I dont mean to sound dumb, but I dont know where to start...

[Inspector Jihad]

my parents are going to be moving into a townhouse pretty soon and I got thinking of how to have a nice little media setup. I'm not really looking for the automated lighting or security. All my music is on one computer and I also have TV shows in divx format. I would like to have this accessible anywhere in the house and be able to select what I want from a PDA(something like the sonos system). The PDA should have album art and the important ID3 stuff. I dont need the system to turn on the TV and set it to the right input or anything, I can do that myself, I just need it to play what I ask.

Now the other thing I want to do might be more complicated and i dont even know if its possible. I want to buy a DVD changer and put all my DVDs in there and also access this through the PDA. Now would I be able to stream this to various locations or can it only be used in the one system where the DVD changer is located.

What do you guys think...in terms of hardware as well as what I plan on doing.

Thanks...I've tried reading up on xlobby but I'm not sure what I would need to get started

[Colby]

Good news youre in the right place. Xlobby should do most of what you want, with a bit of configuring and setup.

All my music is on one computer and I also have TV shows in divx format.

Good. You will make databases of each so you can access them from you HTPC or your PPC.

The PDA should have album art and the important ID3 stuff.

If you configure your palm computer to be a client you can create custom skin to display the information you want, and yet control the HTPC.

I dont need the system to turn on the TV and set it to the right input or anything, I can do that myself

You dont need it too, but it could... If you get a USB-UIRT device and connect it to your HTPC then whatever you control with your palm or remote or touchscreen or keyboard can send ir to tell your devices to operate, (ie, turn on/off..etc.)The usb-uirt would be especially usefull in controlling a dvd changer if there is no serial or way to contect it to a pc.
The only limitation to what you want I see, is streaming to various locations. But you can play video locally. You can stream audio to locations with Xlobby.
Good Luck hope this helps.

[Inspector Jihad]

thanks for all the input. Is there a possibility for wireless video? I stream my divx tv shows over my network and it works well.

Also, what kind of hardware would I need to get started...like the PDA for example.

[Inspector Jihad]

i understand that videolan can be used for streaming video? can xlobby work with it?