Media server
A media server is a computer appliance, ranging from an enterprise class machine providing video on demand, to, more commonly, a small home computer storing various digital media. By definition a media server is a device that simply stores and shares media. This definition is vague, and can allow several different devices to be called Media Servers. It may be a simple Network-attached storage, a media center PC running Windows XP Media Center Edition, MediaPortal or MythTV, or a commercial web server that hosts media for a large web site. In a home setting, a media server acts as an aggregator of information: video, audio, photos, books, etc. These different types of media (whether they originated on DVD, CD, digital camera, or in physical form) are stored on the media server’s hard drive. Access to these is then available from a central location. It may also be used to run special applications that allow the user(s) to access the media from a remote location via the internet.
