Ongoing New Project for a new home (1 Viewer)

[Jocker_Boy]

Hello.
I'll buy a new home and one thing that i want is to have acess do MP in severall places of home, for example in 2 rooms and in living room.
I don't understand to much of hardware, and my previous MP was only one HTPC case, connected to a TV.

What is the best way and what hardware do i need?
If there is no limit for budget, how do i do this?
I don't know what benefits MP 2 will bring, but i want if possible, that the system is ready for MP 2 (Server+clients)

I apreciate any help.
Thanks

 

[elliottmc]

Hi,

First thing you will need to sort out is networking. Realistically, you'll want gigabit wired ethernet in every room where you want a HTPC.

For TV, you will probably want to designate one of the PCs as a server, with all of your TV cards. For my own setup, I decided that I wanted this as out of the way as possible. I arranged my setup so that my server was near where my phone line came in, so that I could have my modem/router there, with the server (so aerial comes in at the same point).

Once you have this sorted, simply connect the other HTPCs on your ethernet network, and it should work okay.

I did have a bit of hassle with routers. For some reason a linksys one I bought was never very stable in MP although it was fine for everything else. I replaced it with a netgear one and have not had a single problem.

Regarding hardware for the PCs, as long as you have something fairly recent, it should be fine. Remember that you'll need enough slots for your TV cards, whether they are PCI, PCI-e or USB. If you have a lot of these, you may need a signal booster for your aerial.

You'll probably want plenty of storage in your server at least, and don't forget a good backup solution. However, some of the newer large capacity drives are so environmentally friendly that they take a while to spin up. This isn't ideal for TV. I think the ideal solution would be a SSD for the OS and software, a fast smaller drive for timeshifting/recording and a large drive for media.

Mark

 

[ryan20021982]

Here is my setup as far as wiring and switch goes for the whole house