Looking for home network config advice

AndrewR

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but I've looked through a number of sites and all it's done is confused me...
Currently we've one smartphone, three laptops (Win XP, Vista and 7), two desktops (XP and Win 7), one Wii and what I'm looking for is a way of networking these in a home network configuration to allow for the addition of a NAS, HTPC, media player, game consoles etc.
I've a Vodafone Home-Gateway which currently provides mainly wireless internet access but I want to improve connectivity of the devices within a home setting. I've an external HDD attached to the USB port on this but
I'm digitizing my music and DVD collections and want to be able to provide a shared storage solution for these so that they can be easily accessible (probably with a NAS so I can store photos etc.).
What I'm looking for is advice on what equipment to buy that will give me a reasonable infrastructure that I can expand on over the next few years e.g. buy "this" router and plug it into the home-gateway, then plug the fixed devices into the router through powerline adaptor etc.
How easy would is be for the mobile devices to access a NAS plugged into the router or would it be better to throw out the home-gateway and have a combined router and internet access point?
What kind of network speed would I need to be able to stream DVD's/online content across the network to a TV?

Thanks (if you've managed to read this far ).
Andrew

rolion

Hi,nice setup in there...what kind of budget we have here !?

NullZer0

Any 802.11n device should do the job.
In terms of network storage, drobo is nice but expensive.

Synology have a nice range of NAS boxes, I'm between one of these right now and FreeNAS - http://www.freenas.org/

rolion

Just remember seen that somewhere...

http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=11299

I hope that answers all your Qs...
Re speed a Giga cabled or wifi N 300M will do it...

Good luck...

PogMoThoin

For a proper HD media setup you need to consider networking your house with cat5 to TV's, PC's and static devices, it's the only way that's futureproof and won't cost you money down the line. Wireless is slow, speeds cannot be guaranteed, can suffer from interference and is half duplex whereas cat5 will do gigabit full duplex to each device, it's a no-brainer.

Leave the wi-fi for the portable devices only

rolion

PogMoThoin wrote: »

For a proper HD media setup you need to consider networking your house with cat5 to TV's, PC's and static devices, it's the only way that's futureproof and won't cost you money down the line. Wireless is slow, speeds cannot be guaranteed, can suffer from interference and is half duplex whereas cat5 will do gigabit full duplex to each device, it's a no-brainer.

Leave the wi-fi for the portable devices only

I agree with you over wired vs wireless,but just to support your post,i will add: use Cat5e or Cat6... ( cat5 / 100M is long gonne ! )

I use this and have had no huge issues
I have a wireless adaptor on my tv and its used with 2 laptops , a pc and a ps3 also
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10520