cfoster

If I wanted to connect all the TV's in my house to my PC so they can all connect to Media Center whats the correct way of doing this? I presume I use CAT5 cables throughout the house but how do I convert the cable to connect to the TV / PC at either end? Once thats done how easy is it to configure?!

Cheers
Chris

alan12112

do you have an xbox360 or a PS3 fella?

Oh and you dont have to run a cable through your house if you buy these

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...&show_all=true

cfoster

Yeah I have a PS3 and a Wii mate!!

I have seen those adaptors, do they reeeeally work as well as conventional CAT5?

Chris

stig30

im pretty sure sure you can get a scart plug adapter for your tv which accepts a rj45 plug

FasterFords

worth considering is the new Western Digital HD TV box, its Ł99 and will play almost anything MKV mpg avi up to 1080p, has 2 USB slots on it, so just download your movie and slot it in.

cheap enough to have one in each room

cfoster

I have seen those boxes but ideally want a centralised point for storage. Running cables isnt an issue and I already have a 200m roll of CAT5, just need to know what PC cards are needed if any, and what converters on the other end!!

alan12112

Can't you just connect your PC upto your PS3 pal? You can on the 360 and it all works fine.

Not sure if they work aswell as a conventional cat5 m8 but they do seem very tempting, the more expensive ones are 200mbps

Phil

iTrader: (1)

Unless you are using an xbox etc as a media center extender then you will need a PC plugged into each tv to connect to the main media center.

Homeplug is supposed to be really good - I have an early slow pair and they worked fine but I need to upgrade to some new versions. The 200Mbit ones mean 100Mbit each way, so you will see similar speeds to a 100Mbit switch.

alan12112

Good point Phil, i've re-read the question and realise he wants to connect all his tv's

rsnissan

iTrader: (9)

i have my house networked (cat5 outlet in each room + garage and shed lol)

then have a media PC shared out to other pc's (in shed and garage again )

the just have the PS3 connected to the network and that playes everything from the PC on my main TV. might get a couple of media boxs for the bedroom tv's at some point.

Porkie

iTrader: (1)

I bought the 200mps Devolo one Chris. Works Superbly!

AND SOOOOO easy to set up!!!

Porkie

iTrader: (1)

Anyone got Apple TV? whats it like?

rsnissan

iTrader: (9)

i was wondering about that, or getting a mac mini for the bedrooms if anyone has one on a network?

foreigneRS

my new freesat box will stream from a network connection in HD

rsnissan

iTrader: (9)

you got a link Nick?

cfoster

Couldnt you use one of these?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...extenders.aspx

Chris

cjwood555

How many tv's do you have? Ideally you need a pc with sli capability, 2 graphics cards with dual dvi outputs (sli not enabled), some dvi to hdmi converters, and a few sound cards, then some software which supports what you need to do (play more than one dvd at a time on individual screens and output sound on seperate cards). Might have fun with drivers!

Would suggest a simpler way is to buy/build a mini-itx pc for each room and have a central NAS drive or file server. Much more flexible and can all work over cat5 without expensive converters!

Chris

tonyk

If you have the 200m of cat 5 cable and dont mind the hassle then this will be the best way. Home plugs are good but can have issues in some houses due to dodgy / incorrect wiring. If you want localised files, then you can buy a Hard Disk and use in in an NAS storage box.

foreigneRS

there you go andy

http://www.humaxdigital.com/freesat/

will also play media files from built in hdd or usb connected devices

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Right, so by the sounds it, you have a PC that runs media centre and want each TV in your house to be able to connect to that PC and watch the films on it.

No, you can't just connect the TV's the to PC via network cable. Wish it was that simple, but it isn't.

You'd either need a media player or a PC at each TV, and these PC's/Media Players connect to your main PC over a network - you'd need a router or hub with enough LAN ports to support this.

For example - I have my computer upstairs, and downstairs I have another PC connected to my TV. This PC connects to my router via LAN cable, as does my upstairs PC. After enabling file and folder sharing, I can browse and read the files on my upstairs PC on my downstairs PC connected to the TV (of course, both PC's need to be running) The other way I had it was a central NAS server on my network. Then each PC on the network could read and write to the files stored on the NAS server, like this;



(blue line = video / VGA cable, grey line = CAT5 cable)

You can switch out the PC's at each TV for a media player, like the WD HD TV box already mentioned, or something like a NETGEAR EVA700, and you don't have to have a NAS/File/Media server as a central repository for data storage - you can have your main PC store all the films/vids/music/etc on it, but of course you'd need to have this computer on anytime you want to access files on it from another terminal.

If you wanted each TV to be able to run Vista/XP Media centre and it's MCE interface, you'd need a PC at each tv, as in the diagram, and each PC would need to be running Vista/MCE operating system.

The only other thing you can do if you only want one PC and multiple TV's to connect to it is to run multiple graphics cards in the PC and flood the house with VGA/video cable to connect each "screen" to the PC. I've not seen anyone do this, so I'm guessing it's either a) not possible or b) simply not worth it - I'd say the second is more likely as the strain put on the PC to run several different resolution/ratio screens simultaneously would impact heavily on it's media capabilities...

biglee

Spot on Matt. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ listen to this man.

cfoster

Sounds spot on what I need mate, fookin ell didnt realise it would be so complex!!!!

File server wise I have a Lacie 1Tb ethernet Ext.HDD so presume I just have this hanging off of my 1Gb 8 port Netgear hub, so then each PC I can remote into that disc to stream the films off of it. For HD streaming I presume I need Cat5e or CAT6? Also will connecting the TV's via a VGA cable give me optimum picture?

Chris

foreigneRS

or even just 'off it'

sounds about right, but does sound unnecessarily complicated as you will likely only watch 1 or 2 tvs at once and all that hardware and processing power seems unnecessary doesn't it?

i have seen 'wireless network' tv's on offer as option in magnet kitchen cupboards - how do they work?

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Chris, yeah you can Use your Lacie drive as a NAS on your network for all to stream from. As for HD streaming, I've streamed high def rips over stock cat5 so you should be okay there.

Nick, there are a few wireless media players about and all they do is connect to your network and allow you to stream from files stored on a NAS or computer also on your network. No real difference to what we aretalking about here, other than it's wireless. Which isn't really going to cut it for streaming high def stuff unless all the wifi gear is 802.11n spec, and even then, drop outs spoil fun!

foreigneRS

seems daft doesn't it? you can use the processing power of the pc or the NAS to play the media file - all you want the network for is to transmit sound and picture and then have a small device that converts that from digital over the network to analogue for tv in (or even keep it digital and input into hdmi). is there no simple kit to do that?

foreigneRS

IPTV seems to be basically what we are talking about

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPTV

the universal 'set top box' bit is the bit that is the missing link at the moment though (short of running what is basically another pc)

foreigneRS

maybe the slingbox

http://uk.slingmedia.com/

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/slingbox.html

EDIT: wrong way around. slingbox is for transmitting not receiving

and fetch do it?

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/fetchtv.html

just researching it now

h

foreigneRS

http://www.fetchtv.dslshop.co.uk/

that is the kiddy by the looks of it, and only Ł130

The FetchTV Smartbox is the only Freeview PVR that lets you..


• Download hundreds of movies and TV shows
• Enjoy over 40 channels of Freeview Digital TV and Radio
• Pause, rewind and record live television
• Store up to 40 hours programming
• Share photos, music and video from your PC to your TV
• Archive programming directly to USB hard drive or network storage

All your entertainment needs in one box:

With a Freeview digital tuner, an 80GB hard drive to record onto and network connectivity to access media from your local network, this PVR has it all. The player records TV with the aid of the Freeview tuner’s Electronic Programme Guide for a system that’s really easy to use.

You can access supported media files from your PC or local area. The PVR has HDMI output, as well as Scart, S-Video and Composite. There’s also a USB 2.0 input for playing content from external hard drives and USB keys.

Complete with access to hundreds of hours of films, television and music downloads, you can choose what you want and when you want, for the best in subscription free programming.

No subscription, no monthly bills, no contract tie-ins


Features

• No contract
  FetchTV is available for a one off purchase price, after that you choose what you want and when you want,for the best in subscription free digital TV and radio.
• No broadband tie-ins
  FetchTV works with your existing broadband connection, there is no need to change your provider
• Freeview Tuner
  Providing access to more than 40 channels of digital TV and radio
• HD ready
  Enjoy your photos and HD movies in high definition or download HD content from FetchTV
• USB connection to external storage devices
  Play multimedia content on your TV and archive programming to a USB hard drive or Flash memory device
• FetchTV’s download service
  Providing access to hundreds of hours of films, television and music
• 80GB hard drive
  Allows you to store up to 40 hours of programming, as well as pause, rewind and record live television
• 8 day TV guide with one touch recording
  So you can see what’s on and schedule recordings at the touch of a button.
• Self install
  Quick and easy to install, simply connect directly to your router with a standard network cable or using the optional Powerline adapters or choose our assisted install option find out more

• Audio – analogue stereo and digital 5.1 surround (Dolby Digital DTS)

Specifications

• Resolution - up to 1920 x 1080i with up and down scaling
• Video - H.264 HD (MPEG-4), MNV9 HD, MPEG-2, MPEG-1
• Multi-stream - up to 2 SD or HD simultaneous decoded streams
• Audio - MP3, WMA9, MPEG-4 AAC LC & HE, Dolby Digital & DTS
• TV Tuner -single DVB-T tuner
• Hard Drive - 80GB Embedded 2.5“ HDD
• Digital TV - DVB-T Tuner input (RF in); Tuner output (RF out) with loop through
• Digital video - 1 HDMI connector – HDCP compatible
• Analogue Video - 2 SCART outputs
• Audio - SPDIF Optical connector, 1 mini-jack stereo connector
• Ethernet - 1 RJ45 connector (10/100Mbps)
• Multimedia -1 USB 2.0 device connector
• Size - 31 cm x 16 cm x 5 cm

Package includes

• Smartbox
• Remote control unit
• 2 x AA batteries
• 10 metre RJ45 Ethernet cable
• 1 metre HDMI cable
• 1 Metre Scart cable
• RF Aerial cable
• Smartbox power cable
• Quick Start User Guide

foreigneRS

archos +tv also looks good

http://www.archos.com/products/gen_5...global&lang=en

and as mentioned apple tv looks like it will do it as well, but both are not cheap at Ł200

netgear also do something similar

http://www.netgear.co.uk/extra/digit...er_eva8000.php

foreigneRS

popcornhour stuff looks the bollox too. strange name, but products look good

www.popcornhour.com

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Yeah you've got the idea. Think of it like TV signals. They come over the air to your aerial or sat dish - think of your aerial or Sat dish as your NAS network. So you plug that into your Sky or Freeview box to decode the signal and show it on the TV - so think of your Sky or Freeview box as a Digital Media Player (like pretty much all the ones you posted above)

The Cat5 is simply to transmit the data from point A (the storage location the data is kept) to point B (the equipment used to decode the data stream and turn it into pictures and sounds)

I went for a computer because, well mainly because I got it for free , but also cos it's easier to update with new codecs etc that might be needed, and because I can use the web browser etc.

Plus if you really wanna go to town with a top spec machine, you can have it as a full Media Centre and use it for DVD's (DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray) along with all the varients of ripped films (AVI, WMV, .H264, etc etc) and music, and install DVB-T and DVB-S tuner cards to decode and record Freeview and Sky/Sat TV, etc etc etc....

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

And yes, the Popcorn Hour is very raved about. I've not used one myself but I've heard a LOT of good reports about it