Home Theater components

[elcano]

I have been asked for help on the setup of a 'serious' home theater. The owner have spent some money on non-integrated solutions and is not happy with the results, so he is asking my help on the topic.

He has been asking questions, but I have avoided making formal recommendation until visiting him at his house and getting all his requirements. He might not even be aware of the possibilities, so I decided to create a list of all the potential HT components ahead of the visit, so that he can evaluate them. I would hate recommending a solution now and learn a few months from now about something else that he wants to do - that the solution does not support.

So this is my list. Is there anything here that you would recommend me to add, change, or even, remove?

Local and internet content management
Media Renderer – Playback streamed movies, music, photos from media server or internet
Media Library- Catalogs stored media, lookup media cover art and metadata, build playlists, etc.
DVD Digitalization – Rip, transcode (optional) and archive
Podcasts – Automatic downloads of audio or TV podcasts for playback on media renderer
Web data mashup – Pulls and present internet data like weather, news, email, calendar, address book, etc.
A/V Internet streaming - To watch your movies from the hotel. This one would easily fit in the Broadcast Content and A/V Distribution below.

Broadcast content management
Tuners -Local TV and AM/FM, Cable/Satellite TV and radio
Cable/Satellite/local TV EPG - Program guide
DVR – Digitalizes/stores broadcast media; timeshifts programming

Automation and Control
Lightning Automation
Miscellaneous device control – Projector screen, blinds/shades
Automation engine – Event and time based logic automation
On-Premises Remote Control – IR, RF, gyro-mouse, keyboard, touch screens, WiFi/Bluetooth mobile phone or PDA, voice recognition
Off-Premises Remote Control - Web, Mobile phone/smartphone/pda, touchtone control, voice recognition
Voice Announcements

Audio and Video
A/V Source Switching – Selects input source for playback
A/V Distribution – Controls location of A/V playback (rooms)

Others
Video Surveillance – Archiving, event triggers, local monitoring, remote monitoring, TV picture-in-picture monitoring (check baby while watching TV)
Landline - CallerID Picture-in-picture, voicemail recording and playback, speakerphone, Caller ID to Address Book interface (for automatic addition of new entries)


I suppose that we will end up prioritizing must-haves, nice-to-have and don't care. Do you miss any must-have or nice-to-have?

Edited - Added feedback from IVR and Internet streaming (Slingbox)

 

[IVB]

Not directly related to H/T, also not sure if this is a standalone component, but a mechanism to perform db storge is useful. I.E., I save off every callerid name & # into a db, so I can hunt down someone's phone # if I don't have it but I know they've called me before.

There's also a dimension of remote control that's not classically discussed, as very few products do it: Internet-based PDA control. I.E., when my kids were real young, my inlaws didn't mind babysitting so much as they would call me when the kids were wound up and the inlaws wanted to watch TV to spin down. All they had to do was turn on the TV, and i'd turn on the stereo, start a DVD, set all inputs correctly from the road. Did it once while eating at a 5 star restaurant 100 miles away, that was pretty cool (and serious) - no way would wife & I ever have a chance to do that otherwise.

 

[elcano]

Not directly related to H/T, also not sure if this is a standalone component, but a mechanism to perform db storge is useful. I.E., I save off every callerid name & # into a db, so I can hunt down someone's phone # if I don't have it but I know they've called me before.

Interesting. I suppose that you would need one of the most robust solutions like Asterisk, to perform this.

There's also a dimension of remote control that's not classically discussed, as very few products do it: Internet-based PDA control. I.E., when my kids were real young, my inlaws didn't mind babysitting so much as they would call me when the kids were wound up and the inlaws wanted to watch TV to spin down. All they had to do was turn on the TV, and i'd turn on the stereo, start a DVD, set all inputs correctly from the road. Did it once while eating at a 5 star restaurant 100 miles away, that was pretty cool (and serious) - no way would wife & I ever have a chance to do that otherwise.

I intended to cover it as 'mobile phone'. However, I agree that it makes sense to separate the remote control as local vs. off-premises.