Make me Jealous/Inspire me! Let's see the killer setups

[DustinT]

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Wrong thread?

Lol, I see what you did there.

 

[blacka4]

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Wrong thread?

 

[kage207]

Meh

Hey guys. I just came back as I have stopped working and gone back to school and now I can talk on this website again. And this is my favorite part of the macrumors site is this forum. The entertainment center that is.

Family Room:
-50inch Plasma 1080i
-PS3 80GB
-Wii (Hacked: 750GB)
-Mac Mini Server 2011 i7 1TB and 500GB external
-Receiver w/ 5.1 surround sound, 1000watts

My Bedroom:
-42inch Sony 1080p LCD 120Hz
-Hackintosh Snow Leopard 10.6.8 (2TB) and 120GB external
-Time Capsule 1TB
-PS2
-N64

Lounge Upstairs:
-Asus Monitor 24inch 1080p LCD
-ATV 1st gen
-2.1 Speaker 150W
(Nothing special but is a quiet area to work and/or play cards.)

Roommate's Room:
-46inch Toshiba 1080p 60Hz
-ATV2
-PS3
-Xbox 360
-TimeCapsule 1TB

The last thing we have is a 2TB server that hosts a lot of our music, movies and TV shows and that is filled.

My computer 600GB is used up for the same. My TimeCapsule is at 500GB used up right now as well. The Mac Mini Server is using about 400GB as well.
The Mac Mini Server runs Plex all the time. We also can remote access into our accounts both using it. It has 8GB of RAM. If we want to stream our content from campus from Plex we have the Plex app for both iPhone and iPad as we both have both. My other roommate does as well but is still trying to figure it out.

Future buy is the Pegasus Thunderboth w/ 12TB as we are quickly fill most of our drives up and we need something to be fast enough to stream multiple content from as well as a large storage. We will most likely do a stripe array.

 

[blacka4]

i would really want to know where you guys gather all this music/video content. I am only at about 500 GB of music/video, anyone want to share?

 

[AppleDApp]

i would really want to know where you guys gather all this music/video content. I am only at about 500 GB of music/video, anyone want to share?

Same here. Video takes up lots of space but to have several terabytes that's pretty impressive please share.

 

[obsidian1200]

Same here. Video takes up lots of space but to have several terabytes that's pretty impressive please share.

I'm thinking 1080p videos with all the high quality audio... I can easily see those taking up a few terabytes before long. Blu ray rips would take up a lot more space than a blu ray encode, too (figure about 25GB per disc, if not 50GB for DL). It would only take 40 25GB rips to eat up a terabyte. For someone like me that has about 300 movies and counting, that would easily eat up 3TB, even as encoded files vs. ripped ones.

Or maybe just a ton of movies/tv shows... my video collection only takes up about 600gb, but that's at DVD quality sans the AC3 passthru track/s.

 

[MovieCutter]

Same here. Video takes up lots of space but to have several terabytes that's pretty impressive please share.

Riding 10TB at the moment full of TV shows and movies.

 

[AppleDApp]

Riding 10TB at the moment full of TV shows and movies.

please share

 

[MovieCutter]

please share

600 movies mixed DVD/BluRay rips, and DVD/BR rips of about 60 various TV series

 

[Lara F]

I think he's just saying that a lot of people forget they can use MDP-HDMI to watch movies on their TV from their laptop.

You also need an audio cable on top of that for older Macs though. Even my Mini purchased early 2010 (before the June redesign) won't support audio through HDMI. At least that's my understanding, I'd be very happy to be corrected and lose at least one of the cables messed in the back of my TV!

Not a fan of adaptors in any case, at least for the mini DVI port in my Mini - it fits too loosely IMO and often comes out if I fiddle with anything like the USB cables. I might have to check and see if the MDP is better but don't really want to shell out extra $ just for that reason.

 

[SamFisher]

TV + Apple TV... Jealous? lol!

 

[kage207]

The reason why we have so much is because my friends dad buy blurays and DVDs all the time and my friend takes and rips them to our server. I mean it's a great deal. I've contributed about 800GB worth of my stuff from iTunes. Which is a lot of tv Shows and movies. I get a lot of blurays with digital copies for iTunes. I use bluray stats website to find those for cheap prices and which ones do actually have that. Plus downloading from iTunes isn't bad with 38Mbps.

 

[miklovo]

I have 2x AppleTV 2's and 2x Airport Expresses.

One ATV in Living Room on 42" HD LCD and the other in Den/Office on 37" HD LCD. One Express on Patio and the other in the Garage (both setup with 2 speakers each powered by 250 watt mini Amps)

Everything controlled by iPad Remote App or either my Wife's or my iPhone.

Everything stored on a 2TB Time Capsule in the entertainment center and controlled through an Intel 21" iMac.

Added note: Zumocast setup on all mobile devices for "on-the-go" streaming.

Next ATV-->Master Bedroom (have to get a HDTV first, only have a STD Def one now)

 

[marzer]

Digital Realm

* Family room:
42in LG plasma
Apple TV 1 (mod'd for Airplay/VNC)
Toshiba DTS stereo w/5.1 Cambridge SW speaker set
DirecTV
Harmony remote

* Master bedroom:
40in Samsung LED
Apple TV 2
Bose CineMate
DirecTV
Harmony remote

* Guest bedroom:
40in Samsung LED
Apple TV 1 (mod'd for Airplay/VNC)
DirecTV
Harmony remote

* Boy's room:
38in RCA HDTV CRT
Apple TV 1 (mod'd for Airplay/VNC)
Wii (w/Netflix)
DVD player
DirecTV
Harmony remote

* Storage room:
BB router
VOIP router
Time Capsule (NAT firewall and backup location for 27" iMac in the den, 24" iMac in the boy's room, Macbook Air for the wife)
Mac mini (headless iTunes/iPhoto server)
OWC Mercury Elite Pro (2TB + 2TB) housing all media w/backup
AIO network printer and scanner
Airport Express connected to...
Sony stereo tuner connected to...
Speaker switch feeding 4 pairs of ceiling speakers w/volume controls (main room, master bath, den, patio)

* iPad to control the whole kit and caboodle; control playback through house speakers and Apple TV nodes using Apple Remote App, and using Remote HD can VNC into headless mini and Apple TV 1's.

My main goal was an all digital media house w/remote media controller, the boy's DVD player is used for the multitude of educational and Disney discs, which I'm too lazy to burn to library given their limited life expectancy Second goal was not to have computer peripherals/infrastructure around the house, everything in the storage room, out of sight.

 

[davep18]

Some very nice setups here.

Living Room:
35" TV
Onkyo 7.1 receiver
Yamaha 7.1 speaker package and sub
ATV2 - used for screen saver and streaming music to the Onkyo
Roku - Netflix, hulu, MLB, NBA, YouTube and other videos
Wii
LG bluray - I'm not big into burning yet
Sacrilege here but hooked up to it is a Sony running windows media server. I use logmein to browse the web on it. This also houses about 750 mb of videos
Airport extreme with 1tb hdd
Kitchen:
2010 iMac supplies the iTunes library for the house, 12,000 songs and And counting.

Master Bed:
Sony receiver
5.1 surround speakers
Airport express - streaming music to the stereo
Small HD LCD tv

Master bath:
Airport express hidden in the attic
Pyle Amp - also in the attic
2 waterproof ceiling mounted speakers

Master closet-
Pyle amp
Airport express
Wires to the outdoor speakers

All controlled via our iPad, iPhones and iPods. We are big into music and this setup let's us play and control the music in the rooms we spend most of our time in.

 

[DustinT]

Heck, I wasn't going to post here, but I suppose I just have too now.

Living room:

47" 1080p LCD
Nad t747 receiver
Infinity Primus 362's and 351 in the front, 151's and a 10" Sony powered sub
Apple TV 2
Bluray Player
Dish Network HD DVR

Closet:
Mac Mini with Lion Server
Drobo Pro (from Movie Cutter) with 10 TB storage
Apple Airport Extreme

The Mac Mini is handling iTunes sharing, Time Machine backups and importing videos into the iTunes library. I've played with Handbrake and finally decided to use iFlicks since it will automatically lookup and add all the metadata to the imported videos. Additionally, it will properly encode videos for iTunes and the Apple TV. I've found it to be well worth the price of admission.

We use a couple of iPhones with the Remote app to control this setup as needed. The NAD receiver is a proper, audiophile grade receiver and it just sounds terrific. Playing back lossless files is really convenient and couldn't sound any better. I'm a fan.

 

[bgalizio]

I'll play:

Basement Listening/Viewing area:
40" Toshiba 1080p LCD TV
Pioneer DVD-A/SACD/DVD/CD player
Onkyo 5.1 receiver
Infinity 5.1 speaker system
Apple TV 2
Roku XDS

Music only:
Jolida 102b tube amplifier
Athena S3/P3 speakers/subs
Slim Devices Squeezebox 3 (usually upstairs)

- The receiver is for video sound only. The Jolida/Athena system is for listening to music.

Upstairs Living Room music:
Slim Devices Squeezebox 3 (mainly stays here)
Sonic Impact T-Amp
KEF Coda 7 bookshelf speakers

Bedroom TV:
22" Vizio 720p LCD TV
Apple TV 2
Roku HD
DVD player

We do nearly all of our viewing through the Apple TV (local content, Netflix) or Roku (Hulu+).

Most of the music is lossless FLAC through the Squeezebox or DVD-A/SACDs.

 

[Gozar]

My setup

Living Room
- Onkyo PR-SC5507 preamp
- Emotiva UPA-7, 100w x 7 channels
- Apple TV 2g
- PS3
- Toshiba HD-DVD
- AMD HTPC
- DirecTV HD-DVR
- Front PSB T65's
- Center PSB C60
- Surrounds PSB Alpha's
- Sub Elemental Designs A5-350 (500w 15")
- Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
- Vizio 55" LED
- Harmony One, iPad2 w/Onkyo remote and Apple remote app
(Oppo BDP-93 on the way)

Master Bedroom
- NAD 2 channel 50w x 2
- Sony belt drive turn table
- PSB 500's
- iPod touch 4th gen

Office
- AMD Eyefinity w/3 x 24" LCD
- Logitech Z-5500
- HP EX495 WHS w/iTunes installed, 7.5TB music and movies

Game Room
- Panasonic 53" RPTV
- WDTV Live Plus
- Xbox 360
- Wii
- Creative Labs Inspire 5.1
- Harmony 656 remote

Car
- Lexicon 17 spkr system w/5 Disc DVD changer, DVD-A collection
- 8" LCD

 

[Bye Bye Baby]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

please share

600 movies mixed DVD/BluRay rips, and DVD/BR rips of about 60 various TV series

10tb sounds like too much space.

I have over 1200 movies and 50 tv shows and I am at 4tb.

You must be just transferring the file and not encoding.

 

[bwhinnen]

Some 'killer' setups here, but how do you all use the ATV2? I have a couple of full rate 1080p rips I made from BD that it just won't play, wired or wireless... Jailbroken via XBMC or using the Plex server to send (audio screwed up, originally Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA). I didn't want to have to re-encode the high bit rate movies into a format that could be imported to iTunes (given some HD rips are 16GB in size _after_ encoding).

Basically my setup is:

Living Room
40" Samsung LCD
Onkyo TX-SR706 receiver 5.1 (JBL LX series (fronts are bi-amped) + 12" Sony Active Sub)
Samsung BD player
Black Wii
HTPC (core i3 2120, 4GB, 32GB SSD, nVidia 430) running OpenElec (XBMC)
ATV2
HD Cable TV receiver
Apple AirPort Extreme + 1TB HDD for TimeMachine (Wireless for the MBA's, iPads, iPhones etc)

*All connections HDMI and Gigabit Ethernet

Garage
10TB NAS (FreeNAS, raid1z), Movies, TV, MP3
Dlink Gigabit switch

Family Room
32" Hitachi LCD
HTPC (core i3 530, 4GB, 80GB SATA) running OpenElec (XBMC)

*All connections HDMI and Gigabit Ethernet

Patio
6" main driver 2-way active speakers on wall stands
AirPort Express (802.11n)
iTunes remote via AirPlay from primary iTunes machine via iPad/iPhone remote app.

All encoding done on a core i7 870 in office connected to Dlink DIR-655 which is primary internet router.

 

[DustinT]

Some 'killer' setups here, but how do you all use the ATV2? I have a couple of full rate 1080p rips I made from BD that it just won't play, wired or wireless... Jailbroken via XBMC or using the Plex server to send (audio screwed up, originally Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA). I didn't want to have to re-encode the high bit rate movies into a format that could be imported to iTunes (given some HD rips are 16GB in size _after_ encoding).

Your going to have to re-encode. The Apple TV 2 can't handle 1080p.

 

[dsim87]

Well, I cant show ya, but i can tell ya!

Upstairs:
iMac 2011 running main iTunes library and Plex Media Server
Photos and music are stored locally. Plex points to ->
4TB NAS device in closet loaded with Movies and TV shows (DIVX and MKV)

Main Floor:
Jailbroken Apple TV 2nd gen hooked up to receiver / plasma
Access to iTunes library on iMac
Screen saver is set to iPhoto library on iMac
Installed plex client accesses NAS upstairs for ripped movies and TV shows
Reciever has A and B speaker settings
A is 5.1 surround in living room
B is 2 outdoor speakers in backyard

Basement:
Jailbroken Apple TV 2nd gen hooked up to receiver / plasma
Access to iTunes library on iMac
Screen saver is set to iPhoto library on iMac
Installed plex client accesses NAS upstairs for ripped movies and TV shows

iPhone and iPad:
Apples Remote App for controlling music and volume on all levels.

Parties:
Everything turned on
iPad running the remote app out on the kitchen island, with iTunes DJ running on iMac for song requests and voting with access to only my 4 star playlist
Main floor receiver is set to A+B for music in living room AND outside at the same time

Airplay:
Enabled on both apple TV's for Wifes Macbook Pro and her own iTunes library
Also allows friends to play their own songs/playlists or show pictures from their iPhones when they're over


Everything works perfectly and is rock solid.

you must take pics

 

[vrDrew]

I have a more modest setup than a lot of folks. But then I live by myself, and I share walls with neigbors.....

Basically my goal was to create a system that was as "clean" as possible: Minimum amount of wiring/cable visible - but without "boxing" the components. I wanted to be able to stream my iTunes library to my living room/dining room (main listening area), but with secondary listening zones in the master bedroom and my garage/workshop.

The living room setup was most challenging, because I also wanted to get rid of the growing pile of remotes. To say nothing of the increasingly complex sequences of buttons to press when switching from (say) watching a DVD movie, to checking the NFL scores on a cable channel, to listening to music, or streaming Netflix.

I keep my media collection (~ 5000 songs, couple of movies and tv series) on an older Dell PC tower I keep in my second bedroom/home office. It has a 2TB internal HD I added earlier this year. My iTunes library is backed up to the 2TB drive. iTunes is streamed via WiFi.

Bedroom is equipped with a small JVC "bookshelf" stereo - basically just a CD player and tuner. I plug in an AirPort Express via an RCA Y-cable.

Garage is "equipped" with a 10-year old "boombox", also with an AirPort Express. (My WiFi manages to penetrate to the garage.)

Living room has a 42" LG Plasma TV. Cisco HD Cable Box. An LG DVD Player. An Apple TV 2. And a (new) Sony 7.1 a/v receiver. All the connections are HDMI, except for a Digital Optical audio output from the AppleTV to the receiver. I also labelled each wire(at each end), separated the power cables from the data cables. Cables are routed in black flexible tubing and are virtually invisible from the front and side of the setup. I did buy a couple of new HDMI cables from Monoprice, specifying the lengths so as to minimize excess cable, while still allowing the component to be moved without pulling on the connections. I also bought some specialty connectors, such as a 90º coaxial joint, so that the incoming cable TV wiring could be routed flush against the wall, rather than protruding 8" into the room. Yeah, I'm kinda fussy that way.

Power cords for the A/V system are routed to a multi-outlet extension inside a NEMA 1 electrical enclosure I have wall mounted behind the TV. (I bought the enclosure at Grainger Industrial Supply and spray-painted it to match the color of my walls. Hidden behind the TV it is virtually invisible.) By getting the power cords off the floor I'm able to vacuum and dust behind the components.

The crowning piece, just added, has been a Logitech Harmony Link remote system. This allows me to put away ALL the remote controls, and control each piece of living-room electronic gear from either my iPad or an iPod Touch. And since it communicates via WiFi, I can theoretically control the system from a different room in the house, rather than "line of sight." In addition to getting the clutter off my coffee table, the Link remote system has a "one touch" feature that turns the necessary components on and off, and sets the appropriate inputs. As an added bonus, the Link App that runs on the iPad also displays the channel and program listings for local cable/satellite systems. Really a nice addition. It cost $100, and was fairly easy to set up.

 

[nohaver]

I have a more modest setup than a lot of folks. But then I live by myself, and I share walls with neigbors.....

Basically my goal was to create a system that was as "clean" as possible: Minimum amount of wiring/cable visible - but without "boxing" the components. I wanted to be able to stream my iTunes library to my living room/dining room (main listening area), but with secondary listening zones in the master bedroom and my garage/workshop...

I've been thinking about getting one of those Logitech Harmony remotes as well. Glad to read a positive plug about the device.

Very impressive setup especially the NEMA box.

 

[thetruth1985]

Here is my bootleg setup:

Bedroom:
42 inch 1080p Vizio
120GB Xbox 360
ATV2
120GB PS3
Harmony 650

Family Room:
42 inch 1080 Toshiba
120GB Xbox 360
60GB PS3
Boxee Box
ATV2
JVC 7.1 receiver
DNS 320 NAS
Apple Extreme 2011 router
Harmony 700

Office:
2009 27 inch Imac
1 super messy desk

Living Room:
Furniture Covers (my wife is old school)
51 inch 3D Samsung
Xbox 360 slim
160GB PS3
Yamaha 7.1 3D receiver
ATV2
HP Touchpad (glorified photo frame)
Harmony One

Kitchen:
19 inch Vizio
ATV2

The various gadgets used to stream media are
27 inch Imac
11 inch 2010 MBA (wife's)
13 inch 2011 MBA
17 inch 2010 MBP
HTC flyer
32Gb ipad 2
64Gb 3G Ipad 1