Plans for Home Entertainment System

Family Room

Item	Target year	Comments
HD-TV	Long term	Currently have 42" plasma but not true HDTV
Closed caption	3+	Currently have CC device but it frequently causes TV picture to become distorted
HD-DVR	?	Currently using ReplayTV, no HD recording. DNNA introducing TV card with ReplayTV software
Archive	<1	Currently over 1 TB of storage but need device with fan. Stardom Sohotank is good candidate, available from PC Pitstop ($129). Update: Bought it and it failed after 1 year + 4 months. I have now replaced it with a Buffalo TeraStation Pro II.
Backup of archive	3+	No backup. Need at least interim backup in short term--Media room PC?
Central library	?	Will this end up being the same as the Archive? Currently using media room PC
Region-free DVD player / recorder	?	Currently would prefer not to support BluRay and HD-DVD
Internet radio	?	Should be part of whole house streaming strategy
Security camera	?	Should be visible as part of HTPC set up, should be expandable to support additional cameras
Home automation	?	Should be integrated as part of HTPC
Streaming	?	Should be integrated as part of HTPC. Should each room have a PC? If each room has PC, this can replace ReplayTV unit
Place-shifting	?	For outside of house, is Slingbox the answer. For inside the house, a video streaming router...?
Internet surfing	?	Should be supported by HTPC
Remote	1	Should be able to support ReplayTV, also use to navigate PC. Gyroscopic mouse would be most intuitive for navigating