Illig Media Center Documentation Release 1.0
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Illig Media Center Documentation Release 1.0 Travis Illig Mar 24, 2021 Contents 1 Media Center Requirements 5 2 Network 7 2.1 Configuration...............................................8 2.2 Providers.................................................9 3 Hardware / Devices 11 3.1 Front-End Devices............................................ 12 3.2 Servers.................................................. 23 3.3 Network Infrastructure.......................................... 28 3.4 Televisions................................................ 33 3.5 Receivers / Audio............................................ 37 3.6 Speakers................................................. 39 3.7 Power................................................... 41 3.8 Deprecated Hardware.......................................... 45 4 Software 61 4.1 Collection Management Software.................................... 61 4.2 Ripping Software............................................. 64 4.3 Media Conversion Software....................................... 65 4.4 Server Software............................................. 87 4.5 System Software............................................. 90 4.6 Scripts and Tips............................................. 91 4.7 Deprecated Software........................................... 93 5 Services 111 5.1 Netflix.................................................. 111 5.2 Hulu................................................... 111 5.3 Amazon Prime.............................................. 112 5.4 YouTube Music.............................................. 112 5.5 Disney+.................................................. 112 5.6 Pandora.................................................. 112 6 Media Formats 115 6.1 Video Formats.............................................. 115 6.2 Audio Formats.............................................. 117 6.3 Video Format Comparison........................................ 117 i 6.4 Physical vs. Digital............................................ 120 6.5 Containers vs. Codecs.......................................... 120 7 Processes 121 7.1 Audio/Music Intake Process....................................... 121 7.2 Video/Movie Intake Process....................................... 122 7.3 Photo Intake Process........................................... 125 7.4 Home Video Intake Process....................................... 126 8 Plans/Roadmap 129 8.1 Network Attached Storage........................................ 129 8.2 Cutting the Cable............................................. 130 8.3 Home Automation............................................ 142 9 Disclaimer 149 ii Illig Media Center Documentation, Release 1.0 I love my media. Love it. Movies, TV shows, music. it’s amazing. I’ve amassed quite a collection, and I want to be able to enjoy it without a lot of hassle. I thought about it and came up with some general requirements for what I want in a media center, then put the plan in motion. My current system works like this: • I have a central server machine that runs Plex and serves content that is stored on a network-attached-storage device. That’s how I get the media off disks and onto front-end devices. • I have a Tablo DVR for handling recording over-the-air TV programs and serving them. • I subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, and Pandora for content. • At each TV in my house, I have an Xbox or a Roku to access the content served by Plex and the various services. It looks like this: Contents 1 Illig Media Center Documentation, Release 1.0 That, of course, is pretty high-level. You can dive into individual areas to read about the more detailed sections of the system. (If you want more on the diagram, check out the network page.) I started out blogging this information, but as time goes on, the blog entry updates upon updates get confusing. so I switched to documentation on ReadTheDocs. Please read the disclaimer. You may find things in here that appear “wrong” or that don’t work for you. I’ve addressed that in my over-arching, all-encompassing disclaimer. 2 Contents Illig Media Center Documentation, Release 1.0 And now. Contents 3 Illig Media Center Documentation, Release 1.0 4 Contents CHAPTER 1 Media Center Requirements These are the things I want to get out of my media center. Note that the goals change as time goes on, and with changing requirements comes changing hardware, software, and network. • Access to my movie collection: I want to be able to get to all of the movies and TV shows in my collection. I’m not terribly concerned with keeping the menus and extra featrues, but I do want the full audio track and video without noticeably reduced fidelity. It would be nice to be able to access movies from outside my home, but the only firm requirement is internal access. • Access to my pictures: I want to be able to see my family photos from a place outside my home office where the computers generally sit. It would be nice to access these from outside my home, but the only firm requirement is internal access. • Access to my music: I want to be able to get to all of the music in my collection from any room in the house. It would be nice to be able to access music from outside my home, but the only firm requirement is internal access. • Family acceptance factor: I want my wife and daughter to be able to navigate through the system and find what they want to watch or listen to with minimal effort. • High device compatibility: When choosing media formats, software, communication protocols, etc., I want things to be compatible with as many devices I own as possible. I have a large number of devices ranging from Xbox 360 to iPad to Android phones. • Disaster recovery: I want to be as resilient to disaster as possible. If a hard drive dies, I don’t want to lose data. If my house burns down, I want to minimally save family photos, but additional things backed up is good. I have specific goals for other things listed on other pages. • Front-End Hardware Requirements 5 Illig Media Center Documentation, Release 1.0 6 Chapter 1. Media Center Requirements CHAPTER 2 Network Here’s a diagram of how my network is laid out: 7 Illig Media Center Documentation, Release 1.0 2.1 Configuration 2.1.1 Jumbo Frames Jumbo frames are a gigabit Ethernet thing that can increase throughput but you have to have all devices running gigabit and they all have to support the same jumbo frame size. Here’s a good article talking about what it all means. 8 Chapter 2. Network Illig Media Center Documentation, Release 1.0 I haven’t moved to jumbo frames because if all the devices on your network don’t all line up with the frame size (and if they’re not all wired) then you start dropping network packets. You can fix that by setting up managed switches (spendy) and set up VLANs that segregate the jumbo frames traffic from the rest of the network. but that’s really more than I’m interested in getting into. 2.1.2 Setting the Name / Type After switching routers, my Windows machines started thinking the “new network” was a public network and stopped doing network discovery on things. It was also called “Network 3” or something like that and that didn’t help much. You can run secpol.msc and update the name/type of the network from there. 2.2 Providers 2.2.1 Comcast We’ve had Comcast before, but we switched to Verizon due to pricing and good internet speed. After Frontier bought them, customer service went downhill, they constantly remotely reprogrammed our router (and denied it), and the pricing wasn’t so optimal anymore. We switched back to Comcast in June 2011. In 2015 we executed a plan to cut the cable. We reduced our service from phone + TV + internet down to just internet in an effort to save money. We make up for the loss of TV content by using various content service providers and we just use mobile phones for our primary contact. In June 2019 we switched back to Frontier because the Comcast internet, while nice, was getting spendy. We got Frontier at half the price for the same service. 2.2.2 Ziply Fiber In May 2020, Ziply Fiber acquired Frontier Communications. It’s basically the same thing. 2.2.3 Frontier Communications We switched from Verizon to Frontier after they purchased Verizon FiOS in 2010. Frontier hosed things up on my network constantly by remotely pushing policy and configuring the router. To repair: • Reset the router to defaults. • Set the admin password. • Disable wireless (at the time we were using the DAP-1522 for wireless). • On Advanced -> System Settings, change the local domain name to “home” if it’s not that already. (Frontier conveniently remotely made it “ftrdhcpuser.net” and now some domain names try to resolve on the internet.) • Log into the Windows Home Server remotely and verify access. If you can’t get to it, log into the WHS console, Settings -> Remote Access, and click “Repair” to update the router via UPnP. We left Verizon/Frontier FIOS in June 2011 and switched to Comcast. The price was better, the service was better, the TV and phone features were better. We didn’t get the same speed network as we had with FIOS, and we started out with a 250GB monthly cap (later lifted), but it’s a small price to pay for better service and folks not constantly remote-pushing changes to my network. 2.2. Providers 9 Illig Media Center Documentation, Release 1.0 In June 2019 we switched back to Frontier because the Comcast internet, while nice, was getting spendy. We had cut the cord and had internet-only service, and even then we got Frontier at half the price for the same service. Frontier appears to have gotten their act in gear since we last had them and it’s been reasonably stable. Late 2019 we had some networking hiccups where the network was going down intermittently. It turns out the ONT on the house was of a particular model that interacted poorly with one of the cards at the local substation. The card would think it was getting flooded and shut down, then ramp back up. This appeared from our end to be a network outage. Our router was blamed, so we bought new equipment (Ubiquiti) but then they located the bad card after all the new equipment was in place. Sigh. In May 2020, Ziply Fiber acquired Frontier Communications.