Ideal home entertainment setup. Is this feasible?

bcake00

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Nov 24, 2010
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[Please let me know if there's a more appropriate place to post this]
So I've long been thinking about the best entertainment setup for my needs and today I finally sat down and drew a picture of what I want to, progressively, build within the next couple of years.

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I want to ask if this'll work and if there are any amateur mistakes i'm not seeing right off the bat.
Anyone have anything similar already built? Any blogs which provide detail or tips on changes?

As i'm a poor uni student I can't afford this all in one go, so i'll be starting the server on an old laptop, within my home network, but investing in a good router to wirelessly transcode HD movies. I already have decent stereo speakers and a nice 23" IPS screen. I've saved up to build a really good PC (in this case the GPU needs HDMI out and soundcard needs optical out) which will fill the role of the Apple TV and a 5.1 sound setup will also do for now.

I'm mostly concerned about:
*Getting the best possible audio quality from my PC without disturbances from the PSU. I think a DAC will be needed, how will this connect with respect to HDMI drawn in the picture?
*How I will be able to access the NAS when on the move?
*If my PC can connect to two different sets of speakers.
*If I can download/seed torrents directly from the NAS via my PC.

Compatibility comes before anything. I want it to work on Windows, iOS, Android, Linux.
Quality comes next. Lots of ugly wires aren't gonna be a problem. I'll work my way through that.

Doesn't necessarily have to be an Apple TV or Synology NAS. Just chose what was most priceworthy and compatible. For now the whole thing should be kept below $1800.

Thanks :)
 
The home theater receiver will have adequate dacs for what you are planning. Just feed HDMI to the receiver and you are set for audio and video. Outboard dac is for 2 channel stereo not multiple channel surround sound so it won't work for you anyway.
I think you can connect your PC to both sets of speakers but may have to select where the audio goes as it probably will not feed both at the same time.
 

bcake00

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Nov 24, 2010
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Don't quite know what you mean here. Which device has a 2 channel stereo? The output I had in mind was a 7.2 speaker setup.

Besides that, how come so many people have a DAC connected to their HTPC? I feel I have to make up for a lack of THX-certified Blu-ray players and such.