Home Networking/Multi-room Playback

[yogi]

Does anybody have any experience with setting up wired network and audio/video play back from different rooms at home? I am planning to setup a network and use the PC/HDD in a room to stream audio/video to other rooms where there will only be Amp/Speakers. Appreciate any ideas, suggestions, directions!

Regards
Keshav

 

[mridulgoel]

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[santhosh]

Nice thread Yogi. Many members here including myself have done it. I'll post on this a little later (am at work and need to complete some work now before 4PM).

 

[kapvin]

Does anybody have any experience with setting up wired network and audio/video play back from different rooms at home? I am planning to setup a network and use the PC/HDD in a room to stream audio/video to other rooms where there will only be Amp/Speakers. Appreciate any ideas, suggestions, directions!

Regards
Keshav

if it's a simple audio solution you are looking for and are amenable to using itunes, try airport express.

The Apple Store (India) - AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes


you can use a ipod touch; with a free application to remote control this from any part of the house the wifi reaches.

Apple (United Kingdom) - iTunes - Remote


i am using remote with my touch.. and it prettymuch works as advertised. I plan to get the airport express soon.. it's an amazing thing if it works as advertised.


For audio + video you could use any number of NAS+streamers. a cost effective solution of you have a suitable computer (p4+) with an a decent graphic card would be to use XBMC which again is remote controllable using a ipod touch or even a pocket pc.

http://xbmc.org/download/

these are cost effective semi diy ways of doing it. if you have the money there is no end to home automation..

cheers

 

[teky]

Nice thread Yogi. Many members here including myself have done it. I'll post on this a little later (am at work and need to complete some work now before 4PM).

Shall I do that on your behalf whilst I'm sitting doing nothing

I think Kapil has summarized it nicely.

You would need to first look at storage of all these files. HD Video files can fill up your drives very soon. Something on the lines of eTrayz can provide you that. It can support up to 4 TB at the moment which should be suffice for a while.

Next you should be thinking is getting a proper networking equipment to connect the storage & all the other media streaming devices. Any N router which is Gigabit enabled can be future proof. If you don't want to spend mega bucks then a Normal G router should be suffice if you don't copy files over network etc etc.

Finally the playback device - There are loads of options available. WDTV Live, xTreamer for video and stuff only specific for Audio like Logitech squeeze box,
Airport Express which can do the job for you.

 

[yogi]

Hi Kapvin,

Thanks for the quick reply! That gave me a good example of what's possible easily with WLAN.

I am looking for a wired solution (I suppose HD content would work better with wires) with PC+NAS in one room. Each room will have a LAN connection from this setup. So, what are the things I need? Amps with DNLA, Ethernet cables/sockets, router, streaming software on PC and/or NAS. Anything else?

Regards
Keshav

if it's a simple audio solution you are looking for and are amenable to using itunes, try airport express.

The Apple Store (India) - AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes


you can use a ipod touch; with a free application to remote control this from any part of the house the wifi reaches.

Apple (United Kingdom) - iTunes - Remote


i am using remote with my touch.. and it prettymuch works as advertised. I plan to get the airport express soon.. it's an amazing thing if it works as advertised.


For audio + video you could use any number of NAS+streamers. a cost effective solution of you have a suitable computer (p4+) with an a decent graphic card would be to use XBMC which again is remote controllable using a ipod touch or even a pocket pc.

Downloads | XBMC

these are cost effective semi diy ways of doing it. if you have the money there is no end to home automation..

cheers

 

[yogi]

Look forward to hearing from you! Thanks...

 

[kapvin]

Hi Kapvin,

Thanks for the quick reply! That gave me a good example of what's possible easily with WLAN.

I am looking for a wired solution (I suppose HD content would work better with wires) with PC+NAS in one room. Each room will have a LAN connection from this setup. So, what are the things I need? Amps with DNLA, Ethernet cables/sockets, router, streaming software on PC and/or NAS. Anything else?

Regards
Keshav

i think the airport allows you to use a wired network, in addition it acts as a wireless access point.

to begin with you need storage accessible over a network, could be a NAS, a shared drive on an HTPC or a dedicated media server / streamer

then obviously, you need the network, if you plan to stream HD video, gigabit network is desirable (though not strictly necessary) - (Cat5e and 20m cable length from router makes me fall back to 100mbps on my main HTPC, but there has never been a stutter even with HD content). ensure cat6 for any reasonable length of LANcable. WIFI is nice, if you plan to put speakers / computers in a room, where wiring is a challenge, also wifi can help deliver a wireless multi-room remote, through a pocket pc / ipod touch. however to stream video, at least wireless N is required.

then at the recieving end you could use a DLNA compliant reciever or TV, or a media box like the popcornhour etc. the reason I suggested the airport was because it allows you to use any (exisiting amp+speakers). you could also use apple tv, but IMHO, it's overpriced and underspecced. obviously there are other brand solutions

at the upper end of the market, you could get an home automation company to do everything for you. like a poster described a few posts back. should have a lot of "wow" value with your friends.. we have a crestron system in one of our conference rooms, and it's pretty impressive.

if you have a handle on how much you want to spend, there are plenty of people on the forum who will help you spend it.

cheers

Edit: missed teky's reply. i just repeated whatever he said, possibly less lucidly

 

[yogi]

Thank you! That's lot of useful info.

Does anybody know where I can find these gadgets in Bangalore? I have the ducts ready in each room, so wires won't be visible.

I need to start with wiring first and then with sockets, router, etc.

I will start with a PC as the media server and use a laptop as a client after this and upgrade to real HIFI stuff once this works.

Regards
Keshav

i think the airport allows you to use a wired network, in addition it acts as a wireless access point.

to begin with you need storage accessible over a network, could be a NAS, a shared drive on an HTPC or a dedicated media server / streamer

then obviously, you need the network, if you plan to stream HD video, gigabit network is desirable (though not strictly necessary) - (Cat5e and 20m cable length from router makes me fall back to 100mbps on my main HTPC, but there has never been a stutter even with HD content). ensure cat6 for any reasonable length of LANcable. WIFI is nice, if you plan to put speakers / computers in a room, where wiring is a challenge, also wifi can help deliver a wireless multi-room remote, through a pocket pc / ipod touch. however to stream video, at least wireless N is required.

then at the recieving end you could use a DLNA compliant reciever or TV, or a media box like the popcornhour etc. the reason I suggested the airport was because it allows you to use any (exisiting amp+speakers). you could also use apple tv, but IMHO, it's overpriced and underspecced. obviously there are other brand solutions

at the upper end of the market, you could get an home automation company to do everything for you. like a poster described a few posts back. should have a lot of "wow" value with your friends.. we have a crestron system in one of our conference rooms, and it's pretty impressive.

if you have a handle on how much you want to spend, there are plenty of people on the forum who will help you spend it.

cheers

Edit: missed teky's reply. i just repeated whatever he said, possibly less lucidly

 

[manishk13]

Keshav

I have a similar set up. Here is what I did (all imported thru Borderlinx):

- 2 TB NAS
- For music playing: Sonos - Wireless Multi-Room Music System ( various options available : full box with amp & speaker, amp to be connected to a speaker or just a player connected to amp/speaker combo. All these have ethernet ports). I have tested successfully
- For videos and pictures I am using western digital live tv
- I also came across a LG LED TV yesterdday which I am exploring. It may obviate the need for a WD box

PM me for more details

Thanks
Manish

 

[sam9s]

Does anybody have any experience with setting up wired network and audio/video play back from different rooms at home? I am planning to setup a network and use the PC/HDD in a room to stream audio/video to other rooms where there will only be Amp/Speakers. Appreciate any ideas, suggestions, directions!

Regards
Keshav

I think what you are looking for is Multi room Audio, even I am looking for something like this for my new home construction. Check out the below thread I created in one of the other "Multi room A/V" dedicated forum. There is a lot of information shared and quite a few things you can learn from it.

Newbie.....Multiroom Home Audio - Home Automation Forum , Home Security and Home Theaters

 

[Avijeet]

Home Networking/Multi-room Playback

Yes i have an entry level setup.

PC/Xtreamer/WDTV (Soon to be replaced with Xtreamer Pro) all are connected over LAN
Via Dataone Type-2 Wi-fi router

Wii and PSP accessing net over wi-fi


M also planning to buy a E-tryaz (Network Storage/NAS) so that i dont have to keep the PC on for watching movies/playing songs.....

M able to watch 10GB+ 1080P blueray rips over network streaming without any jitters

 

[darkblack]

It all begins with having a home media server which is the central repository of all your media and having devices which are upnp capable / network ready to read media from your server. But before that, all these devices must be networked wired or wirelessly.

This is vast and interesting topic, and there is huge amount of information regarding this out there. Just google it

Cheers

 

[ashishkesarwani]

I have achived the solution you are looking at my home, where I am runing two simultanious setups one in my Bedroom and the other one in my living room, and this is how I have done it:
Etrayz NAS connected with my Linksys WRT610N router with the ethernet cable and it also acts as the server for my entire house, also I am using it as a 24x7 torrent download server.
At the clients end I have conected the Xtreamer Pro in my living room setup with the ethernet cable running all the way to my router and in my bedroom setup I am using an Apple Airport express in the Wireless mode connected to my router's 5 GHz band, this is conected to the Xtreamer Client by an etherrnet cable, so I am able to play separate contents on both the setup from a single NAS solution i.e etrayz.

 

[sam9s]

At the clients end I have conected the Xtreamer Pro in my living room setup with the ethernet cable running all the way to my router and in my bedroom setup I am using an Apple Airport express in the Wireless mode connected to my router's 5 GHz band, this is conected to the Xtreamer Client by an etherrnet cable, so I am able to play separate contents on both the setup from a single NAS solution i.e etrayz.

Ashish, how much does this Airport Express cost ?? Does it work for Windows Machine as well ...