NAS Drive on an HTPC and more

[phigdon]

I have probably asked this before, but I don't remember. I have been in the process of making an HTPC for the last year or so, i have a lot of equipment that has to be upgraded so its taking a while. I am looking at making a media server type of HTPC for my home and all the computers that are and will be in it. Best case scenario, the system will handle HD video and audio to the main viewing area ie. living room, but will also be a media server to the other computers in the house as well as all the TV's. I want my kids to be able to access movies, music, recorded TV, etc from the HTPC on their computers. so, i have a few questions.

Media Storage:
I have been looking at several NAS drives at the Egg. My current Cooler Master case can house 6 HDDs and with conversion kits I could put in an additional 4 and house a Blue-ray DVD player. (I realize that to accommodate the additional drives I will have to put in an add on card). the question is, is it faster and easier to simply put the media drives into my case and have them accessed from the other computers or to get a NAS drive and connect it to the wireless router via an ethernet cable? If the NAS drive is the way to go can anyone recommend a brand and unit?

TV Access:
what is the easiest way for me to setup access to the HTPC for TV through out the house? In my kids rooms there would already be a computer so this wouldn't an issue, but in a room wiht out one, am I looking at putting a 'HTPC workstation' in each room with an HDMI or an S-video/component out to the TV or are there TV's that can access a wireless network and an HTPC?

DVD Codec
I have a couple of DVD codec's that I have download but occasionally there is an incompatibility issue. can anyone recommend a DVD codec for Media Player that will play all formats? Free is always good, but I would rather buy something that will work. Is there a codec built into Vista?

[mojo]

I would highly recommend checking out SageTV for recording, viewing, and distributing TV around your house. It works extremely well and has an amazing community/forum. I've been running it for a few years and I couldn't live without it any more. It's very easily expanded to however many clients your want. You can either load some client software on a pc or they sell a couple different set-top boxes so you don't have to have a PC in the room to watch TV. As for storage, I would stay away from the consumer NAS products and go with a file server instead. This can either just be drives in the same HTPC computer or a separate server running linux or a pre-packaged OS such as FreeNAS. Consumer NAS boxes tend to have pretty poor performance compared to a real file server, and this will be a problem if you are planning on using HD video. Sage has a DVD codec built-in, but many people, including me, have shelled out a few dollars for the nVidia purevideo DVD codec and are very happy with it.

[phigdon]

Thanks matt, that saves a lot of time and money. with the Sage TV that you recommended, is that compatible with a PC remote? i was planning on getting one but I also have a wireless keyboard and mouse in the build list.

[mojo]

Yes, Sage is designed to be controlled with a remote. There are several that it supports. I personally just use the one that came with my hauppauge capture cards, but there are countless threads on their forums all about remotes.