Home Network

[bugsy81]

Hi,

Great site, and have followed the progress over time on the AV Forums.
I am after some guidance and help, so if anyone can help me out I will be very grateful.

My current Set Up:

I have a HTPC sat under my LCD TV in the living room. I use this to watch DVD's that I have backed up onto external hard drives connected to the HTPC via USB 2.0. I'm using Windows Media Centre on Windows 7 and think the application is mint! I would like to watch the same DVD's on a LCD TV in the bedroom.

I'm not interested in Music or recording TV in Media Centre. I just need to have a centralised system for storing my DVD's so I can then access it from either room, I currently have 4TB of media which is likely to grow.

I live in a 1 bedroom flat on my own so its just so I can watch stuff in bed instead of having to watch everything in the living room.

I also have Sky + in the living room and would also like to put Sky into the bedroom but just mirroring what is on the living room TV but I would like to have the ability to use the remote to change channels on Sky from the bedroom (Again just so I can watch stuff whilst in bed)!

What's the best way of doing all this?

Windows Home server or NAS - but I'm not sure what exactly this is?
I have a Gigabit Switch which I can connect to my wireless router and would I then connect that to the server or NAS and the HTPC?

Would I just run CAT5/6 cable to the bedroom to complete the network and then invest in a 2nd HTPC for the bedroom?

Sorry for all the questions, I do have a little understanding of this but not as much as some of you and just need a push in the right direction!

Any other tips/advice you can offer is much appreciated.
Keep up the great work.

bugsy

[northan]

Welcome Bugsy.
I love it when people say they have 4tb of films.

If you dont mind I will split this question in two parts, Film and sky+.

The Sky+ bit is easy for a one tv extension, the best and simplist method is to extend to another tv by using coaxial via the second tv socket at the back of the box marked rf2.
Actually these people can explain better than I. It shows you how to connect and how to control the sky box in your bedroom by using TV link.
There are many ways of doing this, magic eye is another way.
If wiring a coxial cable to your bedroom is not an option, there are wireless sender/reciever units that can do the same job.

As your not worried about music or tv being extended from the htpc in your living room, you will find the options are more open to you.
You don't always need to have another htpc or nas (network attached storage) or server.
Windows 7 offers a brilliant extender option, which can be seen through an xbox. At its simplist an xbox extender will show you whatever you have on your htpc media center in the exact same fashion.
This can be tapped in using a wired network cable or even wireless. There are limitations though.
HTPC in your bedroom is a good option to and doesnt need to be too expensive. Again wired or wireless conections are good.

I forgot to ask, what are the native formats of these films you have stored?
Also what is your budget for getting this done and how easy will it be for you to wire between two points?

Anyway soz if I've not been to clear, keep asking questions and I'm sure the best option will come out.

[elootos]

For Sky+ extended to your bedroom, you could try this cheap Wireless AV Sender option. It seems to give good enough quality for a standard SCART connection.

If you had SkyHD, you would want to use an HDMI sender instead. Wireless ones are about £300, but you can also send it wired over a network cable using something like this HDMI sender/receiver (baluns) from Maplin.

To watch your DVDs off Media Center in your bedroom, then you could just run your bedroom LCD in clone mode and plug it into the secondary output on your PCs graphics card, a bit like I do with my bedroom/bathroom setup, then get an RF remote control that will work through the walls so it can used throughout your flat. It requires running a monitor cable though, but I guess the plug n play alternative would be a wireless VGA sender like this one. It only supports upto WSXGA (1680x1050) though so make sure your bedroom LCD supports it. Having said that it wouldn't also send audio, so maybe an HDMI sender (like the one mentioned earlier) would be better, but you'd also need a graphics card for your PC that also supported audio over HDMI like an ATi 4350. These options remove the need for a second PC, unless that's what you really wanted, then you could just get an off-the-shelf PC with Windows7 and network it to the other (running network cables to your switch).

Let us know what your price/skill/need levels are and we'll see what we can come up with on here

[ali_g]

(02-03-2010 12:25 PM)elootos Wrote:  For Sky+ extended to your bedroom, you could try this cheap Wireless AV Sender option. It seems to give good enough quality for a standard SCART connection.

I have some of these at home, not being used, pm me your details and i'll get them posted out to you, i'd rather see them going to some use!

[bugsy81]

Hi there,

Thanks for the great replies you have all had me looking into the options you have suggested and I have plenty of ideas swirling round my head! I'm now thinking that as both the living room and Bedroom TV's are HD 1080P I might as well future proof myself if cabling is the answer.

So firstly, in regards to watching my backed up DVD's (which have been ripped by DVD Shrink in VOB format) in the bedroom I'm thinking of using a HDMI sender receiver as my HTPC Graphics card is pretty decent with a HDMI output. So how would I also need a splitter to connect to my living room TV as well? As there is only 1 HDMI output on the HTPC?

I currently have SKY+ and cant afford the extra £10 per month for HD but i'm thinking howabout I get a SKY HD box from ebay or somewhere (future proofing as I'm bound to get one at somepoint). I presume I can still just watch normal SKY through it? Could I then utilise the HDMI port in the sameway as with the HTPC use the HDMI sender for the same purpose?

I'm trying to think whether this will work and will I need 2 x HDMI senders (1 for SKY/ 1 for HTPC) which will mean 4 x CAT5/6 needing to be run through my flat? Or is there a way of getting this through 1 HDMI sender?

Will i have useof my SKY remote and HTPC remote from the bedroom with this feature then?

This seems to be my best option from what I can tell, as it eliminates the need of buying a server/NAS and will future proof me for HD in both rooms.

Sorry for all the waffle and questions again, I really appreciate you guys in trying to guide me in the right direction!

Many thanks,
Bugsy