Hello all, new here but excited to be posting since I've followed links to these forums for many years. I'm a bit stuck and without a clear train of thought right now so thought it was time to test out your expertise.
I think that broadly this is the right place to pose my question but it's tricky because it covers network audio, video, PVR, backup, photography and pretty much everything entertainment based.
What I want to do is remove boxes and clutter, using as few bits of kit as possible and making sure that what I do use is going to run reasonably faultlessly.
Here's what I have now;
Livingroom;
Netgear DG834n ADSL2 router and wireless networking point connected to comtrend power networking around the home.
Topfield TF5800 HDD recorder
XBox 360 (comtrend to network)
Sony Playstation 3 (wifi to network)
Denon Micro Hi Fi driving a pair of Mordaunt Short floor standing speakers
Yamaha 5.1 AV amp driving Mission NX 5.1 system
Turntable
HP 3210 all-in-one device (contrend to network via gigabit router)
Desktop PC used for; internet, email, spreadsheets, gaming and photo processing (comtrend to network via gigabit router)
Enormous number of CD's
Bedroom 1;
Windows Home Server mule PC made from an old Shuttle XPC with a 1TB drive and a 500Gb external USB drive for backing up the server used for; holding CD collection ripped into high bitrate MP3 but not FLAC or Apple lossless, backing up computers, holding photo collection (essentially backup), some video, and farming occasional torrents. Connected via the Comtrend powerline network adaptor.
DAB Clock Radio.
Bedroom 2;
Logitech iPod dock clock radio
Additionally there is an Apple Powerbook (current generation) and a Fujitsu-Siemens lifebook (old thing with Celeron processor) both connecting via wifi and a pair of iPhones doing the same.
I want to clean up my act, reduce the amount of 'stuff' I have and at the same time maximise flexibility. I suppose what I'd like to have is just one PC which takes the place of the WHS, the Topfield and the desktop PC but I don't know how do-able that is. I think probably the demands of the gaming PC will be too much and I'll have to maintain a separate PC for that.
Is it possible to replace the WHS and Topfield with a new WHS that sits under the TV with a twin tuner passive cooling etc? Will I have appliance-standard access to TV through that, which will not confuse the parents if I leave them for a couple of hours with the remote? Will it 'work' like a set top box and also serve up the music collection to, say, two further sources without interrupting TV?
I assume I can throw away the Hifi pretty much immediately and replace it with a Sonos 90 hidden in a cupboard with the AV amp which means all my CD's can be thrown into the loft too. Maybe re-rip into a better format first? Not sure about that one considering the effort.
I think the consoles need to stay as they are because there are too many format specific titles I want to play.
I've been looking at the ripNAS and Tranquil PC's so far but because I have no tuner in my WHS I have no idea what its media credentials are and more importantly how it all works.
Maybe I'd be better off going for a fully Apple solution with a Snow leopard Mini Mac server, Apple TV, and iTunes adaptors?
Lots of disjointed thoughts and ramblings I know, but hope someone can make sense of it. I suppose I know what I'm ultimately looking for in terms of functionality if not for physical form.
I know this is the right site for this advice and hopefully I got the right forum too but any help people can give to clarifying what might be possible (and what might not be) will be helpful.
I think that broadly this is the right place to pose my question but it's tricky because it covers network audio, video, PVR, backup, photography and pretty much everything entertainment based.
What I want to do is remove boxes and clutter, using as few bits of kit as possible and making sure that what I do use is going to run reasonably faultlessly.
Here's what I have now;
Livingroom;
Netgear DG834n ADSL2 router and wireless networking point connected to comtrend power networking around the home.
Topfield TF5800 HDD recorder
XBox 360 (comtrend to network)
Sony Playstation 3 (wifi to network)
Denon Micro Hi Fi driving a pair of Mordaunt Short floor standing speakers
Yamaha 5.1 AV amp driving Mission NX 5.1 system
Turntable
HP 3210 all-in-one device (contrend to network via gigabit router)
Desktop PC used for; internet, email, spreadsheets, gaming and photo processing (comtrend to network via gigabit router)
Enormous number of CD's
Bedroom 1;
Windows Home Server mule PC made from an old Shuttle XPC with a 1TB drive and a 500Gb external USB drive for backing up the server used for; holding CD collection ripped into high bitrate MP3 but not FLAC or Apple lossless, backing up computers, holding photo collection (essentially backup), some video, and farming occasional torrents. Connected via the Comtrend powerline network adaptor.
DAB Clock Radio.
Bedroom 2;
Logitech iPod dock clock radio
Additionally there is an Apple Powerbook (current generation) and a Fujitsu-Siemens lifebook (old thing with Celeron processor) both connecting via wifi and a pair of iPhones doing the same.
I want to clean up my act, reduce the amount of 'stuff' I have and at the same time maximise flexibility. I suppose what I'd like to have is just one PC which takes the place of the WHS, the Topfield and the desktop PC but I don't know how do-able that is. I think probably the demands of the gaming PC will be too much and I'll have to maintain a separate PC for that.
Is it possible to replace the WHS and Topfield with a new WHS that sits under the TV with a twin tuner passive cooling etc? Will I have appliance-standard access to TV through that, which will not confuse the parents if I leave them for a couple of hours with the remote? Will it 'work' like a set top box and also serve up the music collection to, say, two further sources without interrupting TV?
I assume I can throw away the Hifi pretty much immediately and replace it with a Sonos 90 hidden in a cupboard with the AV amp which means all my CD's can be thrown into the loft too. Maybe re-rip into a better format first? Not sure about that one considering the effort.
I think the consoles need to stay as they are because there are too many format specific titles I want to play.
I've been looking at the ripNAS and Tranquil PC's so far but because I have no tuner in my WHS I have no idea what its media credentials are and more importantly how it all works.
Maybe I'd be better off going for a fully Apple solution with a Snow leopard Mini Mac server, Apple TV, and iTunes adaptors?
Lots of disjointed thoughts and ramblings I know, but hope someone can make sense of it. I suppose I know what I'm ultimately looking for in terms of functionality if not for physical form.
I know this is the right site for this advice and hopefully I got the right forum too but any help people can give to clarifying what might be possible (and what might not be) will be helpful.