home network advice

deankyall

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Hello ,i have some questions about setting up a home network,i have read a lot of the threads on here,and now need a bit of advice,i will be starting an extension in feb,and want to post the build and installation of equipment on this site.
What i hope to do is, have a high def pc based home theatre,in a centralised location.I would like to rip my music ,blue rays and dvds to a pc,and then acess them from all rooms,with different sources at the same time.The lounge will have a plasma and a projector,and i want to be able to get all the blue rays and films on these,the three bedrooms will all be 2.1 ,and the main bedroom full surround,all have lcd screens.the bathrooms will have tvs too as will the kitchen,but these rooms will have 2.1 only.
i can run cat 5e or 6 to all these rooms along with coax if needed?
Now would i need a server, running windows server,along with some more pc's , and a patchpanel,would they need hdmi out? into a cinema amp then to cat 5 ? or would a home theatre pc with external nas hard drives be the way?,i want to be able to watch different things in different rooms at the same time, would i place some home cinema amps in with the computers ,and my virgin box or be better of having them localised in the rooms?
Obviously i would like to control all the devices in the room via one remote,possibly seperate remotes for each zone.Would i be better of using a sonos system for the music,as it would still be able to acess the music files i think!!, i have all the three games consoles and an old modded xbox running media centre,wich i understand can be networked!,how would i incorporate these,locally i presume,or would i be able to do all this via hd streamers in each room? if so wich ones.
I also have no idea about software,would i need my movies to rip my blue rays,and also what spec pc would i need?,am i better off building one from scratch? or can i use off shelf,or upgrade an old one?
I know its a lot of questions,but all you guys know your stuff,and i want to get it right as i will be starting soon, also my home cinema amps dont have hdmi,they are harmon kardons and lexicon processor,oldies but goodies,so that might make a difference for the whole set up,the projector runs 720p through component, i could replace all these if necessary. Any help or advice on equipment or ideas is welcome.many thanks
 
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Im no expert, im sure they will be along shortly :)
Anyway, from what i am doing which is only from what ive picked up on here from other threads etc.
2xCat5 and QF100 Coax to each point (this is the minimum spec) quite a few of my points i wired 4 Cat5 and 2(3) Coax cables.
Im not going for an advanced type set up like yourselve but i would think you are going to need a HD matrix with all your gear in a central point.
Maybe something like the AVATrix 562.

Good luck and i look forward to seeing your build!
 
Buy a PC for each screen, and use the main one (or a seperate server) for file storage and ripping. You can use the PCs local to each zone for music too, and some additional music only players (Sonos, Squeezebox etc) for audio-only zones (e.g bathroom, garden).
 
Im no expert, im sure they will be along shortly :)
Anyway, from what i am doing which is only from what ive picked up on here from other threads etc.
2xCat5 and QF100 Coax to each point (this is the minimum spec) quite a few of my points i wired 4 Cat5 and 2(3) Coax cables.
Im not going for an advanced type set up like yourselve but i would think you are going to need a HD matrix with all your gear in a central point.
Maybe something like the AVATrix 562.

Good luck and i look forward to seeing your build!
thanks for your reply,would a matrix be the point between the main pc and the zones? also why 4 runs of cat cable?etc
 
Buy a PC for each screen, and use the main one (or a seperate server) for file storage and ripping. You can use the PCs local to each zone for music too, and some additional music only players (Sonos, Squeezebox etc) for audio-only zones (e.g bathroom, garden).
thanks for your reply,i take it you mean a pc in each room that has a screen?,would that have any benefit over keping them all central, if i went down this route,would it be better to do it wireless or through cat 5? i assume i would also still have the patch panel fed from the main pc and then on to each pc on the network sharing files.
 
YOu will need a wired system with the patch panel being where all your in room Cat5/6 cables come together at the central location ie the patch panel. You will need an ethernet switch to feed IP data to the local PC's/IP devices/Apple TV's etc. AVAtrix AVX562 (UK) is clever Video matrix that can send several Component video source to several locations so you feed from Sky box, DVD etc to each screen.
 
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YOu will need a wired system with the patch panel being where all your in room Cat5/6 cables come together at the central location ie the patch panel. You will need an ethernet switch to feed IP data to the local PC's/IP devices/Apple TV's etc. Avatrix is clever Video matrix that can send several Component video source to several locations so you feed from Sky box, DVD etc to each screen.
thanks for your time,i have googled the avatrix 562,this is component ,is there a reason to use component over hdmi,i see some people have used cat 5 to hdmi baluns ,and some cat 5 to component too,do you still use a matrix when your going down this route. also what about hd audio,if i used one would it (the avatrix) sort this ? im thinking if i used hdmi balun method,to a 7.1 amp would this then decode hd audio ,therefore i am assuming the pc would have to output hd audio,i saw somewhere on here that you can now buy a soundcard to do this,allthough i dont know the price!,sorry if its confusing,hope im putting this across ok,i suppose really the simplest method is best ,just need to know what everyone thinks this is.
 
HDMI matrix switching is frought especially if running to a mix of AV amps and TVs aof different specs as each source can have only one output criteria which can rwesult in starnbge behaviour even if the HDMI baluns work perfectly.... Component is much easier and with coax digital audio and stereo analogue you are set. you can locate the matrix with the sopurces equipment in main room and have HD audio there (assuming your source can output 3 different types of audio simultanoeusly) the important thing with distribution is the lowest common denominator. Thats what you end up with everywhere if your not careful.
 

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