So I got the Sling Box installed.
It didn't take very long to get that done, and Playa helped me out. My problem was that I had forgotten how I'd wired the whole center. Which I probably should explain even for my own benefit.
I've got a Wii, an XBox 360, Verizon FIOS, a Samsung big screen, a Setton integrated amp, two Sony and two Yamaha speakers, a Soundcraftsman Preamp and an NAD amp plus the Motorola DVR all hooked up. It just might be that the NAD+Soundcraftsmen are completely out of the loop, but I don't know. It was to this madness that I added the Slingbox.
The way I've accomplished it was to route everything through the Samsung, which now has a component source from the XBox, an HDMI from the DVR, an RCA from the Wii, and a VGA for my laptop should I desire. There's a two channel stereo out to my Setton line in which controls all four speakers. The Setton also has a stereo mini plug in so I can hookup an iPod or laptop audio and route that to the speakers. It also has a stereo microphone jack with a mixer so I can speak over anything.
So as soon as I hit the source button on the Samsung, whatever shows on the screen, goes through the speakers, if I have the Setton on, which I can turn off.
Now the Slingbox is hooked to the DVR via S-Video and it uses one of those infrared deals to control the DVR. It's also hooked into the ethernet hub that I have right there. Which brings me to the network.
The big coax comes out of the FIOS box and then hits a splitter. One leg goes right to the DVR and the other goes to the cable modem in my office. The cable modem then drives the Wifi-G right out of the box and then to two wired hubs. One of the wired hubs is in my office and the other goes back to the where the FIOS box is. That drives the XBox, two computers and the Slingbox. One of those computers has Orb. That computer is called Medea, she's the media server, get it?
Orb talks to the XBox. So now all of my Picasa and iTunes libraries are accessible to the XBox, although it's too big a menu for the XBox to handle. It obviously rebuilds the library every time and holds it in memory - it's even too slow to build a decent playlist. Better integration is needed. Both the music and photos are on an external USB drive that is backed up to JungleDisk. It took a month, but it's done.
I've got another Orb server associated with another of my office computers. The XBox sees both of them, but I rarely pipe music through, and although I have the big XBox drive, I haven't ripped any CDs lately. Maybe this weekend. Then again, I haven't purchased any CDs in a long time either. That's all Amazon MP3 by the way.
The next thing I need to do is figure out exactly how to rip all of my DVDs to MP4. Then I can justify buying a terabyte disk and perhaps I could stream them via Orb to the Samsung.
The Soundcraftsmen + NAD is driving no speakers - it used to drive my Infinitis but I gave them away two months ago. Maybe I should give that away too. Nah. I've got a psychological attraction to them, and no other rack mountables to put in the space. So they stay.
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