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dd Smart Server


CW Jewell

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Come on people,

How long do you spend on watching movie per day? let's say 2 hour per day and you pay 22 hours of non-watching time, accumulate 22 hrs x 365 days = 8030 hrs/year sucking your electric and doing nothing.

Contrarily, Control4 and others home automation try to sell their product and advertising their product of being GREEN. THIS IS A JOKE, this sound like people ordering a double cheese burger with a diet coke.., or spending 45 min everyday of exercise and not want to walk up to the tv and press the power button. :lol: :lol:

WAKE UP PEOPLE, THESE C4/MOVIE/AUTOMATION ARE JUST TOYS, NOT WORTH THE SPEND SUCH $$$, AND (THESE TOYS MAKE YOU FAT, BALD, AND UGLY, IF YOU DON'T TAKE MY WORDS FOR IT, LOOK AT YOU IN THE MIRRORS)..

GO FOR CHARITY a lot of people hungry out there.

Again this is just IMO.

P.S: I do own hundreds of C4 gears, but I never pay single piece of my C4 over dealer's price and never pay a penny to dealer for service :lol:

btw, i'm also running latest 2.2.4. WHO SAY VERSION 2.X WAS BLOCK? :lol:

You're a dumbass.

Just sayin...

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You are correct they run 24/7.

James why don't you write a little app to help this problem..?

You know the DDNas will power itself up and down from a web browser via the separate motherboard IP as we discovered...

I little app running in navigator would solve this issue

Sure' date=' it would take a minute or so to power it up but so what?

With logic we could also power it down at certain times when nobody is in the house as well..

Cheers

Wap[/quote']

Actually, Wake on Lan is part of Windows and Mac OSX. As far Control4 is concerned it has been done before.

http://c4central.com/2011/01/26/wake-on-lan-via-control4/

The reason that DDNAS is taking a minute is because of the RAID controller. Takes my server about 37 seconds to boot. The problem is that running the server 24/7 is that uses electricity. My old server was using around $60 a month with the rackmount power supply. My new server uses less, because I only boot when I need it.

My HTPC boots around 5 seconds. Never timed it, but it is fast. Putting all the drives in the case is a mistake. (I built 2 like this) The problem is that drives do go bad, so it is better to have them away from your case. I had WD hard drive go bad and it vibrated the case. (Doesn't matter if the case has the best vibration in the world. It will shake the case) So now I build my HTPC without hard drives in the case, and I put the hard drives away from the case. This also eliminates heat from the case. That is primary advantage with Thunderbolt, and it has it's own power supply. I can stream Bluray or DVD without an issue. Any audio format.

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James' date=' can you address how your solution differed from the DVD solution provided by Kaleidescape that lost a key legal battle this year as in inception they seem identical. Also how do you plan to avoid similar injunctions against your solution?

This is an expensive purchase for an item that you oils be forced to stop selling and or supporting.[/quote']

That won't happen with the NAS. How can it? It's basically running FreeNas and folks have been independently backing up to Nas drives now for years..*Lot's* of folks...

No but their server rips disks and then serves the file to their new media player. Look at its functionality and the go look at Kaleidiscape. The concepts are the same, though the problem may have been the licensing. But for those about to take the plunge knowing this may be an issue is important as is a reply from James on his interpretation.

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Come on people' date='

How long do you spend on watching movie per day? let's say 2 hour per day and you pay 22 hours of non-watching time, accumulate 22 hrs x 365 days = 8030 hrs/year sucking your electric and doing nothing.

Contrarily, Control4 and others home automation try to sell their product and advertising their product of being GREEN. THIS IS A JOKE, this sound like people ordering a double cheese burger with a diet coke.., or spending 45 min everyday of exercise and not want to walk up to the tv and press the power button. :lol: :lol:

WAKE UP PEOPLE, THESE C4/MOVIE/AUTOMATION ARE JUST TOYS, NOT WORTH THE SPEND SUCH $$$, AND (THESE TOYS MAKE YOU[u'] FAT, BALD, AND UGLY, IF YOU DON'T TAKE MY WORDS FOR IT, LOOK AT YOU IN THE MIRRORS)..

GO FOR CHARITY a lot of people hungry out there.

Again this is just IMO.

P.S: I do own hundreds of C4 gears, but I never pay single piece of my C4 over dealer's price and never pay a penny to dealer for service :lol:

btw, i'm also running latest 2.2.4. WHO SAY VERSION 2.X WAS BLOCK? :lol:

You're a dumbass.

Just sayin...

Actually he's got a point.

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Come on people' date='

How long do you spend on watching movie per day? let's say 2 hour per day and you pay 22 hours of non-watching time, accumulate 22 hrs x 365 days = 8030 hrs/year sucking your electric and doing nothing.

Contrarily, Control4 and others home automation try to sell their product and advertising their product of being GREEN. THIS IS A JOKE, this sound like people ordering a double cheese burger with a diet coke.., or spending 45 min everyday of exercise and not want to walk up to the tv and press the power button. :lol: :lol:

WAKE UP PEOPLE, THESE C4/MOVIE/AUTOMATION ARE JUST TOYS, NOT WORTH THE SPEND SUCH $$$, AND (THESE TOYS MAKE YOU[u'] FAT, BALD, AND UGLY, IF YOU DON'T TAKE MY WORDS FOR IT, LOOK AT YOU IN THE MIRRORS)..

GO FOR CHARITY a lot of people hungry out there.

Again this is just IMO.

P.S: I do own hundreds of C4 gears, but I never pay single piece of my C4 over dealer's price and never pay a penny to dealer for service :lol:

btw, i'm also running latest 2.2.4. WHO SAY VERSION 2.X WAS BLOCK? :lol:

You're a dumbass.

Just sayin...

:P:lol:

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There is very little difference DRM wise between our server and a dell poweredge server. Neither will copy a blu ray or dvd out of the box. We automate all copy methods and settings so if a user takes a farther step and copies a blu ray our server will manage that process but someone has to install software on it and insert a key from another company to enable it. Should they do that, we can manage the process like an audio CD. You could install the same stuff on a Dell technically. Out of the box it does nothing wrong. It can ensure that all media is handled automatically and the end user has to decide what the limits on that media is.

A ferrari isn't going above the speed limit when it rolls off the truck. An owner could own it through its entire useful life and never speed but, should you wish to speed, you better believe the ferrari can make it as easy and enjoyable as is possible for your speeding ass and could go 200 where most other cars could only dream of it. :)

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James' date=' can you address how your solution differed from the DVD solution provided by Kaleidescape that lost a key legal battle this year as in inception they seem identical. Also how do you plan to avoid similar injunctions against your solution?

This is an expensive purchase for an item that you oils be forced to stop selling and or supporting.[/quote']

That won't happen with the NAS. How can it? It's basically running FreeNas and folks have been independently backing up to Nas drives now for years..*Lot's* of folks...

No but their server rips disks and then serves the file to their new media player. Look at its functionality and the go look at Kaleidiscape. The concepts are the same, though the problem may have been the licensing. But for those about to take the plunge knowing this may be an issue is important as is a reply from James on his interpretation.

Kaleidiscape was designed as turn key solution. James has stated the software solution in the past. The user has to buy the software.

There is very little difference DRM wise between our server and a dell poweredge server. Neither will copy a blu ray or dvd out of the box. We automate all copy methods and settings so if a user takes a farther step and copies a blu ray our server will manage that process but someone has to install software on it and insert a key from another company to enable it. Should they do that, we can manage the process like an audio CD. You could install the same stuff on a Dell technically. Out of the box it does nothing wrong. It can ensure that all media is handled automatically and the end user has to decide what the limits on that media is.

So what brand is that software James? I am sure that your buyers want to know!

Oh, just found the you tube video.

Notice the slight sound in the background, sounds like fans. You don't hear my fans, but eliminating the hard drives out of the server is the key. I do have small fans in the back, but you don't hear them.

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Nitro,

Nothing wrong with people building it themslves but to be apples to apples an optical disc tray should be included in your setup (optical disc input is an important part in this config). Also a $100 mymovies integrators license, $200 EV mymovies driver and our IP driver that we don't charge for but is very complex (very). A $40 perfectdisk license is also included due to unique way we set up hard drives in the Media drive (64k cluster).

Our servers are designed (and preconfigured) to do other things than stream and copy (they back up computers on the network, including iOS, now manage caller ID, optional weather station management, monitor windows updates on computers, run C4 Navigator, and allow remote access including dealer access and user access to see their movie collection at all times and check with iphone app with barcode scanner (at bestbuy for instance) to see if a movie is already in the server's collection, etc. FYI, Windows Server 2008 R2 (which is what WHS2011 is built on) doesn't even have wake on lan. The 8 lane Areca card is about $100 more than ours and I haven't tested it but I do know we are serving up 8 streams on ours and if there's a home that has more than 8 simultaneous media players running at the same time then we can talk something custom (and about how jealous I am).

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OMG, please replaced the system harddrive with a cheap SSD like below to make a use of your ferari's first gear. IMO, it way too slow to boot and you called it Farari? did you mean farari toys? :lol:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2983951&Sku=O261-9802&cm_re=Homepage-_-Spot+01c-_-CatId_5298_O261-9802&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=lw9MynSeamY-892rLO43hpW6nD5YIDIHZQ

A ferrari isn't going above the speed limit when it rolls off the truck. An owner could own it through its entire useful life and never speed but, should you wish to speed, you better believe the ferrari can make it as easy and enjoyable as is possible for your speeding ass and could go 200 where most other cars could only dream of it. :)
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Nitro,

Nothing wrong with people building it themslves but to be apples to apples an optical disc tray should be included in your setup (optical disc input is an important part in this config). Also a $100 mymovies integrators license, $200 EV mymovies driver and our IP driver that we don't charge for but is very complex (very). A $40 perfectdisk license is also included due to unique way we set up hard drives in the Media drive (64k cluster).

Our servers are designed (and preconfigured) to do other things than stream and copy (they back up computers on the network, including iOS, now manage caller ID, optional weather station management, monitor windows updates on computers, run C4 Navigator, and allow remote access including dealer access and user access to see their movie collection at all times and check with iphone app with barcode scanner (at bestbuy for instance) to see if a movie is already in the server's collection, etc. FYI, Windows Server 2008 R2 (which is what WHS2011 is built on) doesn't even have wake on lan. The 8 lane Areca card is about $100 more than ours and I haven't tested it but I do know we are serving up 8 streams on ours and if there's a home that has more than 8 simultaneous media players running at the same time then we can talk something custom (and about how jealous I am).

Oh, I forgot the Pioneer Bluray drive. Pioneer Electronics USA Internal BD Writer (BDR-207DBK) ($73) from Amazon. Pioneer is the best that I found bluray drives, but never tested a plextor. I owned Plextor's in the past, but Pioneer is reliable. Anyone can go buy MyMovies for $100, but realize that you are stuck in the Windows OS. There is My Movies collection management for Mac, but I never used it. Actually, someone sent me a setup that runs entirely on an Ipad. It does have lots of features for home automation, including weather station management, caller ID, etc. It is free. The guy designed it himself and gives it away free. Teaches people on how to write Javascript.

FYI, Windows Server 2008 R2 (which is what WHS2011 is built on) doesn't even have wake on lan. The 8 lane Areca card is about $100 more than ours and I haven't tested it but I do know we are serving up 8 streams on ours and if there's a home that has more than 8 simultaneous media players running at the same time then we can talk something custom (and about how jealous I am).

Yes, I don't use WHS2011. I usually use an Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate. I just buy an upgrade, but most people can do the same. Save them some money and have Wake on Lan feature as well. Well, your mistake is putting the drives in the case. Notice that buzzing it is fans running. Sounds like a server at Walmart.

The best way is to put the drives outside. I included the new Areca Arc-8050 in my pricing, it is the best out there. It has built in Raid card, that has more options for RAID (http://www.areca.com.tw/products/thunderbolt.htm) Basically, it is similar to those NAS boxes, but you can daisy chain 7 more or if you go with the Gigabyte motherboard you can do 12 of them. Bluray eats up hard disk space.

Design your setup with fiber optics then you can do more streams. Thunderbolt is the key, because the new cable design uses fiber optics.

Probably recommend a good video card, but it depends on the user. Some are happy with on board video, but I noticed issues with Bluray. The jagged edges are the video card issues. Not in the player. My components are flexible, so you can go to Mac OSX. So, I have to use Nvidia for the video card.

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OMG, please replaced the system harddrive with a cheap SSD like below to make a use of your ferari's first gear. IMO, it way too slow to boot and you called it Farari? did you mean farari toys? :lol:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2983951&Sku=O261-9802&cm_re=Homepage-_-Spot+01c-_-CatId_5298_O261-9802&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=lw9MynSeamY-892rLO43hpW6nD5YIDIHZQ

A ferrari isn't going above the speed limit when it rolls off the truck. An owner could own it through its entire useful life and never speed but, should you wish to speed, you better believe the ferrari can make it as easy and enjoyable as is possible for your speeding ass and could go 200 where most other cars could only dream of it. :)

The OCZ is a brand to stay away for SSD drives. Lot of issues with them. Sandforce controller is the best. James issue is based on the RAID card, it is beyond his control. He has to boot the RAID contoller first, so it is not based on hard drives. Acrea does have a RAID card that is SSD based, but it is expensive. http://www.areca.com.tw/products/1882.htm

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Also I'd ask since WHS has been axed what are the contingency plans? The other software running on this server is going to be updated while WHS sits static as no new updates or new features are to be added. What happenes when mymovies or other software no longer runs?

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Cashmoney, I'd just wait for a bit and see what Microsoft announces for Q1 2013... Just saying... I think you will like the upgrade / migration path from WHS. Since its built off 2008 R2, we have to wait to see what MS replaces 2008 R2 with.

Yes, WHS is a dead product, but that doesn't mean MS is done with that space... They killed off SBS as well, but that doesn't stop people from using the latest OS from MS and usually other software follows rather quickly.

Mymovies just uses .net and sql db, so as long as those two techs work on future OS's then mymovies should work.

Bottom line, there will always be ways to serve up content on the network... dd Smart server is a hardware and software solution, but nothing stopping someone from installing linux or freebsd on it if they want. Just paying a whole lot more for software and configuration they wouldn't be using.

Anyway, software and configuration, along with support and a bunch of extras are the difference between this and building your own. Most C4 end users probably don't want to build their own or support their own... This is about as plug and play as you can get for large media library serving without going to a NAS.

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Ok. I don't seem to be gaining any ground with these questions. I seem to have started a few pissing contests without really getting a better grasp of stuff than I had before.

So, any opinions on the Popcorn Hour player?

Is the issue with the ddServer based on price or parts?

How does all of the parts fit together? ddServer just serves an HTPC and combined storage to rip the DVDs/Bluray discs as .iso files. Mymovies organizes the files and provides information. EV driver links C4 to mymovies. Popcorn Hour players look for .iso files and decode to deliver video. Correct?

My options appear to be a HTPC or Mac mini coupled with a NAS, correct? Then, integrate the other pieces?

Never really got an answer on audio. Any thoughts or advice?

The power issue has sparked my interest. I'd certainly like the option of shutting the player down when not needed, which will be most of the time....

CWJ

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Ok. I don't seem to be gaining any ground with these questions. I seem to have started a few pissing contests without really getting a better grasp of stuff than I had before.

Happens all the time around here, no sweat. Hard to weed through the BS...

So, any opinions on the Popcorn Hour player?

I use a popbox (the junior to the popcorn hour) with the EV driver. Works great, plays almost everything I throw at it. Just doesn't support full 3d like the 400.

Is the issue with the ddServer based on price or parts?

Some may consider the dd Smart server pricey. But that is just based on the raw parts to build it. Not taking into consideration the entire package. Price it comparable to similar out of the box solutions, and you will find it on the low end of what is out there.

How does all of the parts fit together? ddServer just serves an HTPC and combined storage to rip the DVDs/Bluray discs as .iso files. Mymovies organizes the files and provides information. EV driver links C4 to mymovies. Popcorn Hour players look for .iso files and decode to deliver video. Correct?

dd Smart Server is NOT a HTPC, as it is not intended for final video output as a local video source.

It is a WHS server, built specifically for control4 integration and media serving.

Movie cataloging is via MyMovies and via the EV MyMovies driver, pushes the collection to the movie portion of the control4 media library

Music handling is done via a folder on the server and is synced to the control4 media library.

When you are browsing movies in the control4 interface, you will see the mymovies meta data, cover art, etc. Then when you select play, the driver will send the path to the popcorn hour and the movie will automatically stream from the dd Smart Server.

My options appear to be a HTPC or Mac mini coupled with a NAS, correct? Then, integrate the other pieces?

Kaleidoscope, Fusion and others are choices in the high end movie streaming servers... an HTPC is a good complement to the dd Smart Server and combined with the EV WMC (windows media center) driver can work just like a popcorn hour.

Never really got an answer on audio. Any thoughts or advice?

Audio can be stored and streamed just fine from the dd Smart Server, I had already answered that for you, but I understand its hard to find answers.

The power issue has sparked my interest. I'd certainly like the option of shutting the player down when not needed, which will be most of the time....

Power is just a matter of tweaking the energy star settings. Drives will spin down during non-usage and the CPU will throttle. It will use some power at idle, and more when not. Just the nature of always on servers. This is not a player, this is a server.

Hope that helps...

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Ok. I don't seem to be gaining any ground with these questions. I seem to have started a few pissing contests without really getting a better grasp of stuff than I had before.

So, any opinions on the Popcorn Hour player?

Is the issue with the ddServer based on price or parts?

How does all of the parts fit together? ddServer just serves an HTPC and combined storage to rip the DVDs/Bluray discs as .iso files. Mymovies organizes the files and provides information. EV driver links C4 to mymovies. Popcorn Hour players look for .iso files and decode to deliver video. Correct?

My options appear to be a HTPC or Mac mini coupled with a NAS, correct? Then, integrate the other pieces?

Never really got an answer on audio. Any thoughts or advice?

The power issue has sparked my interest. I'd certainly like the option of shutting the player down when not needed, which will be most of the time....

CWJ

1/ You are basically correct about how it "fits' together"

2/ Audio is best IMHO played from a dedicated piece of hifi. Not a noisy computer. But that is your choice.. everyone is different.

3/ I don't know about the server. But the DDNas can be powered down to OFF (not standby, or just disc spin down)...but pretty much zero power.. via a web browser

Cheers :)

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Oh and the way network audio works in Control4, by default is that the controller streams the audio out to an amp from a network source. That might be the piece you were missing...

The controller acts as a DAC and has analog and digital outputs. It can also be configured to do streaming audio sources (mp3) from the internet, ie. internet radio streams like shoutcast.

Hope that helps.

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Happens all the time around here, no sweat. Hard to weed through the BS...

You seem to be full of it! Once promoting J River and now Control4. I wish you make up your mind! Still have BSOD?

dd Smart Server is NOT a HTPC, as it is not intended for final video output as a local video source.

Oh, that is what you call it now! It uses an ASUS motherboard, and has a cpu. Now you call it a video source. Interesting twist of words...

It is a WHS server, built specifically for control4 integration and media serving.

Movie cataloging is via MyMovies and via the EV MyMovies driver, pushes the collection to the movie portion of the control4 media library

Music handling is done via a folder on the server and is synced to the control4 media library.

When you are browsing movies in the control4 interface, you will see the mymovies meta data, cover art, etc. Then when you select play, the driver will send the path to the popcorn hour and the movie will automatically stream from the dd Smart Server.

HTPC does the same thing too, but they are snakes in the grass!

My options appear to be a HTPC or Mac mini coupled with a NAS' date=' correct? Then, integrate the other pieces?[/quote']

Kaleidoscope, Fusion and others are choices in the high end movie streaming servers... an HTPC is a good complement to the dd Smart Server and combined with the EV WMC (windows media center) driver can work just like a popcorn hour.

So you have and HTPC and the DD Smart server? I confused 2 computers doing the same task?

Never really got an answer on audio. Any thoughts or advice?

Audio can be stored and streamed just fine from the dd Smart Server' date=' I had already answered that for you, but I understand its hard to find answers.[/quote']

Well, Control4 is limited in that regards. It is better to use J river and remove control4 out of the equation.

The power issue has sparked my interest. I'd certainly like the option of shutting the player down when not needed' date=' which will be most of the time....[/quote']

Power is just a matter of tweaking the energy star settings. Drives will spin down during non-usage and the CPU will throttle. It will use some power at idle, and more when not. Just the nature of always on servers. This is not a player, this is a server.

Sounds like you are at Walmart server with that thing buzzing in the background. See, I like the option of shutting it down. Oh, so are you going to run the server during a thunder storm? My last system was true server with a rackmount power supply and 16 hard drives. Rackmount case. I could shut that down, but I do use Windows 7 ultimate. The main reason that I went to a new configuration is that noise. Switching fans don't work.

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Oh and the way network audio works in Control4, by default is that the controller streams the audio out to an amp from a network source. That might be the piece you were missing...

The controller acts as a DAC and has analog and digital outputs. It can also be configured to do streaming audio sources (mp3) from the internet, ie. internet radio streams like shoutcast.

Hope that helps.

Hmmm, mp3 sounds like crap, flac too. I love my SACD, high bit rate audio. Control4 can't do that... The controller will limit you to 48Khz, so if you have anything higher like from HD Tracks or SACD. Then you need J River!

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Thanks guys for your time. It's starting to make a bit of sense.

Can the server be shut off when not used and then rebooted remotely, or would I physically have to boot the server each time?

Also, will it handle 3D discs for the ripping?

CWJ

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Thanks guys for your time. It's starting to make a bit of sense.

Can the server be shut off when not used and then rebooted remotely, or would I physically have to boot the server each time?

Also, will it handle 3D discs for the ripping?

CWJ

I think pstuart said that it had to run 24/7, but you probably shut it down. I don't much about WHS2011, but I prefer to use an actual OS.

Technically, the server can't do it. James mentioned another software than can do it. So, that $6750 is about another $120 or so.. I am not sure if they have a 3D player though. You need an HDMI that is 1.4 through the video card. Mine can though!

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Thanks guys for your time. It's starting to make a bit of sense.

Can the server be shut off when not used and then rebooted remotely, or would I physically have to boot the server each time?

Also, will it handle 3D discs for the ripping?

CWJ

yes, a few lines of vb/java script will take care of that. Use dd-wrt router if you prefer gui option. :lol:

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