with all the Nas drives mapped with the above letters. I do all my importing, tagging, and view setup from here. This is my "MainPC" Library.This PC also serves as my Meida Center Library Server.

Bedroom HTPC with all the nas drives again mapped with the same letters running Media Center.

Living Room HTPC with all the nas drives again mapped with the same letters running Media Center.

From either HTPC I can load the library "MainPC" and have all my views and files available, they are working as a client. There is an option in Media Center to "Play Local File If It Exists", I have that option enabled. Doing this there is no conversion of the files for playback.

One Library maintained on one pc for everyone to enjoy.

Sounds great..but..there is always a but..

If you are using the TV function of Media Center the tuners only show up on each pcs main library, so to use them you have to have their library loaded. So if my living room pc (which has a TV Tuner) is connected to MainPc as a client it's TV tuner is not accessible.

You can see them for a client though. If the living room HTPC is running as a server i can see the tuner from my MainPc connected as a client.

So here is a quick example of what is pretty neat though..

My MainPc is running as a library server, Bedroom HTPC and Living Room PC are both connected as clients. From my MainPC I can see all the PCs and their zones show up under playing now. I can select any zone under playing now and select a song to play and it plays to that PC.

Well that is probably enough to try to absorb from my ramblings for now...

Ken