Complex Media Center

[JazzyJake]

hey guys
i know almost nothing about media center PC's, and i'm really hoping you can help me out here.
a friend of mine is building a log cabin, meaning wires are basically out of the question, (drilling through the logs would be ridiculous.)
He wants a PC upstairs to play music from, for his wife, (in the loft, all it needs to do there is do word processing, excel etc)
but here's the catch.
about 50feet away, he's installing a 50-something inch TV.
he wants to be able to stream movies from the same PC, to the TV, without compromising anywhere.
is this doable? what goofy components would i need?
i dug out my media center edition MaxPC, but i'm still a bit confused.
any insight would be very nice ; )

[Mithosphere]

why not just running a cable all the way to the tv?, like run the cables under a carpet or stapled along the top edge of the room. I mean you could always use wireless keyboard/mouse, but ithink those have like a 5-6 foot max range.

I know when i tried doing something like this, wireless kb/mice just didnt have the range of 7 feet from my couch, maybe stuff has improved.

Some sites of info
The Green Button - Your Media Center Community
Build Your Own Windows Media Center PC: Making the Connection
WindowsDevCenter.com -- Build Your Own Media Center PC, Part 2
Howstuffworks "Center of Attention: Media-center PCs"

[JazzyJake]

what would i need for goofy adapters along the way?
and how would the satellite box integrate into the PC so it can be viewed and changed from the TV, as well as the pc?

[Mithosphere]

A tv tuner for one, that way you can hook up your satellite cables ( i think ). Anyway, 50 feet is a huge amount of distance, especially between floors, or is this all on the same floor, kinda like a huge open area? even still is there going to be a couch somewhat close to the TV? or is this strictly from the bedroom computer to the tv 50 feet away?

[dedgar]

You can get bluetooth mice/keyboards that have a range of about 60 feet. So that is taken care of.
How to send from satellite/cable to computer then to tv. You will have to use cables. No way (that I know of) to get around it. And you will have to use a tv tuner card in the pc if that is going to be the control center (changing channel, volume, recording shows, etc). You can get bluetooth/ir adapters to extend the ranges of stuff like the remotes.
Logitec has a Harmony remote that has bluetooth built in so you could control everything with that one remote and it would have the necessary range.
MSI has a video card with HDMI output port on it. Alternatly you could by an adapter to go from DVI (on you video card) to HDMI (on the tv). There are other options here also.

[PrOLifIC_onE]

Another suggestion would be to put the PC near the TV and run it there. Get a RF (Radio) PC remote (rather than and IR remote). They can be used at quite a distance and through walls to control the TV and the music both. If he wants speakers further away or in a different room for music then follow the previous suggestion of running the speaker wires in cracks or under carpets... etc. Speaker wires being the easiest of all the wires to hide plus probably the least expensive to buy 50 or 100 feet worth.

[Hitman]

I don't have much time right now, but I will make a quick suggestion. Take a look at media streaming boxes. You can connect them to your home network and stream, music, movies, and pictures to your TV. Maybe something like one of these.

[JazzyJake]

i think hitman is the closest to what we are trying to accomplish.
i'll draw up a little something do show you what i mean, as some of you all seem a tad confused...

on the 2nd floor, there needs to be the ability to use programs like word, excel, and they want to be able to listen to, and control music.
downstairs, they want to be able to view all sorts of media from their satellite, AND from the PC.
if this doesn't clear things up for anyone let me know, but i think hitman is the closest...

[Hitman]

Yeah I think what they are looking for is Media Streaming Box. Make sure and get one of the wireless ones. Keep in mind watching movies over wireless may cause some lag. If at all possible I suggest running a cat 5 cable between the Router, PC, and Media Streaming Box.

[JazzyJake]

alrighty.
as far as the PC goes, what goofy components does that neeD?
(i'm building them a new PC also)
AIW card?

from there just build a budget core2duo rig with an X-Fi?