Need your best advise

[rukna]

My first post here, so please be nice

I'm trying to setup a solid media server in the house through which I'd like to push content -- both audio and HD video -- to TVs in different rooms. The place I picked out for the media server is my electric/utility room in the basement, where I have enough room to put up a big system, and also, have direct access to FiOS.

Then, I'd like to be able to stream media to the following rooms:
1) The home theater system, which is also in the basement. Includes a Pioneer HD receiver, 58" Samsung Plasma TV and 7.1 audio. Can only do wireless. Size of the receiver is not such a big deal. Would prefer if looked something like the rest of the black-finished components.
2) 46" Sharp Aquos in the living room. Can only do wireless. The receiver needs to be in the smallest form-factor possible. Definitely should not look like a PC.
3) 32" Samsung LCD TV in the bedroom. Can only do wireless. Would prefer a small receiver that, again, doesn't look like a PC.

So my questions are:
a) Is this setup I'm trying to shoot for any good?
b) What system would you suggest for the "central media server"?
c) What receivers would you suggest for the receivers at 1, 2, and 3 above?
b) I am also trying to buy either a PS3 or 360 for 1). Would that help? If so, how? and which one should I go for between the two?

I don't have budget for this project, but obviously would like to minimize the cost as much as possible. But don't let that stop you from suggesting anything top-grade.

Again, thanks for looking and I'd appreciate any helpful pointers that I can get!

 

[rukna]

25 views and no replies. Am I asking wrong questions or not providing enough info?

 

[TLS Guy]

25 views and no replies. Am I asking wrong questions or not providing enough info?

I think it is because you are at the limit of technology. For HDTV you need to stream 4Gbps! You also have handshake and DRM issues. Metalink and Panasonic have only demonstrated prototypes to my knowledge.

The only unit in the field I know of that is available now, is the Gefen unit that will send up to three HD TV HDMI signals. These units are $1000 per pop. You could have a professional installer run a lot of cables in the walls for that and be better off. Also that Gefen unit only transmits 30 ft, less through walls.

We have never had a question about this before. You might want to find a computer site, and see if anybody has experience of what you are trying to do.

You are on technology's bleeding edge with this one. I think that is why you have no replies. If you decide to go ahead, please feel free to post your experience, and how you overcome the technical challenges.

 

[sholling]

My only experience is with a music server. I choose not to stream video at this time and so haven't put a lot of thought into it. At some point that might change but I'll listen to a song thousands of times over the next few years, while I might watch a video 2-3 times. If I had small children that were going to watch the same Barney video 5,428 times in a single year then that would be different and maybe worth my trouble to save wear and tear on my DVD player. Your first task is to decide how you will really use this system.

Let me describe what I have, and explain that it's evolving and why. I don't have a space for a server so I use my main PC as my primary server, it has plenty of horse power and it's convenient for ripping my CDs. I've spent hundreds of man-hours ripping them to the lossless FLAC format. If you're a "Pod person" the Apple's lossless system will do. FLAC files take up about 60-70% of the space of a CD and allow the use of tags just like an MP3.

When you've spent hundreds of hours ripping music you don't want a system crash wiping out all of your work. That's why I have them stored on a RAID5 array and automatically back them up (and the rest of my data) every night to a D-Link DNS-321 network attached storage system with mirrored 1.5TB drives. Ideally I'd back those up to an external drive and keep it at the office but my office is at home. I've been a network engineer too many years to trust my data to any single point of failure. Belt and suspenders.

Anyway that feeds a super quiet home built PC (via 802.11n) attached to my home theater. Quiet is key. I also chose to use a sound card optimized for music and not games. Ideally it would have been fed via a wired gigabit connection because of potential interference but in reality 802.11n has plenty of speed if you have a strong signal. Multimedia appliances weren't available when I set this PC up.

Next month I hope to setup a purpose built media "tank" (appliance) in my bedroom. I'm told that they do a good job of playing content sitting on a server though an existing AV receiver. If it's a success I may replace the PC in my home theater with a similar device. Again my main thing is music and the ones that I'm considering play FLAC files and output audio and video through HDMI 1.3. But be warned that these devices, while fairly cheap, are the bleeding edge of Chinese technology and are rough around the edges. The three I'm looking at are the Elektron EHP-606, the Popcorn Hour, and the eGreat EG-M34. Right now I'm leaning toward the last one because of the price.

 

[jjminch]

So I'm a newb with this, let me see if I'm tracking.

I get this
http://egreathd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=61

And hook it up to my TV/receiver. I connect a USB wifi unit to it. I can than pull up a screen on my TV and access media from my home server or computer? Seems to easy, whats the catch?

 

[Ben_in_COSpring]

So I'm a newb with this, let me see if I'm tracking.

I get this
http://egreathd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=61

And hook it up to my TV/receiver. I connect a USB wifi unit to it. I can than pull up a screen on my TV and access media from my home server or computer? Seems to easy, whats the catch?

The catch is that your wi-fi may not always be able to support playing high-bitrate media files. Music should be ok, but some video may be too much, depending on your network speed, which depends on interference, distance, obstructions, quality of your adapter, etc. My wireless MVIX struggled playing DVD ISO files over wireless.

Alternatives are:

1) Copy media to a USB thumb or hard disk, or to internal media, and then attach that to your NMT, so you're effectively playing from a local source.

2) Use a wired connection.

 

[TLS Guy]

So I'm a newb with this, let me see if I'm tracking.

I get this
http://egreathd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=61

And hook it up to my TV/receiver. I connect a USB wifi unit to it. I can than pull up a screen on my TV and access media from my home server or computer? Seems to easy, whats the catch?

Your Wi-Fi won't support HDMI 1.3, as i explained after your first post. The only wireless that will work is that Gefen unit I linked. It is $1000, and only transmits 30 ft, less through walls.

you need to run cable for your application. You have no way to escape it at this time

 

[rukna]

FWIW, Engadget posted an article today on building a blu ray / tv-tuner equipped HTPC under $1000

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/21/how-to-build-a-blu-ray-tv-tuner-equipped-htpc-for-under-1-00/