HP ProLiant MicroServer

Yeah, the one you get free from telkom with the 1meg uncapped trial,
 
Mike Smit said:
Thanks for the menu item tips Iceman. Will configure that shortly. Recently added and unwatched are key IMO.

No, my storage is on another HP MS.
My setup...

  • HP MS upstairs in my home theater room. Running Windows 7 Ultimate, Plex Media Center, Plex Media Server and Mezzmo. Mezzmo used to serve DLNA clients around the house and PMS for Plex clients around the house.
    Also shared my media folders using standard windows sharing.
  • HP MS downstairs in the lounge. This was running Windows 7 Ultimate and Plex Media Center but change to XBMCUbuntu last night. I get access to the media on the upstairs HP MC via the SAMBA (think it is called that). I have also tried using the DLNA access and hooking up to Mezzmo. Buffer issues on both methods of access.
  • WDTV Live also downstairs in the lounge. This was here before the HP MC moved in. Still hooked up though.
    Hooked up to the same switch as the HP MS. Zero buffer issues and streams right up to 1080p with no probs.
  • Whole house is gigabit ethernet so more than fast enough.

I have 2 * 4GB on the way from Esquire. Going to put that in my upstairs HP MS, and move the 2GB currently in it to my downstairs HP MC to up it to 2 * 2GB.
I don't see how the RAM could affect it though as Win7/Plex ran 100%.

Could it perhaps be related to Ubuntu ethernet drivers or something? It is definitely not hardware related so must be something to do with XBMCUbuntu. Dunno what though. Green with linux and XBMC.
Click to expand...

I tried OpenElec, got it to work, but just found it all just works better under Windows. Lots of people disagree but that is my personal experience. I have got my ip cams and stuff all recording to the same box and with web interfaces all on the same box. just added "headphones" to my solution as well. I now have 14 web interfaces that I connect to from externally :). I want to see how many more I can add before getting confused :wtf:

I now see why you prefer to plex to xbmc. my XBMC box has 6TB (2*3TB) locally so no issues what so ever but there are no smb shares to worry about.

It definitely could be the samba shares. How are you mapping the shares? I cant remember when I did my network XBMC install but I think the smb://Server/share worked better than \\Server\Share for some reason (I think it may have been a mysql issue though). Silly question, but is hardware acceleration enabled in XBMC not that I think its the cause of your problem.
 
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rodga said:
ok just recieved my remote from biosonline
very impressed with their service

ordered and paid with eft on Friday
Goods dispatched on Monday
And delivered 15 mins ago (Tues)

Now to get home and see if this reciever will work with the harmony remote!
Click to expand...

Please let me know how this goes , what did you order model number e.t.c


Mike Smit said:
Buffering. OMG! 720p movies buffer every few minutes. 1080p movies buffer every minute. It is terrible.
This is the same box on the same network that was running 100% using Windows and Plex. I also have a WD
Click to expand...

i have 2 gig no stuttering , something was mentioned that the gpu of the gfx should be used yours might be running and rendering from the CPU which wont handle it (something along those lines.)
 
SFW007 said:
Please let me know how this goes , what did you order model number e.t.c
Click to expand...

was this one
http://www.biosonline.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=25637

as Sinbad mentioned it comes with a power cable that you connect to the motherboard to power on/off with the remote
might need some splicing - so might give that a skip

I tested it and it works plug n play with the HPms and Openelec
will see if it works with harmony later tonight
I think Sinbads is working with his
 
iceman23 said:
I tried OpenElec, got it to work, but just found it all just works better under Windows. Lots of people disagree but that is my personal experience.
Click to expand...
I agree. The only problem I have with windows is sometimes Plex (or XBMC) would be minimised because of some stupid windows popup that took onership of the screen. I have been looking at replacing the explorer shell with either XMBC or Plex to help get around the problem. It needs to be a shell per user setup though as my admin login must use explorer. I think this could be the way forward.

iceman23 said:
It definitely could be the samba shares. How are you mapping the shares? I cant remember when I did my network XBMC install but I think the smb://Server/share worked better than \\Server\Share for some reason (I think it may have been a mysql issue though). Silly question, but is hardware acceleration enabled in XBMC not that I think its the cause of your problem.
Click to expand...

I simply shared them on the windows box, then when setting up content in XBMC I selected the Samba option, browsed to the HTPC and selected the relevant shares.
Remember that I get the buffering when hooking up to Mezzmo too which is totally different to Samba.

I think you guys may be onto something here. For the GPU to handle it I think you need Cuda support but my little GT210 does not have Cuda. I have 2 * GT520s on the way (also Esquire) so hopefully this fixes it. If it does fix it, it will be a bit odd because Windows/Plex had no issue. I got a little stutter on 1080p but no buffering.

SFW007 said:
i have 2 gig no stuttering , something was mentioned that the gpu of the gfx should be used yours might be running and rendering from the CPU which wont handle it (something along those lines.)
Click to expand...

I think you and Iceman could be onto something. Will shove one of the GT520's in this box when they arrive tomorrow.


EDIT: I think I am going to abandon the XBMCUbuntu setup. I am going to restore the win7 image I created yesterday, then load XBMC up there. At least when XBMC decides it won't behave I have good old reliable Plex to use. And windows just simply works. Need to fiddle with the shell though. I don't want Plex/XBMC to simply run at startup. It must work as close to an appliance type setup as possible.
 
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Mike Smit said:
If it does fix it, it will be a bit odd because Windows/Plex had no issue. I got a little stutter on 1080p but no buffering.
Click to expand...

Wouldnt that be because your video would have been transcoded on the machine with PMS (your upstairs box) and now the decoding is done on the downstaris box if I understood your setup correctly?
 
iceman23 said:
Wouldnt that be because your video would have been transcoded on the machine with PMS (your upstairs box) and now the decoding is done on the downstaris box if I understood your setup correctly?
Click to expand...

Good point. Never considered that :)

Found a guide on replacing the explorer shell with XBMC. Not 100% what I want but should get me on the right road.
 
Both Esquire & Sahara are running specials on video cards this week.
 
Okay, got the hell in with the poor streaming capabilities of XBMCUbuntu and went back to windows.
In 1 hour and 45 minutes I had Win 7 onto a USB key, installed it, done initial config, downloaded latest nVidia drivers and installed, and installed Plex Media Center. All running perfectly.

Then I went onto installing XBMC Eden. Setup Eventghost to get XBMC to replace the shell. All good. Machine boots right into XBMC.
Then the pain started... The buffering persists. XBMC just chokes. It simply cannot handle reading media from another machine on the network.
I reconfigured EventGhost to rather start Plex. Rebooted the machine. Straight into Plex. Selected a 720p video and in just under 2 seconds it was streaming and playing PERFECTLY. 1080p stutters but that should be rectified when the GT520's arrive. With that said, the 1080p movie started in just over 2 seconds. Seriously.

Next test... To see if my Plex Media Server was doing the transcoding. Kept the 720p playing in the lounge and fired up a 720p movie in my sons room on his HP MC and also using PMS. 2 * 720p movies playing perfectly. The Plex Media Server machine (Win 7 Ultimate) was hovering around 12% CPU usage.

Sad to say, I tried XBMC and I have given up. For my needs it just not work. If you are bound to one machine and one TV, then all good. Extend beyond that and it is a big fail.
If I fiddled for a few more hours then I suppose I could get it up and running as I want. But why do that if I can have windows, drivers and plex client running perfectly in under 2 hours.

Thanks to those of you that held my held during this experiment. I appreciate it a lot.

Plex for the win! :)
 
XBMCubuntu and XBMC on windows blows - It just doesn't have that "appliance" feel like OpenElec has.

Strange, 1080p 40GB+ Blurays stream fine across the network at my house..... are you using wifi or something? :confused:
 
Keeper said:
XBMCubuntu and XBMC on windows blows - It just doesn't have that "appliance" feel like OpenElec has.

Strange, 1080p 40GB+ Blurays stream fine across the network at my house..... are you using wifi or something? :confused:
Click to expand...

Mentioned a few posts back. Gigabit ethernet. XBMX just chokes. As an appliance or in windows. Tried both.
I don't use WiFi for any streaming except to the plex clients on my mobile devices. And they play fine too.
Plex streams with no issues and a complete setup including windows in just over 1.5 hours.

I have completed the shell integration with Plex and tweaked it a bit. Auto login, boot logo changed to a plex one, and no Explorer.EXE. Plex feels just like an appliance install now under Windows 7 Ultimate. And it works perfectly. Only limitation is the GT210 in the machine. Due to be replaced tomorrow with a GT520.
 
sad that it didnt work for you but there is only so much frustration you can take.

my main box is my nas as well as my xbmc box so everything runs fine but am definitely going to try something big over the network this weekend.

I am using plex on my dumb terminals / mobile devices.

TBH, I dont really like the Plex interface but it RUNS REALLY WELL over networks so for me both are going to be in use. You should have seen my toddlers eyes when I showed her care bears on my phone. Almost like she couldnt believe it lol.
 
Busy uploading my updated Nvidia firmware for the microserver - Fixed streaming problems, video tearing, and updated to Eden.

Also decided to go with a minimalist ubuntu install, so we don't have openoffice(libreoffice), firefox, or any of the regular desktop bloat taking up space.

Boot time is ~40 seconds, + 30 seconds to login ( can be disabled )

Tested with 1080p playback by USB external as well as network streaming.

DLNA works 100%
 
rodga said:
ok just recieved my remote from biosonline
very impressed with their service

ordered and paid with eft on Friday
Goods dispatched on Monday
And delivered 15 mins ago (Tues)

Now to get home and see if this reciever will work with the harmony remote!
Click to expand...

bullzeye.za said:
Busy uploading my updated Nvidia firmware for the microserver - Fixed streaming problems, video tearing, and updated to Eden.

Also decided to go with a minimalist ubuntu install, so we don't have openoffice(libreoffice), firefox, or any of the regular desktop bloat taking up space.

Boot time is ~40 seconds, + 30 seconds to login ( can be disabled )

Tested with 1080p playback by USB external as well as network streaming.

DLNA works 100%
Click to expand...

nice work man !!
 
Thanks for the update Mike,you made me make the wise decision of going with the GT520 as opposed to the GT210. :D

Arriving today! Will be playing with it tonight and will post feedback. Already did a clean install of XBMCbuntu onto the 250 GIG HD, will be keeping my music collection as well on the HD. Will post 1080p results after I slot the card in this evening.

How do you update the nvidia drivers in XBMCbuntu? I have SSH access sorted, just need commands. And is the Nvidia driver included in the install? I remember using Ubuntu about 5 years ago - you needed to update and enable 3rd party proprietary drivers to get the Graphics drivers running. I did it via GUI at the time, not sure with the command line interface now.



Mike Smit said:
Mentioned a few posts back. Gigabit ethernet. XBMX just chokes. As an appliance or in windows. Tried both.
I don't use WiFi for any streaming except to the plex clients on my mobile devices. And they play fine too.
Plex streams with no issues and a complete setup including windows in just over 1.5 hours.

I have completed the shell integration with Plex and tweaked it a bit. Auto login, boot logo changed to a plex one, and no Explorer.EXE. Plex feels just like an appliance install now under Windows 7 Ultimate. And it works perfectly. Only limitation is the GT210 in the machine. Due to be replaced tomorrow with a GT520.
Click to expand...
 
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NomNom said:
Can anyone comment on the following, if they are good ect?

http://hpshop.co.za/p-8019-hp-proliant-n40l-microserver.aspx
http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/asus-engt520-silentdi1gd3lp-1024mb-ddr3-graphics-card-p-57073.html
http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/compro-k300-remote-control-media-center-edition-p-57133.html

These are the things I'm looking at getting for my build. I was looking at a GT210 but I don't think it will be decent enough to play full hd content.
Click to expand...

GT210 plays full hd more than decently.
 
NomNom said:
Can anyone comment on the following, if they are good ect?

http://hpshop.co.za/p-8019-hp-proliant-n40l-microserver.aspx
http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/asus-engt520-silentdi1gd3lp-1024mb-ddr3-graphics-card-p-57073.html
http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/compro-k300-remote-control-media-center-edition-p-57133.html

These are the things I'm looking at getting for my build. I was looking at a GT210 but I don't think it will be decent enough to play full hd content.
Click to expand...

try cynerbnatic for the HP was R1350 iirc
they also have bundles including gpu

that card looks like it might not fan - the heatsink is too big
get the active on with a fan - its slimmer, try takealot or esquire under R500

not sure about the remote - i got mine from biosonline for R72
it works, just need to test with the harmony now
 
check cybernatic.co.za -- they offer free delivery on the combos -- N40L+Graphics+Ram -- some other options as well.
 
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