gdaymate2
05-12-2007, 9:55 AM
We're going to build 3 tourist cottages, and need help to select the best a/v system for them.
We have a central location where a server could be located, which is about 30m from the furthest cottage, and we have 20mm conduit laid from here to each cottage, so we can wire some services. We don't want lots of aerials on the cottage roofs so will put a stellite dish for Austar and TV aerial in the central location, so wires for this will have to go in the conduit, which means there may only be room for one more wire which could be Cat6.
Now comes the hard part, the specification. We want each cottage:
-in the lounge, to be able to select their own music and DVDs (including High Definition ones) without having to come and borrow CDs/DVDs.
-to be able to plug in their own IPod if desired.
-to be able to easily use the system without needing a manual or one-hour training course.
-Preferably to have some sort of black box interface rather than have a full-blown PC in each cottage, as I don't have time to be a network manager/PC Support technician
-to be able to access the Internet. We can't get cable or ADSL, so we'll have to have satellite or wireless at slow broadband speeds (512/256).
-to be able to access Austar pay TV and free-to-air TV (even if the server is down).
-in the bedroom, to be able to access music files off the server.
-to be able to listen to Internet radio (optional).
There seem to be many ways to do it, but mainly 2 that are simple and affordable:
1.Server to media extender.
2.NAS to media extender.
(Because media centres are expensive souped-up PCs I haven't considered the option of 'Server to media centre'.
Some suggestions I've identified are:
1.Axonix Mediamax and 3 Mediadecks. A dedicated system that's not cheap.
2.Claritas S1 server and 3 Xboxes. Though apparently internet access is difficult on the Xboxes, and we'll need at least 3 tuners in the server.
3.Enspire Protostor4 (or HSS500) server and 3 AVS600s (or AVR500s). However the AVR500/600s don't have HDMI connections.
4.Server/NAS and Apple TV (though would prefer if this did 1080p rather than 1080i).
5.Server/NAS and Netgear EVA8000 which offers Internet radio as well, though only supports 100Mbs Ethernet not Gigabit Ethernet.
If any of the above solutions support iTunes then the audio for the bedroom audio could be supplied by the Logitech Squeezebox or Apple iTouch with powered speakers, otherwise ???.
I've met lots of people who make suggestions and say that 'this should work', but have never actually configured anything like this, so I welcome any help/suggestions from anyone who has tried any of these configurations.
Other questions:
If you provide an aerial to your server is this sufficient for 3 cottages to watch free-to-air TV? If the server's down can they still watch it? If not, can you also put an aerial onto the Xbox as well as a backup?
Most LCD TVs have inbuilt HD tuners. When would you use these, and when would you use the ones in the server (if needed)?
If people just want to listen to music and not watch TV, is there a device that allows this without wasting power by leaving the TV on?
We have a central location where a server could be located, which is about 30m from the furthest cottage, and we have 20mm conduit laid from here to each cottage, so we can wire some services. We don't want lots of aerials on the cottage roofs so will put a stellite dish for Austar and TV aerial in the central location, so wires for this will have to go in the conduit, which means there may only be room for one more wire which could be Cat6.
Now comes the hard part, the specification. We want each cottage:
-in the lounge, to be able to select their own music and DVDs (including High Definition ones) without having to come and borrow CDs/DVDs.
-to be able to plug in their own IPod if desired.
-to be able to easily use the system without needing a manual or one-hour training course.
-Preferably to have some sort of black box interface rather than have a full-blown PC in each cottage, as I don't have time to be a network manager/PC Support technician
-to be able to access the Internet. We can't get cable or ADSL, so we'll have to have satellite or wireless at slow broadband speeds (512/256).
-to be able to access Austar pay TV and free-to-air TV (even if the server is down).
-in the bedroom, to be able to access music files off the server.
-to be able to listen to Internet radio (optional).
There seem to be many ways to do it, but mainly 2 that are simple and affordable:
1.Server to media extender.
2.NAS to media extender.
(Because media centres are expensive souped-up PCs I haven't considered the option of 'Server to media centre'.
Some suggestions I've identified are:
1.Axonix Mediamax and 3 Mediadecks. A dedicated system that's not cheap.
2.Claritas S1 server and 3 Xboxes. Though apparently internet access is difficult on the Xboxes, and we'll need at least 3 tuners in the server.
3.Enspire Protostor4 (or HSS500) server and 3 AVS600s (or AVR500s). However the AVR500/600s don't have HDMI connections.
4.Server/NAS and Apple TV (though would prefer if this did 1080p rather than 1080i).
5.Server/NAS and Netgear EVA8000 which offers Internet radio as well, though only supports 100Mbs Ethernet not Gigabit Ethernet.
If any of the above solutions support iTunes then the audio for the bedroom audio could be supplied by the Logitech Squeezebox or Apple iTouch with powered speakers, otherwise ???.
I've met lots of people who make suggestions and say that 'this should work', but have never actually configured anything like this, so I welcome any help/suggestions from anyone who has tried any of these configurations.
Other questions:
If you provide an aerial to your server is this sufficient for 3 cottages to watch free-to-air TV? If the server's down can they still watch it? If not, can you also put an aerial onto the Xbox as well as a backup?
Most LCD TVs have inbuilt HD tuners. When would you use these, and when would you use the ones in the server (if needed)?
If people just want to listen to music and not watch TV, is there a device that allows this without wasting power by leaving the TV on?