tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66317680208242919812024-03-27T06:36:26.570+00:00One Box To Rule Them AllA blog about building a smart-house automation, media storage and playback systems <strike>centered on Windows Server 8.</strike>http://www.blogger.com/profile/18408439413981267545noreply@blogger.comBlogger135125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-79087994690619042332023-11-04T00:07:00.002+00:002023-11-04T15:34:04.619+00:00Announce ReoLink Doorbell on Echo DevicesI recently installed a Reolink POE Video Doorbell, and like it a lot. Its got great picture, doesn't require web connectivity, and integrates really well with my Blue Iris set up. The only issue I have is that notifications on my mobile are poor and often missed. The bundled chime works OK inside the house, but when I'm in my detached office, I can often miss visitors.I thought it would be nice MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-16031543426659525962023-08-24T12:22:00.001+01:002023-08-24T12:22:44.792+01:00Backing up unRAID to Stabelebit Drivepool using KopiaSince I retired Mediaserver 8.1 and Mediaserver 8.2 in favour of Mediaserver 8.3, I've had a spacious ThermalTake Core X9 case and AMD FX-8320 based motherboard sitting around. I also have a selection of hard drives ranging from 500GB to 4TB that are retired from my main unRAID system. I'd been hankering to turn all of this into a backup server and, in fact, had made a few MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-85856363910187044462023-08-07T14:08:00.009+01:002023-08-07T14:37:12.449+01:00Alexa Music Playback through Marantz / Denon HeosArising from a query on reddit, I revisited something I'd set up quite some time ago and forgotten all about: using Alexa to play music on my HT system. It works;As can be seen, the processor is on CD input to start. When I ask it to play music, it switches to the HEOS input and plays. If the processor had been in standby, it would have been woken and switched to the correct input.Also, only the MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-10693558108112723382023-07-30T13:56:00.002+01:002023-07-30T13:56:48.287+01:00Set up Reolink Doorbell video with BlueIrisI recently purchased a Reolink Video Doorbell PoE on Amazon prime day to replace the Comfort intercom thats going on 20 years old. I selected this item over others as it supposedly integrates with BlueIris which I use for all my other surveillance cameras.There's no distinct guide for setting this up that I could find, so here's what I did, for posterity.Having set up the Doorbell and got it MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-62063935848651212322023-07-21T16:39:00.003+01:002023-07-21T16:39:56.479+01:00Best Triple Monitor USB-C Dock I've usedI've bought my fair share of docks and peripherals over the years as I love multi-monitor work set ups. My main workstation comprised a client issued HP corporate laptop that I used with a couple of older Dell U3014 30" displays. This was nice, but I was itching to add a third display that I had lying around and found an adapter that works perfectly.It's a 'Selore' branded USB C to Dual HDMIMediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-83303382237457727562023-07-19T16:25:00.002+01:002023-07-19T16:27:05.744+01:00Building an UnRaid Home Server for Media Storage and AutomationAre you looking to create a versatile and efficient home server that can handle your media storage needs while seamlessly integrating with your home automation system? If so, building an UnRaid home server might be the solution you've been searching for. In this post, we'll explore the benefits of UnRaid and provide practical advice on building your own home server for media storage and MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-69523370756548481302023-03-07T19:58:00.003+00:002023-03-07T19:58:21.666+00:00Tidal not playing through Squeezebox with LMS in DockerStarting to rebuild my whole-house audio playback system based on LMS as Roon, while nice, is not as free as LMS. Plus, I can get my LMS to access and play not only local files and Tidal, but also Spotify, which is missing from Roon.Anyway, in getting back into this, I came across a frustrating issue - I could not get Tidal to play on any client device.There's a few posts out there on things to MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-17627685411395747062022-07-29T15:39:00.008+01:002022-07-29T18:29:08.755+01:00Forcing HDR / Dolby Vision when not supported I came across VideoProcessor.org through a thread on AVSForums. From their own description, this sounded like something that might be of use for me to see how far I could push HDR on my venerable JVC X500 projector;VideoProcessor turns a computer into a 4k HDR capable live video processor by connecting a video capture card to a renderer and taking care of details such as conversion, timing MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-52744373958803340772022-05-23T12:20:00.001+01:002022-05-23T17:29:14.026+01:00Mapping additional and network drives inside an unRaid Windows VMOn the unRaid forums recently, I was responding to a user who was asking why his VM gcow2 image did not shrink when files are removed (thread here). I advised that auto-shrink is not standard behaviour, and in the discussion, it became clear that the use case was security camera footage. The user figured out that perhaps saving video files to a network share would be better than to the VM boot / MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-41946544399777727892022-04-11T18:03:00.003+01:002022-04-11T18:03:25.654+01:00Streamer, with benefitsI've spent a while refining my a/v setup and finally got around to building a decent home for all the kit. It now all rests on a DIY pull-out and swivel rack that allows for access as needed. However, one of the problems with any rack is the proliferation of devices and cables. In the spirit of consolidation that underpins this blog, I thought there must be a way of tidying all that upMediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-66316067029878866682021-12-08T09:29:00.004+00:002021-12-08T09:34:11.415+00:00Serial Perl RevisitedI'd posted this item on creating a custom serial driver / interface in PERL a few years ago, and needing to revisit it for another project, I found that there was now an issue with running the Win32::Serial module on 64-bit Windows, Windows 10 specifically.The problem was, when I ran some Perl that previously worked for me, it now failed when querying a serial port with an error like MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-31236905249295720552021-04-06T10:30:00.002+01:002021-04-06T10:30:34.443+01:00The Good SchiitThrough a long and winding path that started with an offer on Readly, which allowed me access some Australian Hifi magazines I would not otherwise read, one of which contained a review of this book, I picked up 'Schiit Happened' by Jason Stoddard & Mike Moffat.I'd been somewhat aware of the Schiit brand from reading reviews and online, but never paid all that much attention, and don't own anyMediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-63898710999284793622021-03-13T20:42:00.005+00:002021-03-13T20:42:56.302+00:00Solving HDMI Long Run DropoutMy Sky TV box feeds three displays throughout the house; a JVC projector in the Home Theatre, a Panasonic 58DX800 in one living room and a Samsung 7 Series TV in another All are more or less 4k , (the JVC is a Faux-K unit), but all support UHD resolution, which the Sky box outputs.I don't see much value in the additional multi-room subscription for Sky as we really don't use more than one TV at aMediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-6113696514509138752021-01-18T11:31:00.001+00:002021-01-18T11:31:19.303+00:00Worth a Watch: DCX MMXVII don't really do content reviews on this blog, but this weekend I rewatched the live concert Blu-Ray included with The Dixie Chicks DXC MMXVI Live CD set and it blew me away all over again, so I thought I'd share!I wouldn't call myself a Dixie Chicks fan per se, (or 'The Chicks' as they are now known). I have one of their CDs and know a few of the songs, but I don't know very much MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-67970104399844017942021-01-17T13:57:00.009+00:002021-02-25T10:47:59.098+00:00User Presence Detection using Node-Red and UnifiA big challenge in Home Automation is implementing a reliable mechanism for presence detection - figuring out who's home, and tailoring logic accordingly.Here's how I do it using Node-Red, Unifi and MQTT.Many approaches to presence detection rely on interacting with the device itself, either by way of software running on the mobile handset, or having the mobile ping or poll an external service. MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-15826106039011628612020-12-14T17:42:00.005+00:002020-12-14T17:45:33.994+00:00Maybe the best gadget I've ever bought? Fairly insidiously, Amazon has taken over my house. I now have various iterations of FireTVs connected to each TV, and almost every room has an echo device.I'm not complaining really, these are great pieces of technology, and voice control is a lot more useful that I would have envisaged a few years ago. And the FireTV is excellent - easy to use and supports everything I use on aMediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-59582851893066026412020-12-13T14:07:00.005+00:002020-12-14T17:14:28.948+00:00Marantz / Denon IP Control in Node-RedI'm enjoying my recently acquired Marantz AV8805 processor which is now the heart of my Home Cinema. My previous trusty SR7010 receiver is still working hard as a power amp, driving surround and height channels.One of the challenges of running in this kind of configuration is that both units respond to the same remote control signals. I have switched off remote receiving on the SR7010 as I just MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-42979818539018595002020-12-05T23:37:00.000+00:002020-12-05T23:37:04.982+00:00Set up Sky Fibre Broadband with Unifi USGI recently moved from eir to Sky for TV, phone and broadband. My old eir modem supported bridging which allowed it play nice with my USG and the rest of the Unifi network. Unfortunately, the Sky modem does not support bridging. The usual advice online is to eliminate the Sky hardware and add a dedicated modem such as the Draytek V120. This is not an option for me as I'm also subscribing to Sky MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-78999496177513156002020-11-26T14:42:00.003+00:002020-11-26T14:44:54.507+00:00Configure Eir F2000 modem with Unifi USGSo I don't forget (again) ....Having implemented a Unifi network infrastructure that's solved my home WiFI problems and introduced a degree of structure and security to my network, I wanted to document how I'd configured my service provider all-in-one modem/router to act as just a modem in front o the Unifi USG that handles or hands off everything else.The first thing to note is that, once this MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-89817519383324661562020-07-17T16:32:00.006+01:002020-07-17T18:18:04.058+01:00Problems passing through GPU to an unRaid VM?One of the most common problems I see people seeking help for on unRaid forums, reddit and discord is the thorny issue of GPU pass-through. People with the same problems tend to ask the same questions over and over, and, somewhat tired of providing the same troubleshooting steps over and over, I thought I'd write up the main pitfalls, and possible solutions.Here are some steps to check before MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-41396985543759092062020-06-09T22:31:00.002+01:002020-06-09T22:31:49.357+01:00X-Case X465E First ImpressionsMy current server lives in a ThermalTake Core X9 case. While I like it a lot, and its generous dimensions have allowed me add lots of PCIe cards, its proving itself to be somewhat toasty, especially for drives which are often reporting high temperatures.The system lives in an attic space that heats up over summer which does not help with thermals. The unwieldy size and din generated by MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-86954410668441976372020-05-09T23:17:00.001+01:002020-05-09T23:17:21.673+01:00Solving the -43 issue for GPU passthroughI've usually built my VMs with AMD GPUs when passthrough was needed. I happened to have an old GeForce GTX770 lying around, but found it frustratingly difficult to get it working in a Windows 10 VM. nVidia drivers apparently really, really don't like running in a VM and cause the display device to show a -43 error.For me, after a significant amount of tweaking and trying, I finally found a MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-42439157083407098712020-04-24T15:38:00.001+01:002020-06-22T22:14:37.133+01:00MediaServer 8.3 - Bifurcation Edition
Some hardware updates, some minor mods and lots of cabling later, I've managed to get my unRAID server hosting eleven (13?) usable PCIe/PCI expansion cards which I'm using to manage storage devices and populate VMs with passthrough GPU, USB and Utility adapters.
All with 2x slots to spare on my 5x slot mainboard.
Here's how...
Having upgraded to a ThreadRipper 2950x based system, MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-11636269991879115732020-04-19T18:00:00.001+01:002020-04-26T20:57:02.342+01:00unRAID discrete USB Passthrough to multiple VMsFor a while, I've been working towards consolidation of machines into VMs on my unRAID system. unRAID is great for this as it allows for hardware passthrough of devices such as GPUs, USB adapters and other items. Passthrough of discrete USB controllers is especially important. unRAID does allow direct device passthrough, but I've found this unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. Mainly, MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631768020824291981.post-62443469144366800922020-02-09T13:32:00.001+00:002020-02-09T18:54:35.813+00:00Splashtop Latency DemoA user over at unRaid Forums asked me about latency when using SpalshTop Personal to access an OSX VM running on unRaid. I promised a quick video to show it in action. Sorry about the delay!
MediaServer8http://www.blogger.com/profile/06539122402100250521noreply@blogger.com0