What Kit? - Home Audio/Video System
Discussion
I have done some more research since my last post and THINK I know what I need for my new gaff but just wanted to be sure and ask the knowledgeable amongst you.
One wall of the living room has one (or two, need to check) HDMI cable and an aerial cable coming out along with a mains power outlet. These terminate back at a large silver junction box in the opposite corner of the room along with Cat 5, I believe, that spans the house.
For my home cinema/audio setup am I right thinking I need the following setup:
1 x AV Receiver which will send signals to the TV via HDMI and to the speakers in a 5.1 configuration. This will receive signals from:
Blu-Ray Player
FreeSat Box
Now the Q is... if I also want the music I have on iTunes to be playable to this and other rooms in the house what do I need? I know I need a hard disk server of some sort (not sure I want to add my iMac with iTunes to this as I like to keep that separate, but tell me if that's wrong and that transferring 8000 odd songs to a dedicated server is madness) which would connect to the AV receiver for the living room and utilise the 5.1 speaker system. But how then to get the music to the rest of the house .... ?
I know a Sonos system would do this but my understanding is that would be a completely separate solution rather than integrated into the above?
Thanks
One wall of the living room has one (or two, need to check) HDMI cable and an aerial cable coming out along with a mains power outlet. These terminate back at a large silver junction box in the opposite corner of the room along with Cat 5, I believe, that spans the house.
For my home cinema/audio setup am I right thinking I need the following setup:
1 x AV Receiver which will send signals to the TV via HDMI and to the speakers in a 5.1 configuration. This will receive signals from:
Blu-Ray Player
FreeSat Box
Now the Q is... if I also want the music I have on iTunes to be playable to this and other rooms in the house what do I need? I know I need a hard disk server of some sort (not sure I want to add my iMac with iTunes to this as I like to keep that separate, but tell me if that's wrong and that transferring 8000 odd songs to a dedicated server is madness) which would connect to the AV receiver for the living room and utilise the 5.1 speaker system. But how then to get the music to the rest of the house .... ?
I know a Sonos system would do this but my understanding is that would be a completely separate solution rather than integrated into the above?
Thanks
Driller said:
garyhun said:
Actually this seems a much better option as I can simply connect the express box to my AV Amp/Receiver and it's all sorted!
Wait! You don't have to connect your Apple Tv a telly if all you want to use is the music side. I don't have any of mine mine connected to TVs and simply control the audio side with the remote app.With the Apple TV you can sync the remote app directly with the ATV itself, I'm not sure you can do that with an Airport express. I'm trying to find out the answer to this very question infact but haven't got round to sending Apple support an email yet.
If you can't sync the remote app with Airport express and have to go into Itunes and muck about each time then ATV is the only way to go.
I will have all my boxes (Amp/Blu Ray/FreeSat) in the corner of the room with a single HDMI to the TV on the wall. I was going to connect the Apple device just to the amp - not to the TV.
However, what exactly do you mean by "remote app" and syncing to it - I'm not sure I understand how this allows you to not have to go into iTunes?
Yours, a "confused duffer" !!
Driller said:
garyhun said:
iPhone - YES!
Ok, I'm off home from work, I'll be there in about 30mins. In the meantime go into the app store on your iPhone and find and download "Remote" (it's free!).I'll post up a bit later.
Driller said:
Good isn't it?
Do you see what I mean about not having to muck about in iTunes? Now you can sync to each Apple TV in exactly this way so you have the remote interface to control the music. You call each Apple TV a different thing eg lounge, kitchen etc and you can either use the same i product to control it all or have one iPhone/iPod touch/iPad permanently in each zone.
I'm not sure that you can sync Remote to Airport express in this way though hence why I said above that Apple TV is better.
This also where having the signal sensing amps or one multichannel amp comes in attached to each Apple TV and speakers in that zone.
Got ya!!!Do you see what I mean about not having to muck about in iTunes? Now you can sync to each Apple TV in exactly this way so you have the remote interface to control the music. You call each Apple TV a different thing eg lounge, kitchen etc and you can either use the same i product to control it all or have one iPhone/iPod touch/iPad permanently in each zone.
I'm not sure that you can sync Remote to Airport express in this way though hence why I said above that Apple TV is better.
This also where having the signal sensing amps or one multichannel amp comes in attached to each Apple TV and speakers in that zone.
So this means that my iMac will be permanently on (not a problem though)? Is iTunes able to play different tracks to different Apple TV units so you can have different playlists playing in different rooms at the same time or is that a step too far?
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