What gear do I need to do this??

[dave_s13]

Presently I have a media PC in the front room attached to a 42" plasma and all the surround sound gubbins..lovely. The Sky router is also in the room, as is the incoming phone line.

I know have a new open plan kitchen/dining/family room.

The kitchen bit is wired with speaker cables and bindong posts at high level to a point in the corner where my new telly sits. The family room bit has a 40" LCD and 2 big sofas. The TV is currenly plugged into a Freesat HD box.

What I want to be able to do is play the music stored on the media PC in the new open plan extension and also view my video files on the 40" LCD.

The 2 rooms are linked by a single Cat5 cable.

Jesus this is complicated.

Becuse I didn't think hard enough about it I've only put one Cat5 in, I should have put in 2 at least. Anyway, here's my plan.

1. Buy a NAS - site in old front room and connect to Sky router
2. Buy a 4gang switch, site in new extension and connect to router
3. Buy a 5.1 speaker system for the new telly
3. Buy an AV receiver and connect to 5.1 speakers and stereo speakers in kitchen on seperate channels.
4. Buy either a PS3 or build another cheap media centre PC and connect to telly and switch (for doing the video bits)
5. Connect my Foxsat HD box to switch to access iplayer etc.


I dunno though. It's confusing.

My main issue is going to be useability. I want my wife to be able to just turn something on and start listening to music, be it from the MP3 collection or radio. Using a media centre and AV reciever can be confusing for women folk, too many input sources, too many sound settings etc.

What do you chaps think? Budget is limited to fvck all by the way I'll be buying stuff on a monthly basis, and using Ebay/AV forums a lot I think.

Edited by dave_s13 on Monday 7th March 14:34

[miniman]

You can solve the audio bit with an Airport Express:

http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/

iTunes sees it as a speaker and will stream music to it, and then on via 3.5mm jack to your chosen amp. Personally I bought this:



You can remote control iTunes using an iPhone or iPod Touch. And you can have multiple Airports in different rooms if you wish.

[Driller]

Slightly OT but whatever you do for your open plan space do not put ceiling speakers everywhere, they're awful for this sort of area (they do have their uses elsewhere).

Buy a decent pair of floor standers and put them at one end of the space firing across it. By the sound of it your 5.1 system may cover this anyway.

[TEKNOPUG]

Do you want the Kitchen set up to be completly seperate from the living room but be able to access the source (music, photos, films etc) or do you want have as minimal amount of hardware as possible?

I'm confused, is the Kicthen a red-herring? You have one living room all set up and you have a second living room that just has a TV and you want to replicate the 1st living room? Surely you could get a second SKY box with multi-room? That solves that issue. You'll need an amp to power the kitchen speakers, unless your current receiver has multi-zone options?

It does beg the question as to when will be the circumstances that you'll want to watch moives/listen to music in the room with the 40" TV etc, when you can simply sit in the room that has all the equipment already there and set-up?

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Monday 7th March 15:51

[dave_s13]

TEKNOPUG said:

.....

It does beg the question as to when will be the circumstances that you'll want to watch moives/listen to music in the room with the 40" TV etc, when you can simply sit in the room that has all the equipment already there and set-up?

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Monday 7th March 15:51

But that would mean actually having to stand up, then ambulate into a different room!!

I've spent a lot of money on this extension. I want to sit in it!!



Sorry, it's hard to explain in words. Basically the open plan area is an L shape with the kitchen at one end of the "L" the dining room at the corner and the TV/family room bit at the other end.

The kitchen is not a seperate zone, it's not big enough for that. So it would be either your just watching telly or just listening to music. I bascially put speakers in the kitchen area so you could get a decent quality of sound throughout the space, without having it really loud just in one corner.

Thinking about it the TV in the new open plan extension won't really lend itself to surround sound at all so the most I would go for their would be a 3.1 system, at most.

So what that leaves is essentiall 1 big L shaped room. with provision for 2 sets of stereo speakers. I want to be able to stream video content to the telly with sound to just the pair (or 3.1) of speakers next to it and then be able to also play the same music to the 2 pairs of stereo speakers.

I might see if I can draw a picture later to explain with a touch more clarity.

[TEKNOPUG]

Do you envisage listening to music in the Kitchen and the ajoining living room at the same time?

[R60EST]

An xbox / wii / ps3 will stream media to your tv from any networked laptop / pc , wireless too if needed.

Add this to improve the sound.

http://www.crescentelectronics.co.uk/logic3-sounds...

Works for me :-)

[TEKNOPUG]

Can you network either of your TV's or do they both require a seperate controller (PC, PS3/XBOX etc)?

[TEKNOPUG]

Get an AV receiver that has multi-zone (or you could use A+B speakers I guess).

One zone goes to the Kitchen, the other zone for the living room. Get some nice floorstanders in the living room. Use a Squeezebox to control the music (so that you can select what you want to listen to in the kitchen). You can get networked receivers but I would suggest using a Blu-Ray player. I have a Sony one and you can connect that to a network and view all your videos, pictures, music etc. You can also view I-Player, and other on demand services.

Network the Blu-Ray player and connect that to the receiver and then that to the telly and speakers. That takes care of all your video requirements and the Squeezebox takes care of the music.

[dave_s13]

Teknopug....you got a link to that bluray player?

All good info anyway, thanks all.

[TEKNOPUG]

dave_s13 said:

Teknopug....you got a link to that bluray player?

All good info anyway, thanks all.

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/blu-ray-disc-player/bdp-s570

and

http://www.trustedreviews.com/home-cinema/review/2...

I got it for about £125

This would take care of all your video networking duties, plus it plays Blu-Rays, DVDs, CD, SACD etc. Also video on demand, i-player, Channel5 and soon 4OD I beleive. You could stream music through it as well I guess but you would have to use the TV as the screen interface. If you got a Squeezebox or similiar http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/speakers-audio/wirel... then you can control the music through the hand-held screen and use it in the kitchen or other rooms.

Any decent AV Receiver should allow you to switch speakers between rooms, so connect the Blu-Ray Player and Squeezbox to the receiver and hook up the 4 speaker and you should be good to go, with a little configuration.

Alternatively, you could just even use a Hi-Fi amp if music is of paramount importance and connect the audio outs of the Blu-Ray player. An AV Receiver connected via HDMI would be a more flexible system though.

Bare in mind though that if you wish to play music/videos in both adjoining rooms simultaneously, it's going to get more complicated. You'd really need a seperate amp for each room.

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Tuesday 8th March 11:02

[dave_s13]

Cheers. That BR player looks the business and will do exactly what I want. Feel much more confident getting something like that over a rather ambigous make of far eastern media streaming device.

That's me sorted then.

Nice one

[Council Baby]

I'll second that BR player... good choice and fantastic value for money

[Matt..]

You could always use an Apple TV


I think when i do this i'll use my current media PC as a server, and use mini pcs around the house for clients. My HTPC runs MediaPortal with TV server, so it will easily allow for this kind of setup, and it gives all clients access to live TV as well as anything else on the box.

[talkssense]

Driller said:

Slightly OT but whatever you do for your open plan space do not put ceiling speakers everywhere, they're awful for this sort of area (they do have their uses elsewhere).

Buy a decent pair of floor standers and put them at one end of the space firing across it. By the sound of it your 5.1 system may cover this anyway.

Agreed. What is wioth the latest trend of paying loads of money out for mutilroom equipment and sticking horrible crappy ceiling speakers everywhere?

Fine in a bathroom or somewhere, but in nearly every other scenario a decent pair of floor standers, or in wall if you want them discreet, are a much better option.

I've seen a house where they had tens of thousands of pounds worth of SIM2 projector and a Stewart cinema screen, proper seating and everything. The cinema install was superb, but then 5 speakers mounted in the cieling for front, rears, centre. What's that all about? One of the best viewing experiences money can buy, and the actors voices coming from a speaker mounted in the ceiling above the screen?

[dave_s13]

That does indeed sound mental!!

My speakers are just going to be bookshelf types, wall mounted at high level for which I have prewired the cable and have banana plug face plates installed.

That's a whole other issue; finding decent looking and sounding speakers that are SWMBO friendly and not cost a gazillion quid each.

[TEKNOPUG]

talkssense said:

Driller said:

Slightly OT but whatever you do for your open plan space do not put ceiling speakers everywhere, they're awful for this sort of area (they do have their uses elsewhere).

Buy a decent pair of floor standers and put them at one end of the space firing across it. By the sound of it your 5.1 system may cover this anyway.

Agreed. What is wioth the latest trend of paying loads of money out for mutilroom equipment and sticking horrible crappy ceiling speakers everywhere?

Fine in a bathroom or somewhere, but in nearly every other scenario a decent pair of floor standers, or in wall if you want them discreet, are a much better option.

I've seen a house where they had tens of thousands of pounds worth of SIM2 projector and a Stewart cinema screen, proper seating and everything. The cinema install was superb, but then 5 speakers mounted in the cieling for front, rears, centre. What's that all about? One of the best viewing experiences money can buy, and the actors voices coming from a speaker mounted in the ceiling above the screen?

Are you proposing that the OP puts floorstanding speakers in his kitchen?

[talkssense]

TEKNOPUG said:

Are you proposing that the OP puts floorstanding speakers in his kitchen?

Alright then, bathrooms or kitchens;) although personally I would still go in wall, or if there were to be a TV in there mount a decent soundbar or something under that and use it for the audio to. To my ears you get a much better sound and stereo image when something is mounted at a similar height to your head, and not firing straight into a kitchen floor.

[Driller]

TEKNOPUG said:

Are you proposing that the OP puts floorstanding speakers in his kitchen?

No but there are many good looking and better sounding on-walls on the market. Otherwise I reckon most folk have enough room on their kitchen cabinets to put some compact, nice looking bookshelfs on too.