Browse Forums Home Theatre & Automation 1 May 02, 2010 8:55 am I am having network points installed in my new home (minimum of 2 cat 6 and rg6 to each room). At present I have not chosen the best way of distributing the media to each area. I currently have a media center PC using the windows 7 software and in another room use a 360 as an extender. I am just thinking considering options which will allow me the most flexibility into the future. If I set up a media server with the patch panel and then run extenders (or other brand media players) in other rooms will that work well? are there much better systems and are they much better on a cost basis (twice as good for twice the price is ok but not for five times the price). If I go with regular network patch panel and just run through computers could an installer change it later-on if technologies change? Hope this all makes sense. Re: Home media distribution 2May 02, 2010 9:28 am I’ve tried various methods, and in my experience if you have multiple TV’s with multiple people wanting to watch different programs/media at the same time it can get frustrating. Then there are the complexities of controlling multiple audio, video and other components in the different zones, without upsetting someone else. I now stick to the basics. Get custom cabinetry made to house the equipment; if the cabinet maker has experience with AV gear they’ll know how to include convex ventilation, including cable ducts. It is easy to add some low voltage temp regulated fans if some of the components run hot. With the custom cabinets all the equipment is out of sight, easily accessible if playing a Blu Ray disc or video game for instance. You can have both excellent multichannel audio and video at each location, and if you get the TV mounted on the wall then the cables are all out of sight, works the same with a projector setup as well. The speakers can be of your choosing if you prefer flush mounts or surface mounts etc. There are quite a number of affordable devices that allow streaming of both video and audio from a central storage hub, e.g. NAS. This way everything is out of sight, each room has its own set of components and single easy to operate programmable remote and the best thing no arguments, or complex systems that make owners unhappy. Re: Home media distribution 3May 02, 2010 10:51 am kiwi056 There are quite a number of affordable devices that allow streaming of both video and audio from a central storage hub, e.g. NAS. This way everything is out of sight, each room has its own set of components and single easy to operate programmable remote and the best thing no arguments, or complex systems that make owners unhappy. Hi Kiwi056, Thanks for the quick reply. Glad to know I'm not the only one we these concerns. Can you give an indication of what components you think are good? I am aware of popcorn hour, and media center extender but no experience of others. Re: Home media distribution 4May 02, 2010 8:43 pm Petermet Can you give an indication of what components you think are good? I am aware of popcorn hour, and media center extender but no experience of others. I have both of these products and they have performed flawlessly on my network. Re: Home media distribution 5May 04, 2010 7:08 pm hello Petermet there are a few methods that this could be done . the first one would be the ultimate , as you dont need a box IE freeview and foxtel box, and any other forms of sat or terrestrial tv. this will only cover the tv side of it but its a cool device , this is based on IPTV technology, what it does is you have one or two boxes connected to the ariel/sat ,the boxes are then connected into the switch in you house and in the boxes, you program all the channels up , then if you wont too watch tv in 4, 5 ,6 ,7 ,8, 9 whatever rooms you want ,you have another box that connects upto the LAN and to your tv (hd Audio Hd Video and Control ),then you use the remote to turn tv on and select the channel you want to watch . simple effective and the only limit too how many people can watch any channels or the same channels at the same time is you LAN switch. very cool system . this system you are looking at from 3000- 8000 , expensive but its only because its new , im sure there are many other systems out there for the tv side of it . there are also many other CAT5 based systems , you can buy hdmi / componate/VGA/ composite / over CAT5 and there not that expensive (HDMI over CAT5 50mtr $100) and u could have it hooked up to a receiver thats connected too all your devices ,then you buy a niles ir repeater system and connect it into your other Cat5 . on the other end it would connect to all you devices ,so you can control them from your room ,simple but you can only watch what someone els is watching . there are so many ideas and ways too do it. I also know of a system that is a 7.1 home theatre amp and also a multi video and audio distribution amp in one , in every room there is a 4 or 5 “ control panel that controls the zone , so it send audio to the speakers and sends video/audio to the cable you put in , the keypad has the amp for the speakers so there less too spend on speaker cable. Cool system but still restricted too whatever someone is watching you have too watch . I hope this helps a bit . Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1. optional, you can but normally just use the earth from the main switch board 2. should be enough but the distance determines voltage drop - sparky should work it… 1 28804 We already paid for somfy motors for the blinds. The quote above was purely for “pre-wiring” so the blinds company can install the motors and blinds. 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