Hi,
Ok, I thought I know where I was going, but now SWMBO has ordered a "family Christmas present" which may change everything....
What I have now.
Single LNB dish,
1 x SKY SD box,
TV in living room (connected to above)
TVs in 3 bedrooms, connected to local DVD / VHS players with no live feed.
TV in basement connected to PS2
3 Laptops (one of which is my work laptop)
2 Desktop machines
WII
Wireless infrastructure.
In preparation for installing an MCE system, I have:
An HP GL380 server.
1 GB LynkSYS POW (48port) switch.
PVR150 Analog capture card.
Dual output USBUIRT
What I want to achieve.
At this stage, I'm not interested in HA or telephony. Maybe once I get media working I'll add that to it! What I would like to do is to be able to watch live TV and recordings (either from Live TV or ripped media) on all the TV's in the house.
I would like to have some control over what the kids (particularly the youngest) watches, and when.
A hight WAF / FAF resulting in less ear-ache.
What I had planned.
Initially:
Dedicated Core
MD in living room, with PVR150 connected to Sky box.
On-screen orbiter, possibly using WiiMote (hopefully existing one!)
Then:
Possible upgrade to Quad LNB and installation of satelitte recievers on core.
Possible alternate installation of DVB-T antenna and tuners on core
More MDs connected to other TVs. (I like the look of the ION boards and there is a nice case that will fix to the VESA slots on the TV that I plan to use).
BUT
I have just been told about the PS3 thing and see from the forums that, although it won't make a full MD, it can play streamed media using uPNP from the core. So..
Alternate (new) plan.
Would this work?
Initially:
Dedicated core
PVR150 in core (moving Sky box to basement)
PS3 as streaming reciever for both recorded and live media.
No idea about Orbiters. I have an N97, SWMBO an iPhone.
Existing MD hardware used in a bedroom or similar.
Then:
Additional recievers, as required. Possibly HD HomeRun unit(s)
Additional MDs.
Comments gratefully recieved!
Constraints:
1) WAF / FAF takes ABSOLUTE priority. It has to work. All the time. No excuses.
2) Cost. I don't have much money to throw at this, so price takes prescidence over features / gimicks.
3) Ease of maintenance. I work away from home, so don't see much of my family (I'm away all week). Being able to remotely manage it and not have to manually "drive" it is important. I also can't afford to send every weekend tweaking it.
