Jukebox + NAS + Home Theater Receiver - Suggestions?

[Karnako]

Looking for suggestions here...wishing to setup the following:

1) Jukebox made by me running on Windows XP. No touchscreen, only physical buttons. Able to connect to my network wirelessy.
2) NAS on my network - that's where music files are.
3) Home Theater Receiver to play the music selected on jukebox (also building the home theater - so no brands/models selected yet...open to suggestions if it's to make it work)

Is there an easy way to do this? I have no clue what software to use on Jukebox or what would be the easy way to connect to the HT receiver.

Only idea I had so far was to use a software on Jukebox able to stream to the receiver (let's say Winamp using A2DP/Bluetooth) and design a skin for it.

Feeling someone could have a better idea...

[Nacimroc]

The only downside I would see is how to link jukebox software with the winamp bluetooth setup. A wireless audio sender out of the audio jack would be alot easier I'd say and you can use any software you like then without having to mod anything?  (I'm told microwaves etc interfere with signal but for the most part they are good)

[drventure]

Yeah, I'd say you'd want to avoid those "audio sender" devices. Heck, you're running a PC with XP in the juke, just toss in a Wireless G or N usb dongle and you're done. I can't imagine a Jukebox app out there that can't play mp3's off a server via a network connection.

Juke software using only buttons shouldn't be hard to find. I prefer the touchscreen though, so I won't be much help there.

Oh. Just saw item 3. Ugh. Hmmm....

Well, one possibility would be to run JRiver Media Center on both the Juke and a Home Theater PC in your theater.

JRMC has this feature called "zones". Essentially, you'd set up the jukebox as one zone, the HTPC as another, and then any zone can effectively control any other zone.

For instance, I have JRMC running on my desktop and on a server. I've got speakers connected to my desktop, but I've also got an amp and speakers connected to my server with the speakers being outside for the patio.

I can load up JRMC on my desktop, select the Patio zone and completely control playback from my desktop.

[Donkbaca]

Why do you need a receiver?  Why not just play speakers through your PC?

I like the Buffalo terra stations because they have a a built in torrent client, which is sweet, no more leaving the PC on to download stuff.

Pretty much all of them will have media server compatibility, get one that is DLNA compliant and you can stream it all to your TV, or your next one if your current one doesn't support it.

For the software I would just get one of those itunes skins

If you REALLY want something neat, go Sony s-air.  Go on ebay and do a search for a sony Altus s-air kit.  Its their discontinued 2.4ghz streaming system.  You can get the receiver, transmitter and 2 speakers for under a hundred bucks, hook the transmitter up to your pc, the receiver up to your audio receiver and place the speakers anywhere you want.

They are awesome, and cheap and easy to set up.

[Karnako]

Thank you all for the replies - nice ideas!

Reason why I want to use the receiver: idea is to build the smaller juke possible, so no room for speakers or anything that could be dismissed...also, I have a small room where the receiver and jukebox will be anyway. I really don't see any reason to duplicate speakers there. Also, an alternative is to restore one of those Seeburg Wall-O-Matic (3W 160) and just build an interface between it's output cables and the computer that I would leave hidden behind.

Finally, I wanted to share another alternative I found: use Airport Express from Apple and (i) connect its audio exit to the receiver; (ii) connect the computer to airport express via wi-fi. To control what to stream on Windows there's a nice program named AirFoil that eliminates the need of iTunes. Haven't tested it yet, but seems to work...

[skepticalgeek]

Hooking a PC up to your home theatre isn't hard, I do it at home. Most decent motherboards these days have an optical out for the onboard sound, which will go into your home theatre receiver. As far as accessing your music on your NAS, the best thing to do is to map the directory that contains the music files in Windows. Look up mapping a nertwork drive in Windows help, or on Google, it's pretty straightforward. For software, there is a good wiki page at http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Jukebox_Software. If your music is orrganized into albums, I reccomend my own, SKG Jukebox. It has keyboard shortcuts for everything, so with physical buttons for basic things, and a wireless keyboard for more advanced things, like making playlists, you're all set. Good Luck.

SKG

[Green Giant]

Is there any way to run an audio cable to the home theatre?


I assume it is in the same room as the juke since you will be listening to music you select off the juke.  Use a direct cable from your juke to your receiver.  You want some nice audio from a THIN wire, go optical.

Don't worry, monoprice.com is your friend.  http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10229&cs_id=1022901&p_id=2669&seq=1&format=2
50ft of fiber for under $9.00  or if it is a really big room 100 ft for $32.00



Screw this wireless audio stuff, go direct for the best sound possible at a lower price.

[drventure]

Screw this wireless audio stuff, go direct for the best sound possible at a lower price.

I have to agree, if you can possibly run the wires, you'll get the best sound that way.

Just take care not to accidentally bend those TOS cables too tight 

[Karnako]

Well...haven't checked my own thread for a while.  Thanks for all the tips.

In the end I decided to restore a wallbox (Seeburg Consolette SC1). I'm planning to do some modding to it after restoring, so some of the suggestions will still be applicable.

On the cables vs. wireless: I know cables are cheaper/better...but as I had to make it cross the living room, I think I was being too lazy...

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

I've been very pleased with the NASs made by Synology:
http://www.synology.com/us/index.php

they make diskless systems starting at around $120 going up to over $900 but they all have the same software on them that does DLNA streaming and the like. You can also run a USB sound device to them to run as a juke back-end with smart phone and web control.