I find it amusing to see people complain about the price of some piece of gear and then talk about how “anyone” could design and build a home-brew solution.

This is true for DVRs, home automation systems, media servers, etc.

As a Custom Electronics pro, it comes down to 2 very simple things for my clients:

- Reliability. The system must work perfectly, every time, without fail, for well longer than the warranty period. If a piece of gear I’ve installed fails, my clients complain and want me to replace it free (both equipment and labor). To put in something homebrew that may fail more often is simply not manageable from a business perspective. And if I can’t afford to do that, how can your average non-technical person deal with the frustration of doing it on their own? Most won’t, they’ll simply stop using it.

- Ease of use. Sure, a technical person can make this thing work. But what about your mother-in-law? Oh, maybe you have a technical mother-in-law - how about the babysitter? Grandma? Cousin from California? Entertainment and control systems have to be extremely simple to use, and work exactly the same way, every time. “Stand on one foot while flipping the switch with your left pinky on alternate Thursdays” will only lead to support calls (which cost lots of time and/or money), and frustration for the user. Operation has to be intuitively obvious to a non-technical person, or even a technophobe. If it’s not, it will always be a hobbyist’s toy, not a commercializable product.

And seriously, if something is not commercializable, it will almost never gain enough marketplace support to be anything other than a niche.

This is why it’s taken so long for home automation to gain any sort of traction. Making a house so complex that you need a 2-week training course to turn on the lights is unacceptable to most people. Same for your media server.

Rob Schultz
Inspired Electronics, Inc.
http://www.inspired-electronics.com

Gary

The K-Scape isn’t just a PC at heart.  It doesn’t run Windows, Linux or any other PC OS.  K-Scape have their own.  It also uses commercial server grade hard drives.

I’m not saying that you couldn’t build something of equivalent quality for less - as I am sure you can.

There will always be a self-build way to solve the problem until over time the commercial products become more affordable.  I myself am surprised that after being on the market for some time K-Scape doesn’t yet have a serious rival.  Go back a number of years and HiFi enthusiasts would build there own speakers as this was the most cost effective way of achieving quality.  Now it is much more usual to buy them ready made.

We could also start the argument about when the physical media disk will die and all content will be delivered online….

I’m really tired of and don’t understand WHY when people hear about ripping your own DVD/Bluray is automatically labeled ILLEGAL on the forehead??  Did any of you hear about the Fair Use Law??  Yes, there’s the DMAC law too, but did the count actually rule for a definite conclusion between two yet??  If not, then why backing up a DVD/Bluray disc that you paid for it is an auto “illegal” action???? 

Oh, driving 60mph down the interstate is illegal is most state too!  So, DON’T go over 55mph next time you’re on interstate highway!!  Otherwise, where’s the credibility of accusing others breaking the law while you are also doing “illegal” thing??

Ease of use for non-computer people is definitive a good point that I can’t argue!!  And it is true for your 80yrs old example!!  But probably not even on average Joe!  (it actually isn’t that hard to back up a DVD disc)

And reliability??  Oh com’on, the Kaleidescape system is still a PC in it’s heart!  And you are telling me it’s “somehow” more reliable than a homebrew HTPC while 99.9% of the error on any PC is the user’s error?? 

$2-3k more than a home built HTPC, I could still understand (all the development, license, legal fee, etc.).  but $7000 more for a little more ease of use (the only stretching valid point from John)?  That is a bit too much in most people’s view honestly!!  (I bet even in most “Mercedes” owners’ view too!)  Yeah, I know, poor me is NOT a Mercedes owner!!  My personal ride is only a E92 M3 & a LandRover…....  And since it is too expensive for my taste, I’ll be going back to my HT watching my Bluray/DVD back up on the 100” screen now John….

I built a small HTPC and a Windows Home Server for storage of DVD and blu-Ray rips. Total cost just under $1000. Maximum capacity of 40TB of storage. I’m using Any HD-DVD for ripping. Is it legal? No but neither is driving without a seatbelt.

As far as the $8000 car? An Audi Coupe Quattro with a GT35r and an AAN swap will drive circles around any Mercedes.

Yeah it’s funny how this whole site is geared towards top of the line gear (which is fine).  However I’m sure the majority of the people that read this site can not afford a mercades or an $8000 dvd ripping box.

I guess we’ll never know if the guy asking the question thinks $8000 is “breaking the bank”.