Hello media world ;)

[Jam3s]

Hey guys,

So I guess I should do my first post to introduce myself.

I stumbled upon this site whilst trying to figure out ways to install a TV into my kitchen.

I love media and being able to access it from every where on demand, and as technology moves on, it has enabled us to do this.

I have debated making a media center server, but I ended up going down a different route to get similar functionality, I actually went and got a NAS that runs UPnP software on it.

My reasons behind this, was that the NAS uses less power to keep running 24/7 and network media streamers are extremely cheap now, especially compared to HTPC's and offer the functionality that I need.

I am a 20yr old uni student currently on a placement year and have finally moved out of my mums place into my own rented apartment with my girlfriend, sadly as it's rented I can't go drilling holes into walls to hide cables, etc, which is a shame, but I'll manage somehow (tape and cable ties are your best friend).

My equipment is:
1 x QNAP TS-410 with 4 x 1.5TB Samsung Ecogreen F3 drives in
This is setup in RAID5 so there is only 4TB of usable space.

Living room:
32" LG 1080p TV (32LG7000 I believe)
Black wii
PS3 Slim
Xbox 360 elite
Sky+HD Box
Pioneer Amp
AC Ryan Playon!HD Mini




Office (& guest room):
2 x Dell 2009WFP
1 x Generic 17" TFT
PC is custom built, with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
8GB DDR2 Ram
1 x 750GB Samsung F1
2 x 1TB Samsung F1's
1 x 1TB Samsung F3
LG Bluray rewriter.

And my girlfriend has the 27" iMac



I have loads of hardware around the place, so I do have enough to make a HTPC if I want too.

Sadly the bedroom doesn't have an aerial socket so I'd have to run network cable across the skirting board to get a HTPC in there, so we don't have a TV in our bedroom, just the living room.

As for the kitchen, being a man, I don't like to do the washing up, but I have figured out I can put .mp4 or .m4v video files onto the NAS (I watch a lot of IPTV shows like Diggnation) and can stream it via wifi onto my iPod touch, which I then plug into a dock to get audio (first gen iPod touch) this had made doing the washing up entertaining.
If you want to take a closer look at any of the photos, or look at my other photos of the place, please check out the set on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/jam3s/sets/...413789030/ I'll add more photo as time goes on.

[northan]

Hey man, welcome.
You've got an ingenious setup there and a lot of hd storage squirreled around your house.
Its probably cool you can't drill holes in your house yet, gives a chance for your girlfriend to get use to the gadgets everywhere.
Anyway welcome again, see you around on the boards

[elootos]

Hello and welcome to the site

I started with a NAS, but it was for recorded TV and Media Center wouldn't support it without a lot of tweaks which I decided against. Then I started looking at WHS and damn well lost about 3 weeks of my life trying to get it working smoothly!

See you around!