Media Centre House | Forum

I just bought a crimping tool to make my own RJ45 cable ends

http://www.kenable.co.uk/product_info.ph...ts_id=1273
I hard wired my house months ago with cat5e cable and never got around to finishing it
I put in 4 into the lounge, and 3 into each room after. (kitchen and two rooms)
I will prob incoperate a phone system (not a massive priority) but more importantly I want a means of streaming films a music to each room.
I don't know what the future holds, so thats why I put in so many, who knows It might be usefull for control later on.
Is it worth me looking into patch panels or should I just keep routers to keep the home network.
I dont really want to spend lots of money but would like some versitility for later on
What have people done?

I do have two routers at the moment I thought of linking together which would give me 7 ports.

Also never used this kind of crimping tool before, is there any knacks someone could share that could save me time and do I need a pushing tool, or is that only when you need to splice a cat5e to a wall socket?
Everything seems so American when it comes to advice from the web, so Im never to sure if things are gona be different when I get it.

Last thing
Has anyone done a av connection type wall, Ive seen yours elootos on the gallery, but just want some sort of inspiration to tidy a few wires up.

(12-18-2009 05:19 PM)northan Wrote: [ -> ]I just bought a crimping tool to make my own RJ45 cable ends

It seems you've covered yourself well then with cabling. Dunks would be your best bet for advice on patch panels etc around the house. He has panels though cos it's not all PC network stuff. He uses baluns to convert HDMI etc for his Sky and with his panel he can send his TV signals or pc network to any room with a network cable in.

If all you're doing it for is PC network, then do as you say and get a couple of gigabit routers with 1 short network cable linking the two.

I suppose that ultimately, you'll have a couple of routers with a separate patch panel nearby that you can send other signals down if need be.

I also have a CAT5 crimper... but have never used it! It seems like something that gets easier with practise though.

As for a phone system, I've got a Siemens Gigaset which is a landline and IP phone - great bit of kit! The base unit just takes the phoneline (obviously) and a network cable, then you access the settings via a web page. Handsets are cordless. Easy! Other options would be independent IP handsets/base units in each room that you then just patch a network cable into. Seems a waste of a network cable run though, unless you had another router in each room that ran back to a master router, phew!

yea I looked at dunks build quite carefully, but its kinda of what im looking for and kinda not :dodgy:
I dont really want or need sky in the future, so I cant see that being used as distribution. I do have a loft box that could achieve similar setup, but the quality was shocking on all the other tv's, might as well and sat to watch a well worn vhs tape. (debbie does dallas):angel:
But Dunk does use xbox very well which I feel is a cheap versitile exetender with my movies. Gives you everything media center has to offer.
I want main pc to rip and distribute to xbox, missus can turn on xbox and acesss quick content.
But I do want music in all rooms to (independent, zoned and all on) controled by a central location and Im not sure if I want all xboxes on just to achieve this. I spose I want sonos on the cheap.
Am I asking the impossible?
Am I posting to much (sorry been snowed in today, all I can do is drink mulled wine)?

(12-18-2009 07:54 PM)northan Wrote: [ -> ]yea I looked at dunks build quite carefully, but its kinda of what im looking for and kinda not :dodgy:
I dont really want or need sky in the future, so I cant see that being used as distribution. I do have a loft box that could achieve similar setup, but the quality was shocking on all the other tv's, might as well and sat to watch a well worn vhs tape. (debbie does dallas)
But Dunk does use xbox very well which I feel is a cheap versitile exetender with my movies. Gives you everything media center has to offer.
I want main pc to rip and distribute to xbox, missus can turn on xbox and acesss quick content.
But I do want music in all rooms to (independent, zoned and all on) controled by a central location and Im not sure if I want all xboxes on just to achieve this. I spose I want sonos on the cheap.
Am I asking the impossible?
Am I posting to much (sorry been snowed in today, all I can do is drink mulled wine)?

yeah, xbox extenders is my goal as well. Also looking at some Linksys ones mentioned here on this site, but i like the idea of a house full of jet engines, sorry, xboxs

Music zoning also sounds like a good idea. I've heard of VLC player that can stream music over a local IP address on the network, so maybe you can tune into it via a webpage on another machine.

(12-18-2009 07:54 PM)northan Wrote: [ -> ]yea I looked at dunks build quite carefully, but its kinda of what im looking for and kinda not :dodgy:
I dont really want or need sky in the future, so I cant see that being used as distribution. I do have a loft box that could achieve similar setup, but the quality was shocking on all the other tv's, might as well and sat to watch a well worn vhs tape. (debbie does dallas)
But Dunk does use xbox very well which I feel is a cheap versitile exetender with my movies. Gives you everything media center has to offer.
I want main pc to rip and distribute to xbox, missus can turn on xbox and acesss quick content.
But I do want music in all rooms to (independent, zoned and all on) controled by a central location and Im not sure if I want all xboxes on just to achieve this. I spose I want sonos on the cheap.
Am I asking the impossible?
Am I posting to much (sorry been snowed in today, all I can do is drink mulled wine)?

Posting too much, on a forum? Is such a thing possible?

I suppose a Media Centre home can be a three-tiered system dependant on cost/function.

One option is a master PC with multiple tuners and lots of HDD space, then several extenders throughout the home; either XBOXs or other third party devices (and they can be anything from full-on video extenders such as the Linksys DMA2100, to wireless music adaptors like my old Philips SLA5520).

The second option would be to have Media Centre PCs for each room, either remote-based with wiring through walls etc, or local in an HTPC case. This requires network shares and is probably the least efficient due to network shares and PCs needing to be on.

And finally the third option is what I've finally ended up with, and that's a PC for each room, and a master Home Server for all media/data.

I've been at all three stages throughout my now almost 4 years of Media Center and neither one is any more simpler than the other! They all require tweaking and modding to get running in harmony.

Er, hang on, I've lost track of what I'm supposed to be replying to. Oh yeah, music zoning , As Fixiehipster said, players like VLC support streaming of music, so as long as you set a master PC (I'd vote for a kitchen based one), you can then 'tune in' via an IP address, and if an Xbox can do such a thing, result

(12-19-2009 12:48 PM)elootos Wrote: [ -> ]I suppose a Media Centre home can be a three-tiered system dependant on cost/function.

One option is a master PC with multiple tuners and lots of HDD space, then several extenders throughout the home; either XBOXs or other third party devices (and they can be anything from full-on video extenders such as the Linksys DMA2100, to wireless music adaptors like my old Philips SLA5520).

The second option would be to have Media Centre PCs for each room, either remote-based with wiring through walls etc, or local in an HTPC case. This requires network shares and is probably the least efficient due to network shares and PCs needing to be on.

And finally the third option is what I've finally ended up with, and that's a PC for each room, and a master Home Server for all media/data.

I agree with you totally elootos and I constantley try to work out how to work out the best setup.
I think for me if cost wasnt a factor I surley would want a htpc in every room.
It plays on my mind the green issue also, and really think that could be picked up on another thread sometime.
But back to the issue of the three tier system I really think xbox is the way forward in ease of use and cost.
You also didnt mention the 4th option, a mixture of all the above, little bit of this a little bit of that.
Ive got a few sketches I want to post when I know how so I can get POV's

(12-19-2009 10:44 AM)fixiehipster Wrote: [ -> ]yeah, xbox extenders is my goal as well. Also looking at some Linksys ones mentioned here on this site, but i like the idea of a house full of jet engines, sorry, xboxs

Is there a way of making these puppys quiter, not that there major, just a bother.
I dont really want to go down the lian li route.

Yep it's me again

I thought I would post this now, so people can see what I'm trying and sort have done.
[attachment=43]
Comments welcome

(12-19-2009 10:02 PM)northan Wrote: [ -> ]Yep it's me again

I thought I would post this now, so people can see what I'm trying and sort have done.

Comments welcome

Seems like a good system layout. What gear of it do you currently have?

Did you say you've already laid the network cable? Otherwise you could utilise Homeplug I guess.

Any idea on when you plan to get it all done by, or is it the typical 'forever upgrading' type of system?

Hmm a long story, any ideas?:s string comes to mind

Well as for equipment,
Bedroom 2 is my 2 year old daughters room, so she's not so hot on the whole av media experience. So thats the last on the list to be done.

Bedroom 1 is master room and planing to use 27" sony bravia there when I buy new tv for downstairs, this should be run with an a xbox 360 I have now. Sound will be produced by a simple 5.1 amp used for pc's via optical cable from xbox.

Lounge is my priority atm
My main problem is that I have all my av equipment under the stair space in the lounge, so i'm going to build a slick av/storage unit to go under there. To treat it, a new 32" tv will take it's place (2 months I hope) and later a new amp hopefully a harmon kardon, old one is a technics sa dx940..... very old but still trusty (might use this else where soon)
The lounge is also where I have my trusty Pc. Its got 2.5tb storage and I've spent alot of time making it almost silent, important in the lounge.
Speakers are Bose
[attachment=44]

Kitchen will be a simple 15" monitor extended from the lounge pc. Would love it to be touch, but things to savor for later.

My house is not huge, so I don't want projectors or such, just a simple media experience and more importantly something I can take with me when I move.

Yes I do have my house wired up with cat5, speaker and coaxial. It was the first thing I did. I cant stand wires showing anywhere so I spent a long time wiring it up.

BTW quick update, tonight I managed to get 4 different films playing in 4 different locations at the same time from my HTPC!
Location 1. Tv connected by hdmi from pc
Location 2. Monitor connected by dvi from pc.
Location 3. Wireless streaming to laptop from pc
Location 4. Xbox connected by hdmi, transcoded and streamed by pc (hardwired by ethernet, transcoded on the fly by my movies)
I'm not sure if its intresting to others but I thought it was some sort of black magic, especially since all the different films were essentially coming off one hard drive too.

(12-20-2009 12:28 AM)northan Wrote: [ -> ]Location 4. Xbox connected by hdmi, transcoded and streamed by pc (hardwired by ethernet, transcoded on the fly by my movies)
I'm not sure if its intresting to others but I thought it was some sort of black magic, especially since all the different films were essentially coming off one hard drive too.

Sounds like a great plan for a good system, and you've a clear idea of what you want to achieve. It seems My Movies is the saviour of the Xbox though!

BTW Is your current library all DVD?