CoreyC said: What would be the advantage with this over a low powered nettop like this: Link?
It just seems you could build something that would give you more flexibility for much cheaper.
I'm not thread crapping, this is a legitimate question.
Convenience
Media smart servers are awesome. The new HP Media Smart version 2.5 update has an app that goes through and transcodes all your videos (copies) as H.264/AAC in both full resolution and portable media player resolutions.
There are apps included stream your media to other devices over the internet (your phone, work pc, some TVs, simple digital media players, etc.
There's even an app to synchronize your data with the Amazon S3 cloud storage.
You just go to http://yourMediaSmartServersName/ and you can install the MediaSmart connector - a very lightweight app that sits in your system tray to help manage backups or keep your documents/music/videos synchronized in near realtime. Speaking of backups, the Media Smart server can manage backups of each PC and keep daily, weekly, monthly snapshots (you choose how many!) - that way if you realize you deleted a recipe you can't live without, you can go back to a backup from a couple months back and snag it.
You can do all that with FreeNAS or some open source hardware - but the HP software that's included really is a huge selling point.
Seriously - this is a lot more than just some storage Smile
calebb said: CoreyC said: What would be the advantage with this over a low powered nettop like this: Link?
It just seems you could build something that would give you more flexibility for much cheaper.
I'm not thread crapping, this is a legitimate question.
Convenience
Media smart servers are awesome. The new HP Media Smart version 2.5 update has an app that goes through and transcodes all your videos (copies) as H.264/AAC in both full resolution and portable media player resolutions.
There are apps included stream your media to other devices over the internet (your phone, work pc, some TVs, simple digital media players, etc.
There's even an app to synchronize your data with the Amazon S3 cloud storage.
You just go to http://yourMediaSmartServersName/ and you can install the MediaSmart connector - a very lightweight app that sits in your system tray to help manage backups or keep your documents/music/videos synchronized in near realtime. Speaking of backups, the Media Smart server can manage backups of each PC and keep daily, weekly, monthly snapshots (you choose how many!) - that way if you realize you deleted a recipe you can't live without, you can go back to a backup from a couple months back and snag it.
You can do all that with FreeNAS or some open source hardware - but the HP software that's included really is a huge selling point.
Seriously - this is a lot more than just some storage Smile
Caleb
I have done this with the HP media convertor but for some reason the _hq files do NOT play when I stream it using the media streamer. Maybe we can discuss this offline via PM but let me know if you can stream the converted MP4 files on EX485 ..
calebb said: You can do all that with FreeNAS or some open source hardware - but the HP software that's included really is a huge selling point.
Seriously - this is a lot more than just some storage Smile
What you conveniently left out is that it's more than just the "HP software" that does the magic - a LOT of it is included in Windows Home Server, available for about $100. Add that to the Wind nettop price, put in a hard drive and some memory and you're about $100 or so UNDER the EX485 "deal" price - to me, that's an awful lot to pay for "convenience".
I still can't decide between this and the Acer AH340. Or whether to wait until Win 7 comes out.
chukdotcom
Member
posted: Sep. 7, 2009 @ 2:03p
1lossir said: Add that to the Wind nettop price, put in a hard drive and some memory and you're about $100 or so UNDER the EX485 "deal" price - to me, that's an awful lot to pay for "convenience".
imo, atom cpu is great for low voltage but NOT that low (in idle) compare to a low voltage celeron. Another reason you want the higher power celeron is that it will enable you to do video converting on the mediasmart, which will struggle with the atom.
Why not just build your own HTPC with something like a low-power dual-core? That's what I did for cheaper than this and with better components...
will792
Member
posted: Sep. 7, 2009 @ 3:26p
g0dMAn said: Why not just build your own HTPC with something like a low-power dual-core? That's what I did for cheaper than this and with better components...
Not so sure which case you used but the one used in EX485 does not have anything comparable in the marketplace at reasonable price. There are also 4 hot swappable 3.5" drive trays which would cost you ~$100.
with all these sales recently on this, any thoughts on whether HP is trying to clear out inventory for a new upgraded version? maybe something using a solo core pentium or even a cheaper dual core?
wuhoo said: with all these sales recently on this, any thoughts on whether HP is trying to clear out inventory for a new upgraded version? maybe something using a solo core pentium or even a cheaper dual core?
These are the upgraded versions. They haven't been out that long and I haven't seen anything to indicate that there's going to be another round this soon....but then again....haven't followed the HP MSS forums that much lately.
HP has a nice thing with these Media Smart boxes, and I love the little cases they have with the hot swap drive trays. Here is what I found through my research:
I just built a Media NAS comparable to the the HP using a Shuttle K48 (3-bay) and a dual-core cpu. My total out of pocket was roughly $270 with taxes + $200 for 2x1.5TB in drives, so $470 for a 3TB machine, running Windows Home Server. So to make this apples to apples with my K48 solution... if you add a 1.5TB drive to the EX487 for $100, your total cost is now $599 without tax, or $130 more. So here is how I would sum it up...
MediaSmart Pros: 4-drive capacity vs. only 2 with the K48 Very nice case and hot swap trays! Possibly room for a PCI card? Comes with a WHS license
MediaSmart cons: Only a Celeron processor Only 4 sata ports, need a 5th for a boot drive (but maybe there is room for a pci card to add more?) Comes with 2x750gb instead of a single 1.5TB No room to add a Blu-ray drive
It's really a tough call, but I think I slightly prefer my K48 solution. BTW, the EX 487 was only $419 through HP direct and using Bing CB about 10 days ago...
Nice OP....good job. A might more than I paid at HP ($400 total) a few months back with that *#%^#$*&^#% sales tax @ NewEegg ($433 total)....but still a nice find.
wuhoo said: with all these sales recently on this, any thoughts on whether HP is trying to clear out inventory for a new upgraded version? maybe something using a solo core pentium or even a cheaper dual core?
I doubt it. These are fairly new. But I do worry about HP discontinuing support for these like they did with their first line of Home Servers.
jalapenonc said: a technical question: does this unit support RAID?
No it does not. It relies on WHS' Drive Extender to manage multiple drives, which is technically not RAID. DE is actually more flexible than hardware RAID.
I am so sick of the comments about building one for less everytime this box comes up. Can you build one for less? Maybe. Can you build one as elegantly as HP does with the nice SFF case WITH 4 hot-swap bays? I don't think so. The small cases that I've seen all look and feel cheap.
It is well worth the little bit of extra $ (if any) for the quality and style of this box.
bryan05 said: wuhoo said: with all these sales recently on this, any thoughts on whether HP is trying to clear out inventory for a new upgraded version? maybe something using a solo core pentium or even a cheaper dual core?
I doubt it. These are fairly new. But I do worry about HP discontinuing support for these like they did with their first line of Home Servers.
The reason they did not offer the 2.5 update to hx470/475 owners is the media transcoding service (major component) required 1GB RAM and the 470/475 only comes with 512MB. After enough people complained (it's a super easy upgrade to add 2GB RAM to these), they decided to offer the update afterall.
Also, re: streaming the transcoded media - my HTPCs are an XBMC and an old Dell P4 dual core running Win7 - both stream them fine via SMB share.
rigor said: if it included win7 media center then i'd buy right now.
can you run that in a VM on this?
or run this software in a VM?
I'm pretty sure you can, if the software will install (VirtualBox prob will). Under the hood it's just Windows Server 2003. I do believe these are designed to run headless, at least I know with my WHS install it always complained when I logged in at the terminal itself instead of remotely. So that might be an issue preventing a VM from running.
edit: Looking at Newegg pictures, there is no place to hook up a monitor. Not made to be anymore more than a file server / file backup of sorts.
herbamatic
Senior Member
posted: Sep. 8, 2009 @ 8:29a
To me the case is fabulous, as has been pointed out. And sure you can shave some $ by building yourself, but you need to find a great case like this one, and then deal with installing WHS on it. Now that has got to take some time.
bryan05 said: wuhoo said: with all these sales recently on this, any thoughts on whether HP is trying to clear out inventory for a new upgraded version? maybe something using a solo core pentium or even a cheaper dual core?
I doubt it. These are fairly new. But I do worry about HP discontinuing support for these like they did with their first line of Home Servers.
Your point is valid, but with respect to the original server line there is a pretty good non-official substitute Here and Here.
I'm completely out of touch with the server market presently, but fwiw HP has had some awesome rebate deals when they've upgraded the server line a couple times in the past. I picked up a 1tb MV5140 for less than $50 net delivered. That program had a rebate equal to 50% of list price, with no limit. If you are interested in HP servers keep your eyes peeled for similar programs in the future.
It looks like you can purchase this for $339 on HP.com if you use epp plus buy a pc. I had an HP mini in my cart and added the ex485 and came up with this:
Price: $599.99 Discount: -$60.00 EPP Price: $539.99 PC Accessory instant rebate: –$200.00 Price after rebate: 339.99
The $200 discount disappeared if I removed the mini from the cart. You can also get an additional 3% CB from bing.
herbamatic said: To me the case is fabulous, as has been pointed out. And sure you can shave some $ by building yourself, but you need to find a great case like this one, and then deal with installing WHS on it. Now that has got to take some time. It actually only took me about 3 hours to completely assemble mine and install/configure WHS. My goal was a bit different, in that I wanted a low power box with 1.5TB drives, and I would use it for DATA only, not media. The parts I used:
>Shuttle K48 (case, mobo, video, sound, lan) I paid $109 at Fry's >Intel E4600 Core2 Duo cpu, $40 >2GB (2x1GB) Corsair ram, $20 >WD 160GB 2.5" notebook drive (for OS only), $60 >3TB (2x1.5TB) Seagate drives, $180 >Windows Home Server (WHS), $0 (MSDN) TOTAL: $409
Pros: >LOW power consumption, 18 watts when idle and 34 watts at peak >FAST transfers over ethernet, 100 MBps actual throughput! (all other gigabit NAS boxes I have tried to date only get a third of that) >Decent cpu >Option to add a Blu-ray drive in the future >Can function headless like a NAS or as a normal box
Cons: >Not as nice of a case as HP >Only 2-bays >No hot swap trays >Time to assemble/setup vs. just buying HP off the shelf
So now that I have my data backup machine, I still need a Media NAS, and I am debating on whether to build another one of these or go with the HP. Aside from the Celeron cpu, the thing I really hate is that they put 750gb drives in these things... useless to me, and now I have the hassle of trying to sell those and buy 1.5TB drives. I would be all over this for about $400 if it came with a single 1.5TB drive, so I could buy 3 more to put in.
I am very curious to hear from MediaSmart owners what kind of throughput you guys are seeing on these. Also, for anyone interested, here is a white paper on Microsoft's drive extender technology. The thing that is so awesome about this vs. RAID, is that you don't have to commit the entire drive. You can choose which files/folders you want duplicated (critical), vs. those you don't (can stand to lose in case of drive failure).
Mulox said: herbamatic said: >LOW power consumption, 18 watts when idle and 34 watts at peak >FAST transfers over ethernet, 100 MBps actual throughput! (all other gigabit NAS boxes I have tried to date only get a third of that) [/L]
Wow that's extremely low idle power consumption, no doubt helped by using a 2.5" drive. My 485EX with the stock 750GB plus 3x 1.5TB, when the 3x 1.5TB spindown, was taking ~60W idle. Peaks at 90-something with lot of disk read/write activities.
My biggest gripe with WHS is that it spins up the drives constantly when it balances the drives. I was better off not letting the drives spin down, as everytime the drives spin up it consumes a burst of watts.
I have gotten over 100MB/s read speed over my gigabit network, if the data is a large contiguous file (like a m2ts or vob file) located on the fastest part of the hard drive. Overall average hovers between 70-80MB/s, and can get significantly slower copying many small files.
I love my ex470, wish I had the spare cash to upgrade. I use my server for streaming our digital media around the house. Automated backups are nice, I had to use the system restore feature once, really saved my butt. It eases remote access to my home computers when I'm at work, gives me an easy way to share large files with my friends/family. And what I'm probably using it for most right now is to host playon so I can stream hulu and revision 3 (and several other online shows) throughout the house. Upgrading sucks as the components are really packed in but from what I understand that isn't really an issue with the newer model since they don't need to be upgraded. For a huge knowledge base check out wegotserved it's a very helpful site.
Ozisis
New Member
posted: Sep. 8, 2009 @ 1:52p
Is the only difference between the EX485 and EX487 the extra 750 gb hard drive?
goodbadmas
Member
posted: Sep. 8, 2009 @ 2:01p
how are you streaming ? i am not having much luck
thanks for ur help ..
Wilco
Member
posted: Sep. 8, 2009 @ 2:10p
Quick Review- I bought one during the Bing CB deal 2-3 weeks ago and have set it up running backups on Windows 7 boxes, and 1 Mac Pro portable (Time Machine). Works well for that purpose and for typical sharing tasks - itunes server. I do video streaming to a Series 3 TiVo using pyTivo which worked better for me than TivoPublisher.
Adding new drives is very easy and quick. Storage is balanced.
Remote access is fairly simple to set up
My one complaint - all of my desktops are quiet due to aftermarket coolers, and this thing is buzzy and noisy. Annoyed that they couldn't design something quieter. I don't have any convenient closet to hide it away right now.
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