Den:
HP792,P4,2.53Ghz,XP Pro,Hauppauge PVR250, FusionHDTV USB, Numerous PATA Drives-Used to schedule, record and delete commercials, general use, family PC
Dell P4,2Ghz,Linspire Linux,2.5TB of storage, both SATA and PATA drives-Server
HP z5000 laptop, P4,2.8Ghz,XP Home
Netgear 'g' router and Netgear Switch
Set top cable box that I record from
Cable modem

Family Room:
Sony 50" HDTV Monitor
Linkplayer2 Network Media Player

Master Bedroom:
HP 37" HDTV
Ziova CS615 Network Media Player

Guest Bedroom:
Gateway 1.2Ghz, XP Home
13"TV
Linkplayer2 Network Media Player

Note: Avoiding Vista like the plague.....

nmpcrazy

HP792(P42.53,XP Pro, PVR250, FusionHDTV USB, BTV)
Dell(P42.0,Linspire,2.5TB,used as server)
Linplayer2(2), Ziova CS615, MediaSmart Connect

I've managed to link everything together below into the network and hence the WHS-- it's all wired on my new gigabit network as I try to avoid wireless (not good for serious audio/video transmission).  The only problem is that I have yet to actually connect/login the WHS to any Apple product, the Xbox, or the Neuros... but I'm trying I'll figure it out soon... all that video can only be accessed by PC's at the moment.

Favorite thing to do is to queue up something in iTunes or MediaMonkey, load the visual effects, and pipe it to all the TV's in my house yay! 

Office:

Dual 26" HDTV monitors 

Gateway 3TB, XP, maxRAM

SquareOne 500GB file server/print server/FTP

D-link gigabit router

Vonage router

2 networked laser printers

transmitter to stream my music collection to an audio receiver

Basement:

Compaq (10 yr old) with 22" CRT wireless for video while doing laundry, cutting wood, or hunting for spiders lol

Living room:

8-port dlink green gigabit switch 

WHS (upgraded processor/RAM, 3.5TB, + 5TB esata enclosure chock full of music and movies )

52" old-school projection TV from 1993 as the screen for the following...

Neuros OSD linked to network and 3 160GB portable drives

160 GB AppleTV (hacked to hook up to an ancient TV)

cable DVR (warranty voided/hacked into network) ... now can pipe any video to every TV via the house's coax cabling and change channels using a RF remote.

home theater system w/oldschool oak cabinet monstrous speakers

DVD recorder

old 16" laptop converted into  digital pictureframe playing pics from WHS

Bedroom

5-port dlink green gigabit switch 

37" HDTV 

Gateway core2duo 3TB/maxRAM/blu-ray with wireless keyboard/mouse can surf the web in bed

160GB AppleTV #2

XBOX360 (I hate the "3-red light" error! arrrrgh)

1000W home theatre system/divX/blu-ray 

cable DVR

Guestroom

26" HDTV (bought for $100 as a customer dropped it on the corner and cracked the platic... easily fixed with superglue )

40GB AppleTV #3

1000W home theatre system 

Kitchen

Acer laptop 17" widescreen (wireless/wired)

Also avoiding vista... just because it isn't necessary (not for a long while).   Why spend money on an OS when you can have toys instead?

MediaMonkey, how in the world do you keep up with managing this menagerie of techno gear?

My biggest challenge in managing my network of stuff is keeping control of my kids' devices. They download all sorts of stuff they shouldn't, and guess who gets the honor of fixing everything?

Cindy

Disclaimer: Any opinions I might express are my own, and in no way represent HP.

Has anyone ordered the MediaSmart Connect yet?  It will ship from Amazon and other sites starting the end of this month.

Brandon LeBlanc posted a pretty good review of the product.  See Brandon's blog entry.

Cindy

Disclaimer: Any opinions I might express are my own, and in no way represent HP.

Here it is. For those who haven't seen one, the thing below the monitor is an LED clock. The router is also attached to a second switch which is used for my Tivo and Digital Television in another room.

I am pretty new to the whole home structured wiring thing. But, figured I would dive head first in to it and because of the thread topic, I figured I would share.

Here is a quick list of the recent stuff I picked up on Ebay recently for my project:

*Great Lakes 46u Wallmount Swing Rack

*Linksys RV082 8port VPN Router

*Linksys SLM2024 24port Managed Smart Switch (10/100/1000)

*Motorola SURFboard 5120 Cable Modem

*HP Media Center (Vista Ultimate w/ Media Center) PC and 22" Flat Panel (TigerDirec.com purchase)

*HP MediaSmart Server (Winows Home Server)

*A BUNCH of Cat6 cable and applicable accessories to terminate said cables

Here is a quick network diagram:

Here are some photos of the rack that I put in as well:

The rack is still a work in progress. I still have about 10 Cat6 drops that I want to make in various parts of the house (fishing up wires on exterior walls is tricky....but so far i haven't missed a hole yet). I also want to terminate my phone to either the top of the rack or a structured wiring box on the plywood next to the rack. I also have a ton of RG6 that I want to run through the house that will terminate in the top of the rack. My goal is to distribute the various satillite reciever signals from the rack, but we will see (I am still trying to plan that one out). I also have been looking at some Digital Media Players to hook up to my 42" Samsung Plasma, but haven't really been pulled one way or the other. I am leaning towards the new HP product -- but the price is a little steep currently.

At any rate, I figured I would share. I am a total dork.

--Matt Tucker

Hello all,

1st post here.  My network consists of:

Living Room:

Acer Vista/XP Pro Dual-boot Laptop

HP EX-470 MediaSmart Server 

Compaq Vista Desktop

Garage:

Home-built Desktop System (XP Pro, Biostar mobo)

Netgear MP101 Mediaplayer

Basement:

Home-built Desktop System (XP Home, ASUS mobo)

Basement:

Home-built structured media enclosure which contains:

SpeedStream 4200 DSL Modem

Leviton DSL filter

Netgear DS108 Hub

Netgear DS104 Hub

Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router (configured as an access point)

12 Port Cat5e Patch block

Directv Satellite and telephone equipment

I ran Cat5e and RG6 cable throughout the house and garage, using it for network, phone and TV  lines.  All of it comes together in the basement in my homemade structured media panel.  I fabricated the media panel from a couple of cheap 100A main lug electrical boxes that I gutted and lined the inside of them with plywood to make mounting components easy.  It works for me!  I'm really wanting get rid of the hubs as replace them with a 24-port Gigabit switch.  Of course I also want a media extender, a home theater, and yada yada yada.  Well, maybe sometime!

Mach1