There are a lot of threads about the sexy things like TVs and stereo systems, but I hadn't come across one where folks can post what they use and recommend, offer up tips and best practices, and ask for advice on what to get to run things "behind the TV".
Please, if you see some info on here that is even just a smidge inaccurate, let me know and I will update!
For consistancy, if you want, use the following formatting for products:
item_type - [mfg] [item]
BP: for a best practice
TIP: for a useful, or not useful, or just the, tip
---------------------------------
BP: Try as much as possible to make your home network use star topology (a central switch with a run out to each device). Avoid putting more than one switch off each run from the center (this is just mostly just for consumer gear).
BP: In general, you can plug a surge protector into a UPS. Wallwarts can eat 2 or 3 spaces on the battery backed-up ports. Be very careful though - use high quality equipment and be sure you are not going over the UPS's max draw. Having plugs not on the UPS can invite people to plug things like vacuum cleaners or laser printers, so make sure anyone liable to do this is informed no to.
TIP: Android, Mac, & PC all have apps that will let you figure out the best wireless channel(s) to use where you live. This is definitely worth even spending money on if you live somewhere congested and are unhappy with your connection or speeds to your WLAN.
TIP: Is your data worth time/money or irreplaceable? Back up! The tip I have here is - backup stuff to the cloud and at least one local physical device. I use dropbox to sync all my documents and code, I use github for all my code, and I back up to my NAS (with RAID) and that NAS keeps an rsync copy to an external HD.
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With that out of the way, on to what I use (and also happen to recommend!)
Router - Uibquiti EdgeRouter X
Router - PFsense
Switch - Linksys LGS326 24-Port Gigabit Smart Managed Switch
Switch - Netgear GSS108E 8-Port Gigbit Click Switch
Wireless Access Point - Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC-Pro & AP-AC-Lite
NAS - Open Media Vault
NAS - QNAP TS-651
Media Server - Plex
UPS - CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS System, 1500VA/900W, 10 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower
Cable Management - Panduit ARC
Ethernet Patch Cables - Monoprice
Surge Protector - Belkin PivotPlug 12-Outlet and 8-Outlet
Speaker Banana Plugs - GLS Audio Banana Plug Speaker Connectors - Locking Series Generation 4
HDMI Cables - Monoprice
Please, if you see some info on here that is even just a smidge inaccurate, let me know and I will update!
For consistancy, if you want, use the following formatting for products:
item_type - [mfg] [item]
- product_page
- consumer_friendliness_range { 0 = consumer, 5 = prosumer, 10 = pro }
- friendliness_explanation
- purchase_reasons
- notes
BP: for a best practice
TIP: for a useful, or not useful, or just the, tip
---------------------------------
BP: Try as much as possible to make your home network use star topology (a central switch with a run out to each device). Avoid putting more than one switch off each run from the center (this is just mostly just for consumer gear).
BP: In general, you can plug a surge protector into a UPS. Wallwarts can eat 2 or 3 spaces on the battery backed-up ports. Be very careful though - use high quality equipment and be sure you are not going over the UPS's max draw. Having plugs not on the UPS can invite people to plug things like vacuum cleaners or laser printers, so make sure anyone liable to do this is informed no to.
TIP: Android, Mac, & PC all have apps that will let you figure out the best wireless channel(s) to use where you live. This is definitely worth even spending money on if you live somewhere congested and are unhappy with your connection or speeds to your WLAN.
TIP: Is your data worth time/money or irreplaceable? Back up! The tip I have here is - backup stuff to the cloud and at least one local physical device. I use dropbox to sync all my documents and code, I use github for all my code, and I back up to my NAS (with RAID) and that NAS keeps an rsync copy to an external HD.
---------------------------------
With that out of the way, on to what I use (and also happen to recommend!)
Router - Uibquiti EdgeRouter X
- https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-x/
- 5...10
- While this has a UI, doing much beyond basic setup I feel requires at least some networking knowledge and definitly a willingness to tinker and research. A lot of stuff still has to/should be done from the command line.
- This is not what I use at home, but recently started putting them in at small business clients, and they work amazingly well. If I ever retire my home server, this will be my router.
- Another nicity is the PoE In and PoE out on this little box if you dont want to power it from the wallwart
Router - PFsense
- https://www.pfsense.org/
- 5...10
- PFsense can be downloaded and installed directly to hardware, in a vm, or as a pre-built piece of hardware. But even the basic setup requires some networking knowledge. You can do (almost) everything from the UI and there are... a ton of options
- I use this at home as my router in VM, and it has been rock solid for however long it is between losing power long enough to have to shut down the server.
- The community edition lags behind their supported edition, but it's free and works fine. IMPORTANT NOTE!! If you are going to run this yourself, https://www.netgate.com/blog/pfsense-2-5-and-aes-ni.html keep in mind that a future version will REQUIRE AES-NI cpu extensions (which my server doesnt currently have)
Switch - Linksys LGS326 24-Port Gigabit Smart Managed Switch
- https://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-LGS326/
- 1...10
- You can just plug this in and it will work, or you can use it in a variety of more complicated IT setups
- I needed a 16-port switch at home with decent features for transferring a 10's to 100's of gigbytes of photos and videos over the network to my NAS and ... other NAS. At the time, this was a really good price/performance piece of hardware. But I always try to buy for the future so I smartly went for a 24-port switch.
Switch - Netgear GSS108E 8-Port Gigbit Click Switch
- https://www.netgear.com/business/products/switches/click/GSS108E.aspx
- 1...10
- Plug and play, but supports things like jumbo frames and vlans for more complicated setups
- My main switch is behind my TV, so I use these in the office and other places that need more than just the cable I ran. The added benefit of powered USB ports and the plethora of mounting options make this pretty much the best switch for what it does.
Wireless Access Point - Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC-Pro & AP-AC-Lite
- https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-pro/ & https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-lite/
- 5...10
- Due to needing to run controller software somewhere just to configure these (though a single should run fine afterwards without it, but I think you need it if you do a mesh) along with some familiarity with networking.
- I use a single pro and a single lite to get amazing coverage over the whole house. I bought them as they were basically providing a lot of enterprise features at a cost that was/is unparalleled.
- IMPORTANT - these are wireless access points only, you will still need a router on the network somewhere. For a lot of installations, https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-cloud-key/ + an ac-lite will get you rock solid performance for a bit more than consumer gear.
NAS - Open Media Vault
- https://www.openmediavault.org/
- 5...10
- It's opensource software needing to be installed in a VM or on hardware
- When I was researching which NAS server software to use, I tried a bunch but chose this for the features, UI, and options
NAS - QNAP TS-651
- https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/ts-651
- 3...10
- It's pretty plug and play, but users will need a willingness to experiment and understand theres lots of ways to nuke all your data. The UI is great and very helpful.
- Part-time pro photography still requires a ton of storage and my 2-drive box was at capacity. This is used mainly just for photos, but it still needed to have decent speed, and wanted something that wasnt directly attached. I chose QNAP over synology because they use intel processors and I can run VMs on it easily.
- This thing will run your whole house by itself - sorting your iphoto and itunes libraries, transcoding videos, and on and on. TONS of software addons you can download just adds tot he flexibility, including being able to run Unifi https://www.ubnt.com/download/unifi controller software in a vm if you get one that has intel + enough ram.
Media Server - Plex
- https://www.plex.tv/downloads/
- 3...10
- I think you can just download this on a regular computer and run it, but I think knowing a little of what you are doing would be helpful
- I know I researched this decision, and I think I chose it due to the flexibility of mounting NFS and other storage
UPS - CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS System, 1500VA/900W, 10 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower
- https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/product/ups/cp1500pfclcd/
- 2...10
- Dead easy to use, just knowing what NOT to plug in is important. And you need to be willing to hook up the battery (ive run into people who skipped this step, hence the 2)
- Between this and APC, I will get whatever is on sale. I have 3 (I think different versions at the same 1500va rating) at home, one in the office, one by the server, and once in the entertainment system.
- HEY, YOU!!! Is your equipment worth money? Do you like a little insurance against data loss? BUY A UPS!!! Seriously, little hiccups and brownouts can be as damaging as a surge. No, if you house gets hit by lightning, this wont necessarily protect your stuff (sadface experience) but it will keep your stuff running through dips and outages, giving you time to save your work and not crash your HD heads in your console.
Cable Management - Panduit ARC
- https://www.panduit.com/en/products...ts/cable-conduit-clamps-clips/arc68s6c14.html
- 1...10
- Easy to use, useful in homes and professional installations
- I am embarrassed how long it took me to find this product. But, I was looking for something that was screw mount, adjustable, and reusable, and these work great. I think the most I have some clamps holding is 5 ethernet cables and 2 12-gauge speaker wires
- they come in all kinds of colors, and are kinda pricey
Ethernet Patch Cables - Monoprice
- https://www.monoprice.com/category/Networking-Patch-Cables/11021363
- 1...10
- duh.
- Inexpensive, especially in bulk, and if I never have to build my own cables again I will die happy. Amazon is fine too, but its much easier to buy from this site especially if you need various lengths and colors.
Surge Protector - Belkin PivotPlug 12-Outlet and 8-Outlet
- http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-BP112230-08/ & http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-BP108200-06/
- 1...10
- Easy to use
- There is no competition here - have wallwarts and want something with good hardware backing it? Here you go. I have lots of these all over.
Speaker Banana Plugs - GLS Audio Banana Plug Speaker Connectors - Locking Series Generation 4
- https://www.glsaudio.com/GLS-Audio-...cking-Series-Generation-4--20-Pack_p_368.html
- 2...10
- Easy to use, though you still have to know a little to get nice tight connections
- Honestly, after all my research, I dont know if these things have any benefit other than making it easy to connect/disconnect speaker cables, but they do that well.
- Much cheaper on amazon - and really I am not an audiophile and there may be a 10x better product out there
HDMI Cables - Monoprice
- https://www.monoprice.com/pages/hdmi_cables
- 1...10
- ahem. duh.
- If you need a certain length, a certain spec, etc etc, this is the place to find it and purchase with confidence that you didnt get ripped off by some amazon 3rd party seller
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