Rental house network / TV

JonathanRyan

JonathanRyan

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OK so I'm going to be renting for a bit.

Currently I have Cat5 laid around the house for the NAS and telly (srsly - there's a dedicated hub for the telly/Sky etc) and WiFi for the laptops/desktops.

I need to connect a couple of desktops to the web (one Mac, one PC) and a couple of gigabit NAS devices.

Rules:
  1. I can't fix any wires or make any holes.
  2. I don't want any trailing wires.
  3. Need to be able to access NAS pretty quickly (large data volumes)
  4. Want telly in at least a couple of rooms.
Current thinking is bring fibre to the front door (they let me install one thing) then wifi to the computers/devices and homeplug the NAS. Is that the best plan?

How do I achieve Sky or Virgin in 2 rooms? Can these be pushed down a network or will they work OK (Full HD) over wifi?

Oh and there will be a Sonos system but that should be the easy bit.

Any new things I should know about? people keep mentioning Kodi and Android boxes but I have a Smart TV and am happy to pay for Sky or Virgin.
 
I used to have a sling box to remotely watch and control my TV services. Could access it both on internal and external networks.
 
jondc said:
I used to have a sling box to remotely watch and control my TV services. Could access it both on internal and external networks.
Click to expand...

Yeah somebody mentioned Slingboxes. I looked them up on Amazon and got confused as there seem to be several versions. Which box did you use?
 
Think it was sling box pro HD but a while ago, so I would imagine things have moved on. I had a number of devices connected to it and used the IR blaster to change programs over the IP interface
 
Renting can be a pain for networking :D

What I do..

VM router in lounge (where it was pre-installed) -> Gig Powerline -> Gig Switch upstairs (where desktop and micro-servers are)

Run wireless from the VM router to cover downstairs, have a separate cheapo AP upstairs on the switch broadcasting the same SSID to cover a deadspot.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Is Gigabit powerline pretty good?

Any recommended brands or sources?
Click to expand...
TP-Link AV1200.

Although they're called Gig they aren't true gig. They're just faster than the others.

For example I had Zyxel 500Mbps previously and only got about 50Mb download from my VM. With the "gig" ones I get 100Mb.

I have to go downstairs and use 5Ghz wifi to get the full 150Mb.
 
neil_g said:
TP-Link AV1200.

Although they're called Gig they aren't true gig. They're just faster than the others.

For example I had Zyxel 500Mbps previously and only got about 50Mb download from my VM. With the "gig" ones I get 100Mb.

I have to go downstairs and use 5Ghz wifi to get the full 150Mb.
Click to expand...

Thanks :) Any point paying the extra for the AC2000? 80 quid a pair instead of 55. I'll pay more if they work better but not if they don't ;)
 
OK.....

From what I've seen so far I think I want TP-Link home plug network and maybe their add-on wifi (it's a large house and it's possible Virgin's wifi won't reach all corners). So computer, sorted.

For the TV what I actually need is ability to stream movies/box sets and YouTube to a cheap TV. I don't really need Sky on the second screen. But I do need to run a proper web browser (preferably Chrome) - I subscribe to a website that streams exercise vids but it uses some spooky security that means it has to be a proper browser.

What are my options for doing that? A mini fanless PV is about £99. A Shield machine is quite a bit more but would let me play games if I wanted. Chromecast would be cheaper. Amazon Fire even cheaper.

Are all those good options? Anything better?
 
I purchased a cheap Windows tablet and use the mini HDMI out to connect to my TV. I can use any Windows browser (Including Silverlight) and connect to my NAS server, so sorted for all my music and films, along with the streaming services I have. I control it via a mini blue tooth keyboard and trackpad, so it just sits behind the TV using WiFi connection fro the network and bluetooth for keyboard.
 
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