New Features

Despite the similar appearance, HP has crammed a lot of new features and enhancements into the EX485 & EX487, with not much disappearing from the previous generation. Depending on how you intend to use the MediaSmart Server, your excitement level may vary.

HP Media Collector

The new HP Media Collector continuously scans, copies, and organizes photos, music, and/or videos from various computers on the network. For previous generation users, if you were using a utility to move photos and videos to a central shared folder on the Home Server, the HP Media Collector should help sync up media from several PCs while keeping everything organized.

The Media Collector can be configured to scan for the common location of the media type, or the entire computer. In the case of photos, it will scan the My Photos, Pictures, etc., or all folder. It would have been nice to allow monitoring of any specific folder without having to scan the entire PC, in case you don't use the pre-designated folders in Windows for the task. 

Power Saving Scheduler

The previous generation MediaSmart Server was an always on ordeal, which makes sense for many instances. However, with a world going green, there may not be need for your MediaSmart Server to be on 24/7.

Many cool add-ins were created to add some power saving features to the original MediaSmart Server.  While the new power management feature is limited, it does allow you to set a sleep and wake time for the home server. For example, you can set it to sleep between 3AM and 9AM if you'll never be accessing it between those hours. What you can't do, however, is schedule multiple sleep and wake times... not that many would want to do so. If you happen to be one of them, there's still add-ins out there that may offer additional power management features beyond what's included out of the box.

Even with the single sleep and wake limitation, it's a great addition to the MediaSmart Server that should fulfill most people's desire to save a little energy during off hours. 

Media Streaming - In Network or Out

The previous MediaSmart Server had the ability to browse and view photos from anywhere online, as well as access and download media files. What it didn't do was remotely stream video or audio in real time over the web. You still can't remotely stream video, but the EX-485 and EX-487 does include a Remote Media Streaming web app that lets you access and stream audio and photos from your HP MediaSmart Server from anywhere online. 

This isn't a direct replacement to the now missing HP Photo Webshare feature from the previous generation. While it does allow you to view photos right over the web, it gives access to all your photos, music, and videos... not just the ones you want friends and family to see. On the plus side, photo access has been improved, allowing you to view photos by date, or in the same folder structure they're stored in.

In-network streaming has changed little since the previous MediaSmart Server, with the only exception being that TwonkyMedia is now installed by default. Between TwonkyMedia and Windows Media Connect, you'll be able to stream video and audio to a wide array of network devices, like the XBOX 360, PlayStation 3, and many more digital media receivers.

HP Photo Publisher / HP Photo Viewer

As mentioned above, the HP Photo Webshare feature disappeared between the old and the new; how much that upsets you will depend on whether or not you ever used it. Part of the problem is that configuring remote access for the home server was (somewhat) cumbersome, but configuring visitor accounts for album access could be a pain if you had a large family. 

In lieu of the Photo Webshare, HP has opted for the Photo Publisher, which (for starters) lets users easily publish photos to popular photo sharing sites: Flickr, snapfish, Facebook, and Picasa Web Albums.

Following the directions for each service, you'll be prompted to log in (either through the interface or separately in another browser tab) and then choose the album and photos you wish to publish. How friends and family access these albums varies depending on which photo sharing service you use.

Like Photo Webshare, you can also choose to serve up photos directly from the MediaSmart Server using HP Photo Viewer. To do this, you select Photo Viewer in the HP Photo Publisher App, select an album you wish to upload photos to or create a new Album. Unlike Photo Webshare, which allowed you to upload photos directly from a PC, you can only upload photos that have already been put into a folder on the MediaSmart Server. 

The other important item to note about the Photo Viewer is that unlike Photo Webshare, albums are visible and downloadable by anyone. Gone is the ability to create logins for visitors and assign viewing permissions to specific albums, meaning anyone who stumbles on your home server URL can view whatever albums you've created in the Photo Viewer. Also gone is the ability to allow friends and family to upload photos of their own, unless you give them a full user account on your Home Server.

Is this bad? I guess that depends on your situation. Not having to create logins for everyone certainly simplifies the process of getting photos in front of friends and family. However, if you're paranoid about strangers looking at your pics or don't want Grandma Bea checking out photos from your drunken New Year's party, you'd be better off using one of the other photo sharing services. Unfortunately, using the MediaSmart Server as a hub for family and friends to their photos from a same event (say a birthday party or holiday) has also been lost in the mix.

On a positive note, however, the photo publisher, photo viewer, and media streaming apps have gotten a major facelift from the previous generation. The new Flash based interface works well, is fast, and looks much nicer. If they'd only add navigation links back to your homepage from any of the apps, it would be perfect.

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