Bert Coules wrote
Dave Plowman wrote

Of course many will want and pay
for some sort of wireless solution.

On the whole I would always prefer a wired connection to a wireless
one. As with putting one's CDs and DVDs onto hard disk, bringing
in an extra layer of technology seems to me to be a good way of
increasing the chances of something going wrong.

Doing that last actually reduces the chances of something going
wrong because hard drives are in fact much more reliable than
the drive you put the CDs and DVDs into and there is no possibility
of scratching the CDs and DVDs once you have ripped them.

Yes, duplicating the hard drive so you lose nothing if it dies
does double the cost but they are now so cheap that that is
a very minor problem.

Personally I prefer the wireless approach just because
you don't have to fart around wiring the entire house.

I just have a device wherever I need to hear the audio
or watch the video, and those stream from my central
server over wifi. Works fine for both audio and for the
recordings done on the PVR which is now the same
machine as the central server. I never watch any TV
live anymore, its all recorded and I watch it when it
suits me and the separate devices wherever I want
to watch/hear stuff allows me to select what I want
to watch/hear and skip ads or backup and repeat
bits I missed etc.

With audio I mostly just use the smartphone now
because it can be setup to automatically download
the podcasts that I listen to and allows me to listen
anywhere in the house when doing something boring
like bottling the beer or digging the garden etc and
the same device works fine when out walking for
exercise too.