thinking of setting up a Media Centre ( need help)

[Titanium]

Hey Folks,

Have finally decided that i want to set up a media centre around the house.

I'm looking at having a server and having it connect to 2 living rooms plus a bedroom. I also want to be able to stream music to these room.

I have been looking up on the subject and it seems like there are a few projects that show how to make a server and connect it to the rooms using Xbmc.

Any advice or ideas very much appreciated. Thanks

[evilsatan]

Either look at an x86 Netgear ReadyNAS or HP N40L server as both will run sickbeard, couchpotato, sabnzbd, headphones etc. you will want a gigabit switch running CAT5e or CAT6 cable to the rooms or gigabit homeplugs (I recommend the Solwise piggy 500av).

As for media systems I recommend the Acer Revo but you could get raspberry pi's running RaspBMC if you wanted to but you would be more limited on customisation.

Once you have all the kit it is relatively straightforward to setup if you have basic networking knowledge, plenty of people here can help you, myself included.

[pheonixsingh]

yes one of the HP micro servers would be the simplest option but your limited to 4/5 hdd's, if you reckon your going to need more then you can easily just build your own server, just look for a low power motherboard with a ati/nvidia gpu built in with 6 sata ports

the server can run:
Sickbeard (downloads all your tv shows)
Couchpotato (downloads all your movies)
Run a centralised XBMC library so if you watch a movie on one machine its marked as watched on all machines etc

Personally I just run my Server on windows and share all the relevant folders - All my xbmc machines run Openelec XBMC which makes it pretty much like a set top box experience

also if your interested in watching tv, you can get yourself a Dreambox/VU+ satellite box, theres an xbmc plugin that will use it as a backend to stream tv channels.

[ant3b]

I currently use a HP Microserver. Very good in my opinion With sickbeard etc.

One thing how do I install headphones? I checked but there was no simple EXE file and couldnt be bothered doing all the crap to make it work.