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There isn't, however, a really good Linux media server for the open UPnP standards yet (or, at least, not a free one).

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There's gmediaserver, but it's not as full-featured as Windows Media Connect. If you have mainly UPnP clients such as MP101 or XBox, WHS is going to be a better bet until Linux catches up.

I'm currently busy ripping all my DVD, and I'm keeping them in the mpeg2 format. (no DivX or Xvid encoding). Storage is cheap enough these days for this not to become a problem. The reason I'm not re-encoding those files into a Divx or so is because I want to be sure to keep the 'original quality'. (the same reason why some people choose FLAC over MP3 I guess). The goal of this project is to create a 'movie jukebox', which I could then use to stream the movies from to a (still to be purchased) 1080p projector.

I already have the network mediaplater player, that's this Freecom 350 model (which is nothing more than a reboxed version of this unit, I found out later). It works very well.

In a later stage, I would then probably add an in-house solution also, something like the Squeezebox, or a complete Sonos setup. Not quite sure which one to choose yet.

I'd also like to use the server to backup my home pc's, and maybe also install a little email server on it. (not sure about that one yet). You know, about everything what WHS promises, with the exception of the email server...