Comments on: HP MediaSmart Gets Smarter: Transcodes and Pipes Video to iPhone

By: JHall

JHall — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:51:34 +0000

Kevin,
Windows home server is based on Windows Server 2003. You can install Outlook and remote in. The new feature pack 2 allows for playback of H.2gd over your xbox360 and the new extenders. The green Button and other web sites are taking the home server to new levels. Paul Thurrots winsuper site has a lot of info on Windows Home server.

Thanks,

Josh Hall

By: DaveZatz

DaveZatz — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:28:16 +0000

I’m still looking for that perfect multi-OS solution. We’ve got several computers, half are OS X half are Vista. (Not to mention my XP and Ubuntu VMs, but those aren’t critical, need-to-be-recovered stuff.) Was looking forward to getting Sage up on the server. But I feel so stung, I just don’t want anything to do with it at the moment. Maybe I’ll feel better next week. ;)

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:15:51 +0000

I sympathise with your situation and wish that HP would leave stuff like Time Machine and iTunes integration out of their Home Servers as well. I don’t own Macs or iTunes and the extra software they include is nothing more than crapware to me.

I love my MediaSmart server (I have the original version) but really wish HP wouldn’t include software that can’t be easily uninstalled. I don’t see why it’s necessary for HP to market these at Mac users anyway when there are so few of them. Surely there are enough Windows users out there who need a simple backup solution and Mac users can stick to their Apple-provided solutions.

By: DaveZatz

DaveZatz — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:42:11 +0000

My MediaSmart server arrived on Friday. It's going back today. :( It's got tons of cool features. However that Mac 'Time Machine integration' is somewhat of an incomplete statement since it doesn't provide full recoveries. Found that out the hard way. I'm surprised Apple hasn't told them to stop advertising Time Machine support.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:26:17 +0000

I hear you. It’s been a good two years since I was ripping DVDs to Windows Mobile and back then there weren’t many other good substitutes for video content. My how times have changed for the better. :)

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:15:44 +0000

I think I tried ripping a DVD for a Pocket PC once before deciding that it was far too much hassle :) Since then I’ve found other, better sources for my video that come in friendlier formats.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:11:04 +0000

Thanks Jake. I was mainly transcoding from DVDs to my handheld back in the day. I also retired my WMCE desktop about 1.5 to 2 years ago, so I’ve missed out on any updates on codecs / formats. Good to know!

By: TateJ

TateJ — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:08:24 +0000

For this, I may need to upgrade.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:58:06 +0000

There’s never been any need to encode video for Windows Mobile (unless you’re ripping DVDs) with software like TCPMP which includes most of the major codecs.

As for DVR-MS that was the file format used by Media Center up until the release of the TV Pack last year. Media Center now records to .wtv files if you have the TV Pack or Windows 7 installed.

Gizmodo mention that the video can be streamed to a PSP but don’t include any details.