Advice needed for home network

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damianjmcgrath

New Member
Hello,

I'm trying to create something which might be impossible, but I'd appreciate some advice.

Objective:
In my house at the moment, we have 4 laptops and 1 desktop, with a variety of music and videos, and iTunes podcasts/downloads on each. I want to be able to play all of these files on any PC and also on my TV.

This is what I'm currently thinking, but it might be miles off, hence the need to ask for advice.

Potential Solution
  • Buy a "server" PC or one of those small box-only that has a big enough capacity and memory.
  • Transfer all music and files (and iTunes files) to this new PC.
  • Leave this new PC on all the time, maybe in some back room so no-one can hear the fans.
  • Have every other PC and laptop connect to this new PC wirelessly over a home network, and be able to play all the files (including the possibility of 2 people accessing the same file at the same time).
  • I know I can enable iTunes Home Sharing so thats probably not an issue for the iTunes files.

Hopefully, by doing that, it'll create an environment where everyone can play everything, and everyone's PCs can save their own hard drive space.

Perhaps I'd like an additional requirement as well, which is the ability to save downloads on individual PC's, and then transfer them to the "shared PC" wirelessly. That would be even better.

Potential TV Solution
This is the part I'm really struggling with.

Ideally, I'd want the new shared PC connect to the TV wirelessly, and for me to change to a different AV channel, and see the PC's operating system and then navigate to the different media folders through the remote control and play anything I want.

Now, this sounds tricky because my TV doesnt have any special software on, so I'm thinking perhaps the shared PC needs to be physically connected to the TV and I'd need to use a mouse. This wouldnt be a massive problem but only if the PC was a silent as a mouse!


Any technical advice about the above would be very welcome, including recommendations for products I might be able to buy, so at least I'd be able to research more into it - especially including any possibility of a TV being able to wirelessly play content saved on a PC.


Thanks in advance.
 
Thanks very much for your quick answer, and your linked product led me to find this product - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Dig...vision/dp/B002LZUHMI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top - on the UK Amazon website.

It seems to cover all my requirements - it allows me to share media for the whole house and watch it on the TV. Great! And it also lets me stream YouTube, Flickr, etc through the TV - even better!


However (and now I'm just being greedy!), the amazon website doesnt mention accessing general websites, like eBay, Google, Amazon and TV streaming websites like the BBC iPlayer.

I don't expect you to have in-depth knowledge about the precise product I linked to, but do you know if there's a product on the market that does what I want, and allows general internet use through the TV?


Thanks in advance!
 
every single thing that you want in your original post is possible. it would cost a little but not too bad. here are a few links

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823202004

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...029&cm_re=wireless_vga-_-33-997-029-_-Product

then depending on what your tv stand is set up you could get this case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204035

go with an amd set up as they run cooler, are cheaper, and will be pretty silent. grab a 1 or 2 TB hard drive and dvd drive and power supply and ram, and use the keyboard link i gave above and the wireless video if you want to put the computer in a different area out of sight, if not then just plug it in through hdmi. you may have an issue with streaming video to other computers on the network. it dependes on your network. if its just wireless g then i would recomend updating it to wireless n at least.
 
damianjmcgrath said:
However (and now I'm just being greedy!), the amazon website doesnt mention accessing general websites, like eBay, Google, Amazon and TV streaming websites like the BBC iPlayer.

I don't expect you to have in-depth knowledge about the precise product I linked to, but do you know if there's a product on the market that does what I want, and allows general internet use through the TV?


Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

If you want to do all that, just consider getting a PS3. It will allow you to access content shared on any computer and you can connect any FAT32 storage device through USB. It has a full web browser and BBC made a custom interface for the PS3. If you want a keyboard you can use any bluetooth keyboard. I recomend one of the two below:

A little pricey, but about the size of a smart phone:
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards/keyboard/devices/3848

Made to add on the controller:
http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3..._1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1275891951&sr=8-1
 
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