Dude's Media Center Setup

[Dude]

For my media center, I have been refining it over a number of years now.  I have tried many different setups over the years, and I am quite happy with my current configuration.


Storage



I am using a tRAID configuration.  This allows me to use my mid-ATX tower desktop system, and combine all of the drives to view as a single volume.  It also allows me complete control over the parity.  I currently have 9 drives installed in this NAS that are part of the main volume.  2 are for parity, while the rest are data.  This gives me ~16TB of usable data.

This system is running Windows 7.  This allows me to use this server for other always-on features, such as an internal web server.

Before using this solution, I did try a number of others.  I originally used separate drives and manually managed the files between those while manually performing 1:1 backups.  The problems I had with this was that if I had 8 active drives in use, I also needed 8 drives for backups.  In addition to that, I didn't like manually managing the data between all the drives.  I then tried unRAID.  That is a great solution and one that many people prefer.  I didn't like it because adding layers on top of unRAID for other server functionality was extremely cumbersome.  I also didn't like that you can only have a single parity drive with unRAID setups.  On a side note, if someone does want my old unRAID license, shoot me a PM.


HTPC hardware
I already discussed my HTPC hardware in this thread.

The one thing I should bring up at this point is that you want a gigabit wired connection from the NAS to the HTPC.  While you can use a wireless connection (I used a 802.11n connection for a few years), it's not stable enough for complex HD playback.  Once I migrated to a wired connection, those connectivity issues completely went away.


HTPC software
I absolutely love XBMC.  It's extremely easy to configure, and works so well on my TV.  I use the Aeon Nox skin on top of XBMC, which is by far my favorite skin.

Since I'm using Windows 7 to launch XBMC, I have installed XBMC Launcher.  This makes it way easy to auto boot directly into XBMC, and you can even change the shell from explorer to XBMC (Which is how I'm currently configured).  The nice part about running on top of Windows 7 is that you can also quit XBMC and use your web browser at any point.


HTPC input devices
Remote: Harmony 650.  I got this for $35 one day on clearance at my local Costco.  Here's a great guide from the XBMC forums on how to configure this remote with XBMC.
IR receiver: I use the IR receiver from this generic remote.  Since I'm using the Harmony remote, I have actually programmed the Harmony with some of the commands from this remote.
Power Toggle for system: There's a great thread here on many ways to power on and off your HTPC.  For a while I just kept mine on 24/7 which worked great.  After many failed attempts, I finally ended up purchasing Simerec's PCS-2, and I love it.  This means that if someone wants to buy my ASRock Smart Remote for their CIR motherboards, just shoot me a PM.
Keyboard/Mouse: Check out this XBMC thread for a great overview of the options.  I personally have the Logitech K400, which is perfect for my living room.  I also tried the Lenovo N5902, but it wasn't for me.  Please shoot me a PM if you want to buy the Lenovo off me.


So I think that's a pretty good overview of my current setup.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  I'll be happy to help out!