Fully networked AV set up?

[admin_exported]

Hi Everyone,

I don't really have an idea about where to start here, so I thought I would come to the experts....

The aim is to clear all of my CD's and DVD's from the lounge by storing them on a large hard drive which will send to the TV and also provide access to slide shows in iPhoto, iMovie, internet etc etc from one central source, with good quality sound and 5.1 for movies. Also with hard floors throughout the house this needs to be as wireless as possible.

As you can see, I'm a Mac user, so, any ideas for a full set up of hard and soft ware?

Current Kit (which I know will need adding to and/or replacing):
Sony Bravia HD TV with 3x HDMI & 2x scart inputs and Toslink output.
Sky+ box with 2x scart and 1x Toslink output
Sony Dav-Is10 DVD/CD player with 5.1 sound processing 1x HDMI output and 1x Toslink input + Sonys own digital input.
MacBook and iMac linked wirelessly to dLink G spec router.

I haven't even begun to start negotiating a budget (but less than the price of a new car) with my wife yet so sugestions from topish end to budget, all welcome, from the software to rip the DVD's through future proof hard drives to suggestions for speakers.

I think you can probably see the sort of end result I'm after... One remote (or wireless keyboard), nothing on display, access to anything and everything, without lifting my lardy behind off the sofa... So over to the experts with thanks....

David

 

[Anonymous]

I would suggest a good start might be to build your own multimedia centre PC. Get a nice case with a remote. Then use something like XUbuntu for the OS, and install XBMC on top of it. I use this setup on 2 media centre pcs, and have a NAS with all my music on which is shared by both.

There are good IPlayer and Youtube plugins for XBMC too. If you want any more info about howto set this up dont hesitate to ask,

 

[professorhat]

Apple TV plus external USB hard drive plus ATVFlash software could fit the bill nicely here. The Apple TV presents a lovely user interface into your TV via HDMI and with the ATVFlash software, you can attach a large USB drive into it and use this as your primary storage, allowing you to rip all CDs and DVDs on to this drive and access them via the Apple TV front end.

It's not all plain sailing to get it working from what I understand (see this thread which documents Mr John Duncan's efforts) but he did get the bits you need for the above to work at least!