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Page Revision: 2009/04/03 09:12


Introduction

This feature is upcoming for My Movies for Windows Home Server version 1.50 and My Movies Server/Client 2.53.

Netgear EVA8000

Netgear EVA8000

My Movies Client, Server/Client and My Movies for Windows Home Server stores movie meta-data for Netgears EVA8000 unit. This allows you to browse your videos by genres, years parental rating and similar, as well as display movie covers, actors, descriptions and similar meta-data on on your Netgear EVA8000.

This guide will focus on attaching the EVA8000 to a Windows Home Server with My Movies for Windows Home Server installed, however the meta-data TAG files for the EVA8000 unit will be stored also by the standard My Movies Client, and, the meta-data files will automatically be updated once you edit your titles using the Collection Management program in a My Movies Client.

Notice that My Movies at no time overwrite TAG files created by other programs, which means that if you have used Netgears Tag Tool to create existing meta-data TAG files in your movie folder structure, you must delete these prior to using My Movies to store the meta-data.

Recommendations

EVA8000 Interface 1

EVA8000 Interface 1

By default, Netgear delivers a CD they recommend using for connecting the EVA8000 to your PC, however this process is not needed, and the software have not been created to work well with Windows Home Servers. This guide will focus on how to connect your EVA8000 without installing this tool.

However, the EVA8000 is required to have a storage area, to store temporary files when cataloging the files from your Windows Home Server. While this share can be created on the Windows Home Server, and configured on the EVA8000, we recommend purchasing a cheap and small USB memory key on 128 mb or more, and connect this to the back of the EVA8000. This way, the temporary files can be stored without having to place files on your server.

Configuration

On My Movies for Windows Home Server, open the home server console, and select Settings and navigate to the "My Movies Monitor" area, and check the checkbox "Store meta-data for Netgear EVA units (TAG files)".

On My Movies Server/Client or Client, open the Collection Management program, and from the menu select "Configure", "General Options", and select the "Folder monitoring" tab. Scroll down, and check the checkbox "Store meta-data for Netgear EVA units (TAG files)".

If you are configuring your EVA8000 for the first time, on the EVA8000's interface, go through the initial language, screen, and network configurations, and when asked to use the installation CD, use the home button on your remote control to abort this step.

Then please follow the below process to connect the EVA8000 to your Windows Home Server.

  1. Press the "Menu" button on the remote to go to the home menu.
  2. Select "More..."
  3. Select "Supervisor Functions"
  4. Select "Advanced Settings"
  5. Select "Media library management"
  6. In the "Data save location", select the location to store temporary library files. If you as recommended have connected an USB memory key to the back of the EVA8000 unit, select "/mnt/usb1".
  7. Press the back key once to go back to "Advanced Settings"
  8. Select "Shares and shared folders".
  9. Select "Add network share".
  10. In the "Server or IP", type the name of your Windows Home Server, such as "homeserver".
  11. In the "Shared folder", enter the name of the share on the Windows Home Server you would like the EVA8000 to add media from. For movies, this is by default the "Videos" share, but it is also recommended to go through this step again and add the "Music" and "Photos" shares the same way. Notice that the EVA8000 is case sensitive when entering the share name.
  12. In the "Username" and "Password" boxes, input a username and password on a user on the Windows Home Server, that have access to the share you are adding.
  13. Select "OK".
  14. Select "Yes" to add the share.
  15. If you would like to add more shares, select "Add network share" again and go back to step 9.
  16. Press the back twice once to go back to "Supervisor Functions".
  17. Select "Full scan for media files", and wait for your folders to be scanned. If no media is found, perhaps you have entered the share or the username and password incorrect.
  18. Press the "Video" button to go to the video section, and see how you can browse your videos with the meta-data from My Movies.
    EVA8000 Interface 2

    EVA8000 Interface 2


Tips

My Movies stores "mymovies-front.jpg" and "mymovies-back.jpg" as hidden files in the directory structure, but unfortunately, the Netgear EVA8000 is unable to hide hidden files, and therefore displays these files in it's photo library. You can awoid this by configuring the unit to ignore small image files - we recommend setting this limit at 500 KB, as this will hide all of My Movies cover files, and all of your digital camera photos will be above 500 KB.

To configure the EVA8000 to hide files below 500 KB, follow the guide below:

  1. Press the "Menu" button on the remote to go to the home menu.
  2. Select "More..."
  3. Select "Supervisor Functions"
  4. Select "Advanced Settings"
  5. Select "Audio and slideshow"
  6. Navigate to the "Minimum image size" drop down.
  7. Press "OK" to open the drop down.
  8. Use the down arrow to move from the default 100 KB to 500 KB.
  9. Press "OK" to confirm the setting.
  10. Press "Home" button (House icon) to go back to the root menu.