Home entertainment server systems differ from traditional media center

Home theater PC

A Home Theater PC or Media Center appliance is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, music playback, and sometimes video recording functionality...

 systems in that they designed from inception for storage, management and sharing of entertainment content, much as a file server is mission designed to share traditional computer files. These systems are optimized for entertainment file sharing allowing libraries to be accessed across multiple servers from multiple rooms. They also integrate a range of content acquisition facilities including shared networking, built-in optical drives and tuners. These systems are operated from a simple TV-based menu. Individual servers feature secure volume managed expandable storage including internal, and external drives and arrays of drives into the multi-terabyte range.

The Telly (home entertainment server)

Telly (home entertainment server)

The Telly home entertainment server is range of computer systems designed to store, manage, and access all forms of digital media in the home. Based on Interact-TV's Linux Media Center software, it provides user managed libraries for music, photos, and all forms of video from recorded television...

is an example of such a device.