Video Server (was: [OT?] FYI: WD 250 GB drives)

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

Seagate's long been the trendsetter in the business of making hard drives
(even back when I used to work for DEC before their business got sold to
Quantum).  They have low failure rates and excellent warranty service.

Best Buy carries the product line and has recently been offering steep rebate
discounts.  I paid $29.95 for my most recent Seagate.  I don't see any
specials there this week but keep an eye out.

At some point in the future I want to build a terabyte server to house my home
videos to play back on the main TV set or the household PCs--either recorded
off the air or with my HD 720x1280 camcorder; someday I'd love to rip my DVDs
the way I did my CDs.  So far I haven't seen a suitable Linux software for
building this:  sort of a high-def Tivo with a back-end database that I can
tinker with.

Has anyone else here embarked on a project like this?  Any success?

-rich