Home Network - Help!

Shane732

Following on from my recent thread started in Home Entertainment I'm hoping some of the tech guys in here might be able to help me....

I currently have the following:

Macbook
Toshiba Laptop
Xbox 360
Apple TV
Squeezebox Classic
Lexmark Printer All-in-one (wifi built in)
Eircom Router & Dual Band NetGear Router
Various external hard-drive (no NAS just standard external drives) with movies on them etc...

Currently the whole thing is a complete mess. Nothing works together with each other etc....

I'm looking at setting up some sort of home network whereby I can store all my media (music & dvds etc..) in one location, I was thinking of a time capsule but I'm open to other suggestions. I want to be able to access the media which is located centrally with the two laptops, Apple TV and squeezebox etc...

I also want to be able share files etc between the laptops and also share the printer connection.

I'm wondering how the hell I do it though! The reason I was thinking of a time capsule is because it's apparently very easy to use (I.e you connect to it and that's it done) but I'm told that it isn't actually that good as a means of home network.

I appreciate I'll have to spend some money on this (at the very least to buy a time capsule), that won't be a problem within reason.

In relation to the Squeezebox - I'm currently at the stage where I only have one squeezebox, so if its easier to switch to another form of streaming music and achieving multi-room audio (such as Sonos, Streamium) then now is the time to do it.

I'd be eternally grateful to you guys if you could lead me in the right direction as regards what I need to do and what I need to get.

Perhaps Windows Home Server is the easiest way to go?? If so, what do I need?!

Thanks in advance!

Shane732

Ok further to my post above I've been doing some research. WHS certainly seems to be the most simple route to go but will my Apple TV and Squeezebox work with it?

What other types of media (music mainly) players will work with it?

I'm currently looking the HP EX490 MediaSmart. Why are peoples opinions on this?

Dardania

Your best bet would be a NAS that supports UPnP/DLNA (so that the xbox etc. can access media) and SMB (So that the macbook can access it, to funnel stuff to the apple tv)

NAS' have the advantage of being quiet, and low power consumption - whereas WHS would be on a more powerful server that could produce sound / heat issues...

DecTenToo

Hi, based on the conversation in the asus/hp media server thread then have a look at this review which also notes the HP support for Mac

Shane732

This sound a bit stupid but -

What if I purchased a NAS connected it to my network and stored all my music/movies/photos on it.

Then I connected a few mac mini's (they can be picked up very cheaply on places like adverts.ie) and connected them to my tv's.

I'd still be able to use my Squeezebox to stream music around the house and I'd be able to stream my movies to any of the mac mini's. On top of that I'd actually have the benefit of having a computer attached to the tv's and could actually use the mac mini's via the tv screen.

Does this sound mad? Is there an easier way to do this?!

Dardania

sounds pretty okay - what software would use on the mac minis?

What about using pure media renderers - ibood often have them quite cheap like this if you keep an eye out for them:

http://www.ibood.com/ie/en/product_list_comments/13444/ZyEL_DMA-2500_Full_HD_Digital_Mediaplayer_with_HDMI/

What NAS would you use?