what exactly are these media centers that y'all are talking about? sorry for my ignorance.....and what's a "smarthouse"

we're planning on building our dreamhouse this summer and want to get it right the first time. and of course i will be posting weekly pics of the progress

 

I have a four post lift and you will need every single inch up to 9 1/2 feet to stack your cars. I have a 993 over a 550i and there is little to no extra room. Remember, these lifts work where the resting stops are set, thus you can't adjust them incrementally.

 

A media server stores all your CD's, DVD's and photos. Overall, it's the same type of hardware and software that would host a web site. Your house becomes the network, and any room in your house with a TV then has access to all your music, videos and photos on your media server.

The http://www.kaleidescape.com I mentioned honestly has more computing power than a lot of businesses; it's insane. You can also find some open source projects that will take an old Xbox you can get for $100 and convert it into a media server too http://www.xboxmediacenter.com -- so the "media server" lingo can mean a lot of different things.

Overall, if you're building a new house just make sure to run CAT5 to all the rooms just like you would a phone or TV line. CAT5 is really cheap - you might want to go CAT6, although CAT6 cable is beyond the speed of what most hardware needs right now, and by the time it come's due - everything *may* be wireless.

 

On the wiring... also leave space for more cable later. I put CAT5 and extra coax to every room in my house four years ago when it was built, my big regret is not running a nice fat conduit from the basement to the attic. You can for the most part reach all your rooms from the basement or the attic, if you run a nice big pipe between the two you have lots of flexibility later should you need it. Similarly running 1" conduit from the walls to the basement / attic would have been nice, small cost compared to the potential benefits later.

 

what carguygarage said is correct. I would also recommend getting cat6e since alot of network gear/phones are POE (power over ethernet).

 

Any update?

 

just a update

these are kinda old will take more updated pix later on in the week. the windows have been changed out since my idiot contractor ordered the wrong type



the electrical is done just need ac/heating done then drywall and garage doors are on order. the garage is 10ft high so i can put a car lift in the left hand bay

 

Looks great! Added a bit of Square footage to your house as well I see! Nice addition!

 

anymore updates?

 

ok so itz finally semi-finished. My home office/garage

Some updated pix

Server rack/audio rack

Decided to get rid of the relay rack and put a 24U dell rack in

Plasma TV going here and 2 LCD 37" lcd's for network monitoring

where my U shape desk will be going


all cat6e POE for voip office phone also ran cat6e for audio and regular audio wire for upstairs

server rack contents
PowerEdge 2900 (SBS 2003) WORK STUFF
PowerEdge sc1425 (VM WARE) WORKS STUFF
SuperMICRO server 6TB storage (Media Server)
SuperMICRO server 2TB storage (VW WARE)
APC 1500
APC 1500

 

Looking good Matt. I am at least a year from being semi finished.

 

great job!!