Morning Discussion

May 28, 2009 7:00 AM

2300

It's Thursday, so let's just get thi--wait, E3 craziness is only four days away? Exciting!

Even more exciting? That means The Legendary Starfy is closer than ever! June 8!

Lastly does anyone know if brewed coffee can go bad after a few days? No cream or sugar or anything like that in it. I can't decide if I should be lazy or just make a new pot.

Chris Faylor

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty

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tashtego

 reply
May 28, 2009 7:26 AM

Xbox 360 / NAS for streaming:

I'm thinking about putting together a cheap MSI Wind-based system to host video/music for my house. How hard it is to set up media streaming between FreeNAS or some other Linux distro and the 360? Do I just use uShare or is there something better now? Also, can FreeNAS run a torrent client (pref. something with a web interface?)

Thanks for any and all advice!!!
- Pettytheft
  
   reply
  May 28, 2009 7:29 AM
  
  Why would you go with LInux to the 360 when Windows has much better options at this point.
  - tashtego
    
     reply
    May 28, 2009 7:31 AM
    
    I'm not interested in spending the money right now on something that's capable of on-the-fly transcoding, and that's all I could (possibly) get out of Windows compared to something like FreeNAS. This is a file server, not a media server.
    - ju$tmon3y
      
       reply
      May 28, 2009 7:34 AM
      
      you can access your music files with the 360 and windows for free. Also, I just set up an airport express with my current non apple network and it streams straight to my stereo. Both options are cheaper than setting up a NAS, unless you just happen to have a spare laying around.
      - tashtego
        
         reply
        May 28, 2009 7:35 AM
        
        That's what I do now. I need a file server. I dual-boot my Windows/Linux box, and every time I boot into Linux my wife can't watch TV anymore. Also, I need one central storage place for our music so that we can both listen to it on different PCs, on the stereo, etc.
        
        Again, the main purpose of this is to just be a cheap file server, but as a stop-gap I'll be streaming to the 360 until I build a media center PC for the living room.
      - [deleted] 1784011840
        
         reply
        May 28, 2009 7:45 AM
        
        [deleted]
- Sylvanus
  
   reply
  May 28, 2009 7:32 AM
  
  Nothing beats a computer attached to the TV. MC for Windows 7 is very good.
  - tashtego
    
     reply
    May 28, 2009 7:33 AM
    
    That's what I'm going for eventually. First step is to build the file server (because that's what I need right now), then I'll replace the Xbox with a media center PC for playback.
- tashtego
  
   reply
  May 28, 2009 7:44 AM
  
  I'm starting to see your point- it seems like I might be better off just saving up and building a media center PC, and storing all my media on that. It's not like I would need nightly backups of a ton of music/movies- I could just back up to external drive(s) once a month or so.
  
  Of course, I still have to solve the problem of hosting a shared iTunes library that both a Mac and a PC can access without using dumb streaming, since they use different schemas for paths... nothing is easy! Well, I guess streaming is easy, but it sounds like crap.
  - rosewood
    
     reply
    May 28, 2009 7:47 AM
    
    Get a mac mini and use plex and just be happy with it already.
    
    Your mac mini can then use front row or whatever the apple shit is called for the music portion and you just listen to your music from your mac mini. mac mini mini mini mac mac mac
    - tashtego
      
       reply
      May 28, 2009 7:50 AM
      
      Then I'm back in file server world though because I'm going to need more than one disk, and my machine doing triple-duty as development/gaming/file server isn't working.
      - electroly
        
         reply
        May 28, 2009 7:51 AM
        
        Did I miss them removing all USB ports from the Mac Mini? Shouldn't be a problem adding additional disks to it.
        
        tashtego
        
         reply
        May 28, 2009 7:52 AM
        
        Your answer is snarky but has truth! Thanks for reminding me of that.
        
        electroly
        
         reply
        May 28, 2009 8:04 AM
        
        That's what I'm here for. :)
        
        rosewood
        
         reply
        May 28, 2009 9:25 AM
        
        You forgot to call him a fgt though.
        
        electroly
        
         reply
        May 28, 2009 9:26 AM
        
        True. I'm not on the top of my game today.