Need some advice for Audio/Video streaming

[s7uart]

Hi People,

Looking for some wisdom as i'm completely new to all this. I am building a new house and would like to integegrate some Audio and Video streaming at a budget. Here is what i'm planning so far but I have no idea what i'm missing or if this will be sufficient.

Firstly as its a new build i have the opportunity to run CAT5 anywhere I want before the plasterboard goes on. If i'll be looking for HD Streaming do I need to up this to CAT7? The Wireless signal may not be too good in the house so i'm not planning on taking a chance.

Purchase a NAS that will store all my videos and Music.

Purchase something like Pinnacle Showcentre 250HD (or Netgear EAV8000) for the rooms i'm looking for Videos... is this any good and would it be good enough for music in these rooms aswell

I like the look of the SqueezeBox Duet for playing Music around the house. If I buy Active speakers would I require an amp for each reciever or will powered speakers be enough. I could really do without spending money on amps as this needs to be done on a budget.

I realise that this is a very crude way of doing things but I dont have the expertise for something much grander.

let me know your thoughts on this

Stuart

[toscal]

Cat 5 will do HD but you may need to use 2 Cat 5 cables for it.
another option is to have a look at the Abitana system. www.abitana.com
I use a Pinnacle Showcenter 1000G, and via a network works fine. Forget wireless unless its line of site and less than 5m. Wi-Fi on the Pinnacle was useless for anything other than music. i do know that you can have about 6 1000G Showcenters running off the same server. This will also do your music, photos and video.
I'm running Windows XP on my home machine connected to a NAS with all the media on it. The NAS I built my self using NAS Lite from Server Elements www.serverelements.com . My version boots from a floppy , but they do version thats boot from USB sticks, CD ROMs or even off the HD itself.
If you are handy with Linux then you could get the Showcenter to work in a stand alone mode with your NAS. Have a look at www.swisscenter.co.uk and check out the forums.
The only problem you will come across is how you access you NAS using the media manager that comes with the Showcenter. If you NAS is mapped as drive Y then pointing the Showcenter to Y:\ won't work you have to point it to something like \\server_name\disk-1 .
For whole house audio, using the slimbox duet combined with an Easy system from Sonelco would give a a cheap and very good system. The Easy system is ceiling mounted , the amplifiers are clipped over the speakers, and can have a built in FM tuner. Plus one Duet could be fed to more than one Easy System. Control of the Easy system is via IR as one of the speakers has an IR eye attached to it. http://www.sonelco.com/ing/products/...tedsystem.html
They also do an easy system with small speakers that look a bit like Halogen down lighters, http://www.sonelco.com/ing/products/...ularsystem.htm

They also do wall mounted amplifiers and speakers. Most of their systems allow for connection of a call module which can record up to 5 30 second messages. These can then be accessed via any contact closure, using one for each message. So you could when the system is on be notified when there is someone at the door, when you have email or house status when connected to a Home Automation controller. And prices are quite reasonable. PM me if you are interested, and I can email you more info.

[s7uart]

thanks for your help Toscal, much appreciated... PM sent

Stuart