Xbox Dad:

Serving Up the Goods

Published May 29, 2008

Hello, my name is Jason Buffington and my day job is in the Windows Storage Solutions team. On nights and weekends, I play as DarkJediHunter, and the real Xbox Dad was kind enough to let me share one of my favorite family tips in this month's column (thanks, Duncan). My sons are nine and seven years old, my daughter is three, and along with my wife, we all game.

And now for something completely different …

Every month, the Xbox Dad column brings information about a family friendly game. But in my family, our consoles are used for more than gaming. We have one in our family room and one in my bedroom. We do play games on both, but there are some great multimedia capabilities that really come to life when you also leverage a Windows Home Server.

The Windows Home Server.

Windows Home Server
Many folks are probably familiar with Windows Media Center PCs for streaming music and photos. And with the Xbox 360® media extenders, that was an effective solution, if you have one PC in your house. But with several PCs and two consoles, we needed a more centralized solution, which is what the Windows Home Server is for. Now, as a networking/server guy, I have always run a server in my house, but it was admittedly always overkill, and even then, my older servers were never really media or family-friendly.

But the Windows Home Server (WHS) is a true Xbox Dad-styled consumer device. It has a very small form factor (barely wider than a standard 3.5-inch internal hard drive) and it's completely self-contained, not even needing a monitor/keyboard/mouse. I personally bought the HP MediaSmart 470. There are others, all powered by the Windows Home Server platform, but I liked the HP for its modularity, size and that I used to love "real" HP servers (but I digress).

The Media Blade
Whichever WHS you get, just plug it in to your home network and manage it from a Web browser on any desktop. It allows my wife and me to centrally save our photos, music and more, no matter what PC you are on. Here is where the Xbox 360 comes back into the picture. Setup couldn't be easier. The Windows Home Server, like a Windows Media Center PC, advertises its data sources on your local network. By going to the Media tab on the console, one can select source, and your Windows Home Server will be a visible selection.

The Media blade on Xbox 360.

Specifically, configuration is as simple as:

1. Select the Media blade from the Xbox 360 Dashboard.
2. Select Music.
3. Select Computer.
4. Select Yes, Continue. Your Xbox 360 searches for all Media Sharing devices.
5. Select Server:1. By default, Windows Home Server is installed with the name Server. If you have chosen a different name for your home server, substitute that name for Server. Mine is called HomeServer because I don't like taking the defaults for anything.
6. After selecting your Windows Home Server, the console displays the music that is available on your Windows Home Server.

The above instructions were taken from the Windows Home Server documentation on media sharing at the Windows Home Server site. Be sure to check that area for information, and note that there is also a complete section of the Xbox.com site devoted to connecting your Xbox 360 to Windows Media (including Windows Home Server).

Viewing Photos
Both of my consoles are connected to the two best video displays and best sound systems in my house. So why not use them to view photos, videos and music?

Viewing photos on Xbox 360.

Before, when friends or family came to my house, we would all proceed to a PC and huddle around the monitor as we browsed the directory and showed the pictures.

Now, sitting in our living room and looking at the nicest TV in the house, our Xbox 360 streams any picture directories that the Home Server offers. Last week, my family and I went on a Spring Break vacation. My in-laws came by the house the next day, and we all sat around using the controller to flip through our most recent photos.

Listening to Music
Over time, I have ripped most of our CD collection to WMA/MP3 files, originally so that I could take my favorite music with me when I travel. When I had previously played music on my console, I would simply copy my WMA/MP3 audio collection to a USB flash stick every few months, and keep it plugged into the console.

Playing music on Xbox 360.

Now, since both of our consoles have a connection to a stereo in that room, any music we want is now as easy as picking a directory which is hosted on the Windows Home Server. Get a new CD? Take it to any computer in the house and rip it. Then, go to one of the consoles and play it.

In our family room, this is cool for letting the kids pick their own favorite music, and the full-screen visualizations look gorgeous on a high-definition TV. My three-year old daughter can dance and look at the fun graphics. My other Xbox 360 is in the bedroom, and it's great to play a CD without having to go across the house. This is especially nice on date night. Hey, I am a dad … not dead.

Watching Video
One great use of this technology is for viewing WMV files obtained from other sources (such as training videos). I can easily drop them on the Home Server and then watch them on a real TV. In fact, in my role as both Xbox Dad and Geek Dad, I downloaded several videos about the Home Server and watched them on the console just to learn all the gritty details.

Watching video on Xbox 360.

Since my digital cameras also capture video as well as stills, those same directories on the HomeServer can store both and are easily viewable, all at the click of the universal Xbox 360 remote, from the comfort of my living room couch.

The Future
Next month, the first Power Pack for Windows Home Server comes out in beta, with support for a wider variety of desktops (64-bit Vista) and some new capabilities, including the ability to do backups of the WHS data itself. In my mind, as a techno-dad, these were literally the only two features missing from the Home Server: backups of the data to external hard drives, and support for 64-bit desktops. You'll want to check out the WHS website to find out how to download the beta if you already have a WHS, and if you don't, well, it's a great place to start looking for info.

There are lots of other cool capabilities that come in Windows Home Server. For instance, you can share photo directories across consoles, and also via a secured Web page that distant family and friends can access. The Web page feature also once saved the day for me as I had a hard drive glitch on my laptop while traveling. Since I back up my laptop data to my Windows Home Server, I was able to get a PowerPoint file that was somehow lost on my laptop, from a secured Internet page offered from my Home Server.

If you like music or photos, and like the idea of extending media throughout your home, stop huddling around a computer monitor to check out your digital images, and take a look at how a Windows Home Server can really turn your Xbox 360 into a true multimedia platform.

Article by Jason Buffington (DarkJediHunter)