Central video distribution

[kimbhoot]

Hello,
So this is part of a bigger project. My long term goal is to have a media server and feed audio/video content in every room. I will be running 2 or 3 cat6 cables in every room. I have an existing coax in every room and what I'm trying to do is to place an antenna in the attic and feed that to every room. I can buy this (Leviton-47690-8C-Passive-Splitter-Bracket) from amazon but not sure how to feed other content to the rooms using the same cable. At this point I don't have much knowledge on how to accomplish and what I can accomplish. I'm doing quite a bit of reading but I could use some simple case studies if you have any.
I would be very interested on learning what people have done and possibilities. Like I mentioned, my primary goal is to have media delivery and networking. So please share your ideas and suggestions.

Thanks and appreciate any input.

 

[fabriziojoe]

I have not had the opportunity to use one of these yet, but have read quite a bit on them.
Check out the ZeeVee HD over coax products. If you want HD over cat6 then you are talking about matrix switches and baluns=serious $$$.

Hello,
So this is part of a bigger project. My long term goal is to have a media server and feed audio/video content in every room. I will be running 2 or 3 cat6 cables in every room. I have an existing coax in every room and what I'm trying to do is to place an antenna in the attic and feed that to every room. I can buy this (Leviton-47690-8C-Passive-Splitter-Bracket) from amazon but not sure how to feed other content to the rooms using the same cable. At this point I don't have much knowledge on how to accomplish and what I can accomplish. I'm doing quite a bit of reading but I could use some simple case studies if you have any.
I would be very interested on learning what people have done and possibilities. Like I mentioned, my primary goal is to have media delivery and networking. So please share your ideas and suggestions.

Thanks and appreciate any input.

 

[electron]

The ZeeVee HD box is definitely one of the best bang for the buck solutions, looked at them during last year's CEDIA, and have been researching them for a work related project.

 

[kimbhoot]

wow! Even ZeeVee sounds very expensive. I'm a DIY kinda guy and want to keep cost to a minimum. what would you suggest (in terms of wiring the home) for connectivity in all rooms if I want to go with a cheaper solution. my basement is unfinished so I can run cat6 on every room without any major issues. in terms of connectivity at the hub, I'm not sure what options are available.

Please advise.

 

[kimbhoot]

I can place a media enabled device(gaming console, pc) on each room and run cat6 to those and stream from a media server, in terms of watching live tv or having a cable box, what are the options?

 

[pete_c]

I use multiple NMTs (specficially the Patriot Network Media Tank); little bitty $50 (with MIR) box. A little mods to the box and you can do a lot with it. I have 2.5" 1 TB drives in the three that I have online plus I utilize a NAS (MM), PlayOn TV and Tversity. Other than what's on the internet though; no live (from a tuner) TV.

 

[kimbhoot]

This is a very simplified version of what I'm trying to do as step 1. I would like some suggestions to improve/add features and functionality to this simple design.

Thanks.

 

[J-K-L]

This is not your spec but here is my experience...

I went with DirecTV and their whole house DVR solution. The signals run over coax. I have the primary receiver downstairs in my living room ($15.00 monthly lease) and a secondary receiver (I think a $5.00 monthly lease) upstairs in the bonus room.

Both boxes share the same DVR. We time shift everything we watch and it's great to have the recordings centralized.

The primary box has a RF remote. The slave is IR only.

I added an optional box for over the air broadcasts which can be recorded on the DVR (the OTA schedule is integrated with the DTV listings). This was a onetime $60.00 charge with no monthly fees.

The system uses your data network to access on-demand programs via the internet.

It is supposed to work with some media servers but I have not used it for that purpose and I don't know a lot about it.

Overall, My wife and I are very happy with this solution.

When I started project this about a year and a half ago, my goal was to distribute the video throughout the house so I would not have to lease a box for each display. When we built the house, I ran pairs of CAT5e to each TV location in hopes of building it out in the future.

My research leads me to believe that if you want to use baluns for HDMI over CAT5e, you have the potential for lots of problems. Most people I’ve talked to suggest component video baluns instead.

There is a new spec called HDBASET that sounds promising but I don’t think it is cost effective yet.

In retrospect, I wish that I had run conduit everywhere to leave my options open.

If I could do the wiring over today, I think I would have gone with HDMI cables and some sort of a splitter.

My wiring was specified in March/April last year and DirecTV announced this product in May so my wiring plan was obsoleted after about 8 weeks.

Very best of luck to you!

John

 

[kimbhoot]

John,
Thanks for sharing your setup. so if you were doing the wiring today you'd go with HDMI? I hear HDMI has length limitations!? I want to drop some cat6 lines anyway to future proof the house. what other cable should I drop since I'll be running wire, might as well drop some extra ones just in-case.

Thanks.

 

[potts.mike]

Have you looked at windows media center and a central server? The only downside for your situation is that you recording schedules would not sync.

 

[aksor]

You could try using jRiver MC16 on your media server and get a few multichannel soundblaster cards along with the KX drivers to create as many audio zones as you need then feed the outputs into individual amps or a multichannel amp

Or you could use DLNA uPnP compatible media players and all you have to do is run network cables to your rooms or it can be done wirelessly.

Then you can use plugplayer that supports both Android and iOS as a remote control

MC16 supports multizone audio and video distribution and it has built in DLNA uPnP server

It is a lot simpler than trying to run all sort of cables.

In my setup I use my home automation PC as my media server running jRiver MC16 $49 my media storage is a Dlink DNS323 NAS with 2 1TB drives, for audio I have 4 zones using the onboard sound card along with a 5.1 SoundBlaster card. as for video I still use 1st gen Xboxes with XBMC as the media player (cheap) and control it with my 3rd gen iPod touch running PlugPlayer $4.99