New house build - digital media help!

twenty8

I would really appreciate any help that you may be able to offer.

I am currently building a new house and I want to put whatever I need to put in to ensure that I can avail of current and future technology.

What we want is to be able to have music in most rooms (accessible from my PC) and access to and recording of movies, music, tv and CCTV etc from our tv's. There are loads of other things that I would like - but this is it in a nutshell.

What I am thinking of is installing a media centre PC (someone here recommended the Hush E1), if needs be I can get an Xbox to extend this to another TV. I was also thinking of getting something like the Squeezebox - so that I can access music around the house.

Does this sound like the best option?? Is there a combined solution? I was also looking at a company called MediaCentric. They look good - but it is a hefty cost (20k for 3 rooms - including hardware)

Now - it is the hardware that I am really running into difficulty. People are telling me to install CAT6 cabling. Is this enough? How do I work the cabling once it is installed. If I connect the Media Centre PC to it (how) - can I access this anywhere? How do I integrate the media centre and squeezebox with my speakers (can I)

Sorry for all the questions. But you can see where I am lost. Any help would be greatfully appreciated. Thanks in advance.

SouperComputer

forget media centric, that all I will say If you need to get someone in to do it for you, I can reccomend a company that can do it at reasonable cost.

Plan your setup on a room by room basis. CAT6 is a good way to go, CAT5 is also sufficient.

Generally you will have at least one CAT5 point per room, with each cable run up to a central source (attic\basement\cabinet) you would have a switch that connects all the rooms. Personally, I say go with 2 or more points per room as you can send a lot more than just computer trafiic through those cables these days.

Many may say go for Gigabit ethernet and the are at least half-right. Really you want a gigabit connection on the server end (IE the hush) and then 100Mb on the clients. As you are streaming media, its not the bandwith as such that is important, but the availability. Using 100Mb on the client end means that one of them isnt going to monopolise the server's bandwidth and cause the other units to stutter.

Basically everything (Hush, xbox, squeezebox and other computers) will be networked via the CAT5 or CAT6 cable.

Integrating either the HUSH or squeezebox is easy, they both have fully digital outputs that can be plugged into most amps on the market, just like a CD player. From there you just wire up your speakers just like normal.

8T8

Edit: Beaten by SouperComputer ; )

Couldn't really advice on the audio but a few folks here have the Squeezebox so they will be able to tell you if it fits your needs.

As for the cabling CAT6 should do the job for a gigabit wired ethernet network. Something like this would be the way to go I think;

* Pick a spot for the networks router all the cables will run back to this location ideally so will your internet connection e.g DSL/Cable broadband.
* With the cables run through out the house all you need are some wall outlets to wire up the connector.
* Once the connector is wired up & the opposite end has an RJ45 connector put on it so it can plug into the router use a tester to confirm the wiring has been done correctly.
* Once the network points are operational other devices can now use the network e.g. an Xbox 360 extender can talk to a MCE PC or the Squeezebox can read the contents of your music collection on a network drive etc.

Anything else that can be routed over ethernet can also make use of the network, to expand the number of ports in a room just use a hub. I have no real knowledge of it but in passing I'm sure I once saw some sort of CCTV kit that works over ethernet.

Example of wall outlet
Cat 6 RJ45 wiring
Example of RJ45 connector
Network testers & crimping tool for putting the connector on the end of the cable