Looking to build a multi-station centralized computer system for my home.

[deevergote]

Recently, I split my video card output to be mirrored on my 42" flatscreen in my living room (about 20 feet away from my computer in the dining room.) In doing that, I got an idea that would save space AND provide a pretty cool setup throughout my home. However, I could use the advice of more experienced guys in making it happen.

For reference, my house is about 35' deep, 15' wide, with 8' ceilings. It's quite small.

Anyway, the plan is to move my desktop tower to the basement. The computer in question is a fairly basic Lenovo running Windows 7 Home Premium (SP1) 64 Bit, with 8gb of RAM.
I want to run HDMI and USB cables throughout the rest of the house to have stations in each room. I'll break it down by room as far as I've planned:

Dining room: dual 23" monitors, USB wired mouse and keyboard. USB external DVD/BluRay drive. USB card reader. At least 2 additional open USB ports.
Purpose: Primary workstation (work, movies, gaming, wasting time on cb7tuner...)

Living room: 42" LCD flatscreen. SoundBlaster Live 5.1 surround sound system (might not be feasible... but I have a 12 year old system collecting dust, so I might as well try it!)
Wireless keyboard and mouse. 2 open USB ports. External USB DVD or BluRay drive (optional).
Purpose: Video and gaming.

Kitchen: Small wall-mounted touch-screen monitor. USB mini keyboard (possibly with a touchpad). Small 1/8" speakers, if the monitor is not equipped with speakers.
Purpose: Music or video while cooking/cleaning in the kitchen, or for finding and displaying recipes.

Bedrooms 1 & 2: 32" LCD flatscreen TVs. Basic audio (possibly from TV itself). Wireless keyboard and mouse.
Purpose: Video.



I know this plan is a bit excessive, and possibly unrealistic in some ways. That's why I want to flesh it out on here and discover where the problems could arise. Potential problems that I foresee now:
Multiple 25' lengths of USB and HDMI cables may cause issues.
Splitting the HDMI signal to display on 5 different monitors may cause issues (would an HDMI amplifier correct this?)
Splitting audio output 5 different directions, and allowing the output to be selectable... could be a problem.
Hooking up 5 different input devices could be a hassle.

The goal is to have access to the same computer no matter what room I'm in. I don't want to have to do anything to use any of the stations. I want to be able to walk up, turn on the monitor, and have complete access. I'm OK with each input device being active all at the same time.
I want the system to be as unobtrusive as possible in my tiny house. I can run wiring through my heating ducts in most cases, avoiding any major wiring issues.
The goal is to do this without having to buy too many expensive new toys, or doing any serious modification to my home.

Any advice, suggestions, potential problems that I'm unaware of, etc... would be greatly appreciated.

[bobbycos]

Nice system but wow !

Your house is smaller than my storage locker

My locker is 15x40 with 9 foot ceilings

[deevergote]

Yeah, my place is tiny. I figure the small size might be good for something (other than making it relatively easy to keep clean... )

[Stoner51]

I can't help much for the computer stuff.

I have Dish network and 4 hdtvs running off the same HDMI signal from my dish 622. The downside is you have to watch the source on every tv hooked up to the splitter.
HDMI cable
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_i...seq=1&format=2
splitter
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_i...seq=1&format=2

I then have an ir repeater running back to the dish box. They sell a HDMI ir thing but 50ft ir cord is only $4.
Oh and that cable is thick. I have a 12/3 yellow jacket ext cord and it is 1 1/2 times as thick.

steve

[deevergote]

Cool. Yeah, that site is where I was browsing a number of different products in getting ideas for this. Nice prices!

[cp[mike]]

since you plan to do gaming in 2/3 locations, it would be economical to share your most powerful computing hardware across all of them, so you only have one station to upgrade/maintain. if you move it into the basement, find the best spot to minimize distance, then run your HDMI and USB to each room, with active signal extenders if necessary (probably not). Once it is down there, you should set up file sharing on your network (you'll see why in a sec).

be aware that using a single PC for everything kills your ability to use multiple rooms simultaneously though, if you have company. For this reason, consider one of those $100 network-TV boxes as supplementary hardware, connected to the secondary input on the TV directly. AppleTV, whatever. personally I *LOVE* my $60 WD-TV Live box - it has a dedicated remote and interface, and it can play all of your movies and music that it can find on your network. Plus, it does Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, Pandora, etc etc etc and you can plug in USB thumbdrives and memory card readers right into the front of it! Also works with USB wireless mouse and keyboards plugged right into the back, or via your Android phone. If all you want to do is pop on a movie in the livingroom while you go do some work at your desk, you can use this cheap dedicated network/video hardware for that, and it uses a familiar remote that visitors will be able to use, instead of handing them a mouse and keyboard. Then when you want to run games in the livingroom, flip the inputs on the TV back over to the computer feed and run whatever. I would recommend the full suite of emulators as well - N64 / Wii emu's work amazingly well with USB controllers.

You could do a similar setup for hte bedroom as well, pick up a second WDTV/or similar box for the same reasons. Personally this is where I have mine, and it has revolutionized my in-living-space media distribution, so I might be biased. It also eliminates running 5 duplicate video/usb lines and allows you to just run network cords to each location - spools of Cat6 cable are cheap. Of course this wouldn't allow you to play games, and if that's something you really plan to do here instead of the livingroom, then just consider this your third HDMI split output, instead of just the two (livingroom/diningroom)

For the kitchen, it sounds like you could use a cheap Android Wifi tablet. Let it find all your music via the network, and it also goes online and all the other nonsense. Throw a protective case over it. You won't be playing games in the kitchen, so it is sufficient, cheap, and easily replaceable. And if you desire to carry it outside to the grill, you have that option too. And you can set up a little charging dock with a keyboard if you need.



So in terms of technologically splitting the HDMI, of course minimize distance, and see if you can run the first half of the run as a single cable out of the back of the PC (along the floor, up the wall, across the ceiling) then put the HDMI splitter THERE, acting as a distance signal booster. They say HDMI runs with a quality cable and fully powered hardware can be like 40 feet, so try to keep it under that. If any of the rooms require significantly more than 25+ feet (which at that point it doesnt sound like any would) then you can get the active signal booster cables, or additional Powered splitters.

In terms of USB, you could do something similar with a Powered USB hub, and active USB signal extender cables, if necessary. Here's a good breakdown for the distances you can get by doing this: http://www.yourcablestore.com/USB-Ca...m_ep_42-1.html Similar concepts are at play for HDMI, too.



For both applications, I would recommend Monoprice.com for the cables and splitters and stuff. You can get everything all in 1 spot for a great price. Just be sure to make sure any splitters/hubs are actually POWERED and not just Passive, if your specific distance requires it.

http://www.monoprice.com/Search?keyword=usb+extender

http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_...&cs_id=1011307



To actually make this happen, you mainly need to just pick locations for the actual TV/server/hardware installations, then pick the best spots to run wires. Measure everything out and you'll be able to determine an optimal way to split out cables to minimize distances as well as minimize expense in number of splitters.

You could theoretically do all of this stuff virtually over the network, but I don't think it would cost you any less in terms of hardware nor setup/maintenance complexity.



oh, one more detail suggestion, make sure any wireless keyboards/mice you get can be turned OFF. it would suck if somebody bumped a keyboard or mouse in another room (thus affecting your workstation) while they thought it was OK because "the TV was off". your system will be unique in that the USB inputs will always be live.. so maybe put an easily turn-offable Hub under the TV so it can no only connect everything in one shot (keyboard, mouse, game controllers) but also disable them just as easily.

[deevergote]

Thanks Mike!

My girlfriend actually has that same WD-TV thing... and it was kinda the inspiration for this (along with my xbox360 crapping out on me.) It's pretty awesome, and would probably be a good alternate source of video in a setup like this, for sure.

I don't think I'm going to need more than 25' in any direction, since my plan involves placing the computer damn near the center of the house. The heavy stuff (gaming and primary movie watching) will be done on the 1st floor, nearest the computer. Should work out well enough!


I'm a bit concerned about the input devices, as I'm planning on having 5 active input devices at all times. Basically, if someone were to wiggle the mouse in my bedroom, it would interfere with me moving the mouse in my dining room. I would assume, anyway. That's how I intend to set it up! I'm wondering if there's going to be any issue arising from that.

Also, would my current processor and ram (Intel Core i3 3.30GHz, 8gb) be able to handle all these extra inputs and outputs?


I plan on building a small metal stand for the tower to keep it from being too near anything that will burn... just in case

[cp[mike]]

Thanks Mike!

My girlfriend actually has that same WD-TV thing... and it was kinda the inspiration for this (along with my xbox360 crapping out on me.) It's pretty awesome, and would probably be a good alternate source of video in a setup like this, for sure.

I don't think I'm going to need more than 25' in any direction, since my plan involves placing the computer damn near the center of the house. The heavy stuff (gaming and primary movie watching) will be done on the 1st floor, nearest the computer. Should work out well enough!


I'm a bit concerned about the input devices, as I'm planning on having 5 active input devices at all times. Basically, if someone were to wiggle the mouse in my bedroom, it would interfere with me moving the mouse in my dining room. I would assume, anyway. That's how I intend to set it up! I'm wondering if there's going to be any issue arising from that.

Also, would my current processor and ram (Intel Core i3 3.30GHz, 8gb) be able to handle all these extra inputs and outputs?


I plan on building a small metal stand for the tower to keep it from being too near anything that will burn... just in case

perfect.. I made an edit at the very end of my post regarding the multiple inputs, so let me re-paste it here:

oh, one more detail suggestion, make sure any wireless keyboards/mice you get can be turned OFF. it would suck if somebody bumped a keyboard or mouse in another room (thus affecting your workstation) while they thought it was OK because "the TV was off". your system will be unique in that the USB inputs will always be live.. so maybe put an easily turn-offable Hub under the TV so it can no only connect everything in one shot (keyboard, mouse, game controllers) but also disable them just as easily.

Regarding whether your computer can handle it, of course the video splitting won't be a problem. In terms of the input devices, yes it will be absolutely fine - they will all be duplicate hardware all controlling the same subsystems. I can't imagine 3, or even 5, sets of inputs even effecting it at all. Maybe a tiny negligable amount for any specific wireless drivers. The biggest noticable drag will be the few moments when Windows dings when you reconnect a hub with multiple devices connected to it, when it rediscovers everything. Having the hubs at each TV would be nice though, you could use it to plug additional devices in, right there... like digital cameras and stuff.

Last suggestion, if you are going to have the PC running in the basement more often, and will have the HDDs run more while serving out media over the network, you may want to look into beefing up the PC more like a server, not in terms of power but more reliability. Throw a Mirrored RAID pair of HDDs in there, and since heat is the major killer, add a few extra fans (now that it won't be nearby to hear). I've actually already lost a couple drives like that, fortunately they are warranteed and I can pull one out while everything keeps running. Might want to be sure that its connected to a UPS, too.

Dang, now you make me want to do the same thing. I would run all linux mirrors everywhere though :P

[deevergote]

That's a good idea with the RAID setup. I've lost a number of drives in the past, and I haven't seemed to have learned my lesson yet!

The good thing about the basement is that it will be cooler year-round than where the computer currently sits (which is right near 2 heating ducts!) It does get damp, though... which is why the computer will be raised a good deal off the ground. I've even contemplating building a bracket to hang it from the ceiling (which would look pretty cool, too!)

[cp[mike]]

That's a good idea with the RAID setup. I've lost a number of drives in the past, and I haven't seemed to have learned my lesson yet!

The good thing about the basement is that it will be cooler year-round than where the computer currently sits (which is right near 2 heating ducts!) It does get damp, though... which is why the computer will be raised a good deal off the ground. I've even contemplating building a bracket to hang it from the ceiling (which would look pretty cool, too!)

dude same here, and im SO glad I did! It was worth the added expense IMO.

and yes the basement will be cooler, but I mean specifically fans in terms of computer case airflow. the core of a HDD packed away inside of a box gets hotter than most realize. Restricted airflow and having a couple drives cranking all day every day, they will eventually burn up. Carefully considering the case setup and spacing out the drive mounting locations and adding key fans in front of the drives themselves and making sure there are inlets and outlets for airflow. The extra attention will make the drives last MUCH longer. I ended up drilling a bunch of holes into the front of my case, inline with the fan that i mounted in there, so it has free air intake. then I added another fan on the back to make sure it pushes the hot air back out the other end of the tower.

Hanging would be cool. computers are fine orientated on their side, too. or you could mount it on a cool exterior foundation wall.

[GeoffM]

In two months:
Hey guys, I put big TVs in all my rooms, and they all got stolen.
Any suggestions for an alarm system?


I didn't read the long replies, but look into KVM switches.
They should allow you to hookup to one computer 5 times. When you walk to a new workstation, you'll do something like hit scroll lock twice and it'll switch over.


Although, I've been studying all day, and the KVM might actually do the exact opposite of that. My brain is tired.

[Ralphie]

Cpmike knows his Shit soi have no other advice except be careful about running wires near heat etc.

It will affect the signal and also make sure the hdmi/USB wiring is rated for in-wall installation.

[cp[mike]]

Cpmike knows his Shit soi have no other advice except be careful about running wires near heat etc.

It will affect the signal and also make sure the hdmi/USB wiring is rated for in-wall installation.

thanks. and good details! i forgot to mention that I don't particularly like your idea of running the cables along the heating ducts either. also be careful hiding cables behind any walls that you may be inclined to ever put any nails into in the future. For that reason (and for removal's sake in the distant future) you may want to just find spots to run the wires that are still technically out and accessible where you wont "lose" them, but out-of-the-way visually enough to feel sufficiently permanent.

Usually it's pretty easy to determine a section of floor in corner of a closet or nook where you can drill straight through the floor (or wall) and pass all your cables through.

[deevergote]

True. I have one hole in my floor for my cable wire, so I can always expand that.

[toycar]

Having one central system, as mike said, has flaws because you are limited to one room at a time basically.


Would you like me to explain in detail how to set up a network in your home? I could if you like but my way involves mutliple towers and thats the only way you are going to get the feel you are looking for.


I just bought a Roku 3 and I gotta say it lives up to the hype. It was basically $100 after tax and it is so fuggin cool I'm considering giving up cable. Between the shit that you watch already thats on free channels(Quality HD antenna is like $100), Netflix(tons of cool shit) and HULU(most everything current I watch) and then the "target ticket" app and the amazon thingy, shit, you can get literally everything that is currently playing, current seasons.

They charge like $1.99/episode, which sounds like a lot but if you start doing the numbers you probably could save money. My cable bill is $192/month. Sons of bitches. That does include $44.99/internet +whatever tax, but still.

Lets say $60 for internet. Most shows I watch I can get for free over the air if I just watch them as they air. If not, a lot are available online for free at the networks website. Insert dedicated cpu to tv. Already in place for me. Add the roku jobby and everything else starts making more sense. I watch 12-14 shows that air weekly throughout the year. At peak season, theres like 5-6. So 6 shows weekly, assuming I buy all of them, thats still only $48/month(6 shows*4weeks*1.99 per show) + internet, netflix and hulu. So for $76 I can get netflix/hulu/internet, leaving me $116 for buying media. Peak season Im buying $48 worth of shows, so yeah, I think I could save about $70 a month. And you own it afterwards. You create a library. Its not like you rent an episode, you buy it. So then you start adding in the seasons you would buy anyways of your favorite shows, and it really starts making sense.


Fuck cable.

Sorry for the side rant. Lol


You should check that out. It would be an investment to purchase a couple of these things, but it would be worth it in the long run for what you are after.


The best way to accomplish the feel you are going for is with multiple towers.


We have a PC in our kitchen with a touch screen monitor. The tower is hidden in a cabinet and the cables are run through the wall. It accepts the cable tv too but Im considering getting a roku box for the kitchen now. Wired internet. Nothing over the top fancy but when the kids are running a muck in the house it is my saving grace to be able to flip that thing around and watch tv or whatever while im cooking. Wife uses it for recipes and other shit too. Its nice to have a tv/pc in the kitchen.