Brand New Home...Brand New Installation 5k (US) Budget

[tridum]

I guess i'd like to see it even delay, as to me that's a transfer issue....in other words, if the commands are at least recognized, albeit slowly....as to me, it sounds as if that is the challenge, in finding something that will transfer the commands from the remotes fast enough to be effective to the games...maybe im wrong in this

[tridum]

okay..so just came back from my local electronics store, and i have a really big question, can i utilize a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 as Media Director...instead of the computer?

[tschak909]

we do provide a upnp server for allowing those devices to display media present on the linuxmce network. we will be replacing it with rewritten code to improve media integration and better transcoding support...

you will not have access to orbiter functions on these devices, directly, and thus, this is currently a very bad idea.

-thom

[tridum]

my thought process is, that for my kids to play networked games ...i would assume the same thing for a Wii at this point....and in a way, that might be a solution, as much of what they do is gaming and movie watching anyway...I guess where im going with this is that their ACTUAL use, at this point is limited to watching movies, and gaming, and if they were going to be able to simply pull up a list of available movies that were prerecorded, it would make sense.  I bought 1000 feet of Cat6, along with term plates, connectors, test kit...scheduled tomorrow to do the upstairs wiring....this is fun...in a way...i really want it to work, as im very interested in how it will all come together....i will make decision on the media directors this coming weekend...My next big question will be regarding a functional audio receiver for my man family room.  I have a 82 inch mitsubishi tv, that shows great, but I want to increase the surround sound there in the room.  Nothing to expensive, but everything i see in the stores nowadays that has a rs232 connection seems to 700 or above, are there any suggestions?

[tschak909]

we have device templates for Sharp Aquos TVs that have RS232, as well as Olevia TVs with an RS232.. If you find another TV with RS232 capability, a device template can be created for it to allow control.

-Thom

[Schmich]

Are you still thinking about having the Wii centralized somewhere? If so, can you explain how what your idea is for the controllers and the infrared bar sensor? I'm quite curious for eyeing future possibilites in my home =)

I understand though that the video feed can be attached to a matrix output so there is no need of any capture card and its added latency.

[tridum]

well, as i said, not quite sure how to deal with the latency there...but luckily my wife and kids give me access to a lot of really smart people...gotta love college students...hahah...so im going to see if they can come up with some way around the latency issue...i have no clue at this point...today we are wiring the cat 6 in the upstairs of the house

[tschak909]

trust me, if you WERE to do something like that, you would need to wire up an HDMI to CAT-6 matrix, on separate trunking from the rest of your network. It's the only way you can realistically pull it off. A few of us, (including Totallymaxed, Schmich and I) speak from experience.

Uplink at Dianemo wrote a completely custom media plugin to handle this for their commercial fork of LinuxMCE.

-Thom

[tridum]

Okay so the wiring went okay...not perfect, but relatively easy due to the crawl space....some minor details, and some crimps im going to do over this weekend, now going to do the downstairs.  And not to break subject, but im back at what type of core to build, or buy, as that will be coming first...I've looked at a few pre-packaged boxes, but there always seems to be something lacking.  The core will be housed in a closet in the middle of the house, and truly just be a dedicated slave box to serve the MD's., so im not so prone to buy the best video card for it, im more concerned with it's ability to serve all the functions of LinuxMCE at this point.  And im taking the advice and looking to setup NAS for media storage and keep this out of the Core completely.  I know there is a push at this point to make a clean core install and i've been taking notes from the forum on what to watch out with the first installation, and for my purposes, it seems like once I get to that point that the DVD install will work fine, as there will be nothing on the harddrive.  My question is, based off of just these parameters, are there any suggestions for a "off the shelf" box that i can use as a core?  Everything i see that has a i-7 chip, seems to over the top in other areas (graphics card, sound...etc.)?

[B34N]

And not to break subject, but im back at what type of core to build, or buy, as that will be coming first...I've looked at a few pre-packaged boxes, but there always seems to be something lacking.  The core will be housed in a closet in the middle of the house, and truly just be a dedicated slave box to serve the MD's., so im not so prone to buy the best video card for it, im more concerned with it's ability to serve all the functions of LinuxMCE at this point.  And im taking the advice and looking to setup NAS for media storage and keep this out of the Core completely.  I know there is a push at this point to make a clean core install and i've been taking notes from the forum on what to watch out with the first installation, and for my purposes, it seems like once I get to that point that the DVD install will work fine, as there will be nothing on the harddrive.  My question is, based off of just these parameters, are there any suggestions for a "off the shelf" box that i can use as a core?  Everything i see that has a i-7 chip, seems to over the top in other areas (graphics card, sound...etc.)?

I have been following your progress and I'm also at the point of deciding what type of dedicated core to build so I am curious to see the recommendations.  I have not yet decided if I will do a NAS.  Won't that increase the cost rather significantly?  I'm also toying with rack-mounting as much as possible (core, switch, UPS, power strip, patch panel, multi channel amplifier).  It would make the setup extremely clean but it would also significantly increase cost.  It looks like I'm on a slippery slope.  I started out planning on just using an old PC as a core.

[tridum]

Part of the reason I decided to go with a NAS setup is that i read in Forums that this would decrease processing server load overall, and since im trying to run all facets of the system, it seemed logical to start off right and devote as much of that processing power to managing the various systems it will be running.  That was the primary reason, and yes your right it's getting rather expensive fairly quickly.  But this is going to be a permanent addition to the house, with the youngest member of the house being 4 years old.  So my thinking is that i will be adding media for years, and i'd rather be able to drop down to my local electronics store, and pick up a terabyte or two to expand the library, but simply adding a device than having to add hard disk space to the core.  There are individuals i know who will copy the movies they have so that i can add media fairly quickly and get the library up much faster, and that was primary consideration as well

[B34N]

Part of the reason I decided to go with a NAS setup is that i read in Forums that this would decrease processing server load overall, and since im trying to run all facets of the system, it seemed logical to start off right and devote as much of that processing power to managing the various systems it will be running. 

NAS does make sense. Would one be better off to build an atom machine and run FreeNAS (or some other Free Linux-based NAS software) instead of buying a turnkey product? What issues would one have in adding NAS after the initial setup?

What have you decided on for your core box? What about for tuner cards?  I have a Kworld 115 (internal) and a Happauge 950q (USB) already working on my exiting Myth box and I would hope to be able to use the same cards on my LinuxMCE core.

I'm not trying to hijack the thread but since we are in similar phases of the setup process, this may be a good place for me to ask a question.  One of the features that I would like to make use of is whole house audio with my music library and online music (Pandora) as the sources. I won't have media directors in the rooms where I will have wall and ceiling speakers. Could the core machine serve that content or is there a better option? If I have a multichannel amplifier in my closet with my core, could I avoid the need for in-wall volume controls?

Thank you!

[tridum]

Im really trying to wait on recommendations, if any regarding the core...and I've been wondering as well on the music component.  Hadn't really considered it.  I guess it would be a good thing to hear from anyone who's actually got an entire system running on what can be expected.  As far as tuner cards, still unsure.  This weekend im finishing off my wiring, so should be very interesting as I will get started with the actual components next weekend.

[tschak909]

I'm going to be VERY honest with you, tridum...

You are taking the wrong approach to this system.

What you SHOULD have done, is start with a small test environment, and systematically test outward, doing research and interacting with the commuity at large, so that you can adequately understand that this system is constantly being developed, and that some aspects of the system do require more work than others...

But you are setting yourself up with the expectations of approaching a _VERY_ large system, all at once...and honestly, expecting all of us to just give you the correct info the first time out...

This is a recipe for failure.

I know that you have been watching the forums, trying to gather info.. but please understand, that you're LITERALLY going head first into a system with a huge scope, and you will need to adjust to issues as they arise (and there are a lot of them).

-Thom

[B34N]

What you SHOULD have done, is start with a small test environment, and systematically test outward, doing research and interacting with the commuity at large, so that you can adequately understand that this system is constantly being developed, and that some aspects of the system do require more work than others...

So you are advocating an approach to build a core without too many extra features and get that up and running while one learns the ins and outs or LinuxMCE?  Since the MDs don't need too much power and can netboot, an old computer or two might meet the needs while going through the learning curve.  After a learning by making mistakes and probably multiple reinstalls, that one would be better educated to make informed decisions on what extras they should add and how to add them.  Is it fairly straightforward to expand to making use of things such as VOIP, NAS and security system or is it more likely that with each addition that a fresh install would be the norm?  My experience with MythTV is that it took me multiple reinstalls until I got the system up and running the way that I liked it.  Since MythTV is only one part of MCE, is it safe to assume that I will likely have the same experiences with MCE?

Isn't it safe to say that wiring the house while in construction was a good decision no matter what? Also, using Zwave switches at the onset should be fine too since it's only an incremental cost and could be used with a standard controller until they get the Zwave network up and running with MCE?