Audio-Video-Computing wish list

October 19, 2008 1:56 PM

I'm moving and starting over just about from scratch. I'd like people's input on what I should do about setting up nifty integrated audio/visual/computing stuff in my new place.

Here are some details:
1) I'm renting, so things like mounting speakers inside walls, drilling a bunch of holes for cables, etc. is probably out.
2) I will have a decent LCD HDTV.
3) I own a 80 hour dual tuner TiVo, I like it okay.
4) I own a PS3 (w/ remote), so I have a pretty good BluRay player.
5) I have my nice T60p laptop (with XP) and a decent dell desktop (with Ubuntu.)
6) cable internet and TV from Comcast (sigh.)
7. I'm fairly technically competent, I just haven't kept up in this area.

So what would you do? Media server? What kind of stereo components are essential or just nice to have? Universal remote of some kind? A safe way to make and watch "backups" of DVDs (wink)? Software recommendations? Internet radio? Clever integration?

Which awesome website do you folks love that deals with this kinda stuff?

Thanks folks!

(sorry if this topic has been covered before, but I'm a very special person who deserves a lot of individual attention, plus I'm very lazy!)

posted by Echidna882003 to Technology (3 answers total)

I'd consider ditching comcast in favor of directv or dish, if only because those cable tuners switch channels soooo damn slowly. if that ever bothered you it might be worth the hassle.
posted by krautland at 2:08 PM on October 19, 2008

I have what I modestly feel is a rather cool audio setup.

So many people these days are into plugging speakers right into their soundcard, but you lose so much "oomph" without any kind of amp. I have a good old fashioned big-ass stereo receiver, attached to good old-fashioned big floor speakers. I run an out from the receiver to a cheap Creative external soundcard.

The soundcard has a USB cable going out. Whenever I sit my laptop on the coffee table, I connect the USB, and I can play my whole music collection from Winamp on the "house" stereo, while keeping everything but the one USB cable out of the way. (if you want more than one device hooked up in this way, you can use a USB hub, although I find them often problematic.)

Of course you want a wireless network, and I highly recommend a networkable printer, which are very cheap these days. Then you can print from any computer that's on the wireless.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:20 PM on October 19, 2008

I have a good old fashioned big-ass stereo receiver, attached to good old-fashioned big floor speakers. I run an out from the receiver to a cheap Creative external soundcard.

This is the way to go for anyone who doesn't mind sacrificing the space! And, depending on the receiver/speakers you choose, the space requirement doesn't have to be ridiculous.

Audio enthusiasts will want to run digital out of the PC to an off-board DAC using an ASIO capable sound card (windows does lots of reprocessing of audio data unless you bypass it, that's what ASIO does).
posted by Chuckles at 5:00 PM on October 21, 2008