There are lots of resources out there that will tell you more about FreeNAS, how to install it and how to use it. FreeNAS is the popular NAS choice these days. I bought the four hard drives I need to make a proper RAID-Z2 configuration and 16 GB of RAM. Using quite a few spare parts I was able to fashion together a computer that will be my NAS server. If a NAS is built properly, its hardware should outlast your PCs and laptops. You can also use it to keep a back up of your important files. The most common usage is storing media such as pictures, music, movies, etc. Its essentially a computer that is built for the sole purpose of storing lots of files accessible through a network connection. FreeNASīefore I talk about Plex I want to talk about building a Network Attached Storage or NAS server. I also haven’t figured out how to tell MythTV to record only new episodes of a series. Most of the time I am scheduling a recording the day the show airs. I can only collect a day’s worth of TV listings so I am unable to schedule something more than a day in advance. I’m still a novice user so there are things I haven’t figured out yet. As long as I am diligently watching my recordings, then I should have plenty of space on the drive for other things (if I need it). The average size of a recording is approximately 1 GB per hour so I could essentially record about 150 shows before I need to worry about space. I also recommend picking up the Logitech K410 wireless keyboard, I think its an ideal keyboard to use with MythTV. Also, I don’t really have a need to keep the recordings so what would be the point of moving them to network attached storage. After doing some research, I read that moving the recordings to another server is possible, but we think it would be better to keep the recordings on the local machine. I had originally thought I was going to try to save all the recordings to the FreeNAS server. Installing Mythbuntu with the MythTV frontend was pretty easy. Since the HDHomeRun device has two tuners, I can record a max of two shows at the same time and still watch TV. I provide the necessary Schedules Direct credentials to MythTV and now I have a small computer that can record shows, in 720p, from the HD antenna. I set up an account with which has an annual subscription fee of $25 but it will give you all the TV listings data you will need. Once MythTV was installed on the Gigabyte computer, I configured it to talk to the HDHomeRun device. This little guy lets me connect to the cable line and into my network. Next I bought the HDHomeRun EXTEND device from SiliconDust. I don’t need anything really powerful to run MythTV or to do the recording, I just needed it to have an HDMI so I could plug it into my SmartTV. I bought a small barebones computer by Gigabyte from Newegg. Of course that creates the conundrum of how do we record all the shows that we like to watch. So we made the decision to “cut the cable” and get an HD antenna installed on the house. Besides I think they will eventually be available through other media sources (i.e. I do enjoy some of the specialty channels such as DIY, HGTV, Velocity and Food Network but sometimes those channels were more for background noise. It finally reached a point where I became tired of paying $130+ for hundreds of channels that I rarely watch. I have gone on a tirade before about how much I loathe doing the cable & Internet provider dance. In fact that was the case with my Home Media Server project. I imagine I will be able to complete the remaining projects faster now that I have a proper network set up. Home Automation – Raspberry Pi integration ( on pause)Īll of the projects I have on deck were all relying on getting the in-home network operational. MythTV, Plex and FreeNAS (DVR and Media server) I can mark another item off the list as my MythTV, Plex and FreeNAS project is complete. I am crushing it on these tech projects I have going on at home, I just haven’t been very good at keeping up with posting about them.
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