deankyall
Standard Member
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
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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