Setting Up A Home Media Network

With the explosion of media content over the last few years, most families are struggling with the ability to save and share all of it. This content comes in many forms including videos that have been created or downloaded from the internet, pictures, music, important Emails that have been sent and received, and various other documents that make up the new digital life. Up until now this content has been stored on local computers and transferred between them on a memory stick, or for more sophisticated users, a local area network for others to use. This is a cumbersome process and leads to the possible loss of data as well as the problem of multiple copies of this content floating all over the network eating up expensive disc space.

Another concern is that most families have made the transition from film to digital cameras and the only place those precious family photos that have been taken over the years exists is on an aging hard drive. If this drive fails, kiss those pictures goodbye. All of these concerns can be solved by setting up a simple Home Media Network and using this central location as the "Digital Vault" to store all of the content you rely on and enjoy. This article will present the concept of a Digital Vault and explain the benefits and the basics of how to get a Home Media Network installed and operating in no time.

What is a Home Media Network

In its simplest form, a Home Media Network is a collection of connections between computers in the home along with a central repository of storage where all of the collected media is stored. A Home Media network can share a local area network if its already installed, or can be a totally separate network used just for sharing and enjoying the media. The main components of the Home Media Network are the computers used to collect and generate content, the storage array, and possibly other specialized display adapters (more on this later).

The basic premise of a Home Media Network is to allow the organization and distribution of digital content to whoever needs it. A further aim is to secure this media so that it is not lost in the event of a component failure. Finally, by moving all of the media content to a common repository on the network, there is no worry about losing data when one of the computers is upgraded. All of the data will be available to the new system as soon as it is plugged into the Home Media Network.

Benefits of a Home Media Network

Most folks have setup a home network or local area network (LAN) as it is commonly referred to. The most basic LAN consists of a router and a network card installed in each of the computers that are going to be added to the network. A router is a device that connects all of the computers together with the high speed network connection (like a cable modem). This router allows several computers to connect to the cable modem and share the connection to the internet. It also acts like a "traffic cop" and helps regulate the interaction between computers and ensures that everyone gets their fair share of network access.

If this network needs to be expanded further, a switch can be added to allow even more devices to connect to the network. Additionally, a Wifi (POP) Point of Presence can be connected to expand the network to any device that connects over Wifi. Once setup, this network allows an internet connection to be shared between a group of computers as well as transfer files between them. This works well for basic file trading, but does not really offer any of the benefits that taking things a step further with a Home Media network will provide.

Sharing the data

Even though all of the computers on the network can now share data, they still act as "islands" of storage each containing a portion of all of the data. If one of these computers fails, all of the data on its hard drive is lost to the ages. Also, to access the data on a specific computer on the network from a particular computer, it requires that the computer you are trying to retrieve data from be turned on. This is a major hassle as well as a power waster.

By implementing a central storage repository, you will alleviate all of these problems and will have created a secure, simple place for all of the folks on your network to store their content. It also assures them that the content will be protected from loss due to failure of a particular hard drive, as well as optionally backed up to another location for further protection. Additionally, it provides for an easy way to organize and present your content for all of the users on your network. This central storage repository can take on several forms from "home-brew" solutions to commercially available network attached storage (NAS) units.

Over the past few years NAS units have come way down in price and are well within the reach of the average consumer. They are simple to connect and operate and have grown in features. For example, most of the current NAS units will support multiple hard drives and actually allow you to protect against failure by mirroring the data between all of the drives in the NAS unit. This means that in the event you lose a hard drive in the system (which will happen), another drive in the system has a copy of the data and you never actually lose anything. Some of the more sophisticated units like the Drobo will actually allow you to remove the defective drive, replace it with a new one, and rebuild the data automatically from the mirror copy.

Most of these units will also allow you to mix different drive sizes in the same enclosure giving you added flexibility. The beauty of having a central storage repository like this is that all of your users can see it as a local hard drive in their computers, and store their media to it. Then even if their systems are powered off, everyone else on the network that they designate can access that content.

Some other units like the MvixBOX also include the ability to restrict certain users from accessing specific content and allow you to setup secure folders. In addition, the MvixBOX unit has a webserver installed that enables you to setup and host your own website on your network.

Securing the data

Once you have installed the NAS unit on your network, there are a few basic concerns that need to be addressed, such as security of the data. This comes in several forms starting with access. For example you may have some content that is inappropriate for certain people on your network to access. Most of the NAS units allow you to either setup a password for access to certain directories or folders, or restrict access based on the specific computer. This assures you that only the people you want to views the content have access to it. You may choose to have several folders that are public and unrestricted where you put all of your common media like family movies and pictures. You can also have other folders for other content like scary movies that you don't want your younger children to stumble over.

Another consideration is backing up the data on your NAS. Even though most of the NAS units will protect your data from loss due to the failure of a particular hard drive through mirroring, they cannot protect you from someone accidentally deleting a file. This is a concern because everyone who has access to these shared folders will have the ability to delete things and you may want to have a backup copy somewhere else in case you need to restore a certain picture or song that got inadvertently deleted.

There are a lot of programs on the market that will enable you to make a regularly scheduled backup of any of the folders on your NAS unit to another hard drive anywhere on the network. You could do a monthly backup of all of your pictures and home movies you share on the network with others to prevent any accidental deletes. The program can be scheduled to run in the evening when you are asleep and is automatic. Some of the NAS units even have the ability to do this themselves.

Enjoying the content

This article has outlined the benefits of having a Home Media Network setup and sharing your content between the various computers in your home, but it doesn't end there. Even though it's nice to be able to access a media file to edit it, and even watch it occasionally on your PC, the real reason you collect all of this media content is to watch it together on your TV. In the last few years a new class of device has emerged called a Media Router which helps you do just that. It is an appliance that connects to your TV through one of your video inputs or HDMI and also connects to your Home Media Network. Once installed it allows you to watch any media file you have on any of your network devices on your TV. These can be files that exist on one of the computers on your Home Media Network, or your NAS.

Some of the better units like the Mvix MX-780HD even allow you to install a hard drive in them and store content there as well. What this means for you is that if you put one of these on each of your TV's you can enjoy any of the content you have stored anywhere you want. Additionally there are devices that connect to your network and your stereo system that allow you to do the same thing with your music. Recently there have been a slew of portable devices released like the PSP and the Archos 5 players that allow you to transfer your media to them to enjoy on the road. Having all of your digital content organized and available in one place makes the transfer to these devices easier as well. Imagine never having to find a DVD, or CD again and having every song or movie you ever bought at your fingertips.

Tying it all together

By now the benefits of a Home Media Network should be apparent. You'' like the fact that you can decide on a movie to watch and immediately sit down and start watching it without having to play hide-and-seek for the DVD. Also if you install a few of the media routers, you can watch several programs at once on different TV's. You can even be watching a show in the den while the kids are watching something else in the living room. It is possible to transfer all of your DVD's to your NAS unit and then put them up on the shelf for safe keeping.

You could even take it a step further and install a media router in your vehicle. This means that when you start the car, the Wifi connection in the car joins the Home Media Network and you are able to transfer a few files to the hard drive in it for the kids to watch on that long road trip. You might also own a few portable media players like the Archos 7 unit or the Sony PSP, and having the content on the network allows you to transfer these movies and TV shows to the player for those long plane flights. In this new digital age, having the convenience of being able to access and enjoy all of your media content when you want and where you want is sweet. Installing a Home Media Network makes this all possible.

admin | April 13th, 2011
Tags: home local network, Home Media Network, how to set up local network, setup local area network
Categories: Networking

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