Building new house...what would you do?

higster

Hi,

I'm in the process of building a new house and thinking about what to make sure is in place home entertainment wise (e.g. wireless internet, cabloing for sattellite etc). Real question is...
1. Do I use one of the companies that are out there that will do it all for you (smarthomes/instacom etc)...but cost an arm and a leg.
2. Try and get a "local" electrical contractor to do it...but probably not get it right...
3. Do it myself...and for sure make a balls of it
4. Any suggestions for what to make sure is in place if go with either 2 or 3?

Thanks.

mossym

doing exactly what you are talking about right now myself...

what kind of sytsem are you trying to install?

The Ritz

Having had the "fun" of trying to retro-fit stuff into my own house, I envy you the opportunity to get it right first time out.

I'd start with the same question as mossym, make a list of the systems you want to install - do you want a plasma/flat screen, do you want to install a projector and drop down screen, what kind of sound system(s) do you want etc.

There's practically no limit to what you can install these days, the only critical factors are either your own knowledge and the ability to do it yourself, or your willingness to pay someone to do it for you.

If you had a list of the systems you wanted to be able to use you'd have a good basis for getting a steer for how you should proceed.

Good Lock,

The Ritz.

brav

Also while wireless networks are real handy, esp for laptops, you can't beat cable for its speed and reliability, so I would reccommend running cat6 to say each room incase you want a PC there, or even a docking station.

Also a few cat6 to sitting room, near sky box, games console etc cause you never know, sky could have some download service or something in the future.

Obviously these should be going to a central point, where your broadband is coming in.

What I've done is bring everything to under the stairs(it has ventelation, defenitly needed) and now its like a mini server room!

If possible I would go for a set up like this:


(Images courtsy of T800 in this thread: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=382398

Try to install everything (ie, dvd, sky, xb360 etc) in a central point in a room off from your sitting room but with their fronts facing inside. Much neater.
If you are thinking of putting a projector in then don't for get to run cables from here to back wall/ceiling as well as for TV.

You prob should use an amp, which will take inputs for your sound as well as your video, and allow you to select which you want to hear/watch.


So basically depending on what systems you would like the possibilities are endless!

mossym

see, i don' like that setup...what is that person going to do when they add one more box? say a new hd-dvd player, or a hd satellite box? if you leave space for more gear it looks silly, if you don't you are screwed when you add on...

The Ritz

I agree............. siting most of the equipment outside my movie room is on my "upgrade" plan (as soon as I get a grip on how I want to set up a whole-of-house server and figure out how to connect it up to the rest of the house without incurring the wrath of SWMBO), and given the chance to do a job similar to that illustrated above I'd choose to put all the equipment under the stairs altogether and use a good universal remote and IR relays to operate the equipment.

I don't know whether wireless controllers for an Xbox/PS2 etc would work via this route, but they're not a big deal to me whereas they might be an issue for others. I have an "out-of-sight" HCPC in my movie room and use a wireless mouse and keyboard for dvd playing, media storage (HD, DVD, DIVX etc), satelite reception (including BBC HD...... very yummy) and MP3s.

List what you want to instal and give us a chance to be puzzled for a while......:)

The Ritz

wexfordman

Gofor one of these:

www.sonos.com

No affiliation, got one myself 12months ago and well worth the bobs, wireless too, so plenty of options with installation new or old.

With regards locating all your video/dvd etc centrally, I am n0ot sure if this is such a good idea. I wokrs to a certain extent, and probably made sense over the last few years, but consider a few things:-

DVD does not distrubuite well over coax. You will need a dedicated distribution system like KAT5 (not cat 5, google kat5) to distribute dvd video around your house.

Even if you do distribute it around the house, then do you distribute surround sound to these rooms as well ? Do you need surround sound everywhere ?

I would consider designing house to have one good room with dvd etc and good quality surround sound system in this room. My DVD player would be something alond the lines of a htpc, and the house would be networked. I would use media center extenders to distribute video around the house.

Wexfordman

olearydc

New home..

My brother got smarthome for a flat....They did a great job but were a bit expensive

If I were doing a new home...
I would have cat5 cable in EVERY room..in the hallway and in the attic (only costs a few Euro if doing it at the new home stage..and leave a bit of slack!!) all coming to a central loaction and a switch..

The central location would also have a telephone cable (If BB with landline)...also pop in a coaxial cable to 2 from the attic to that cental room.or if using wireless another Coaxial cable.

place 2 coaxial cables from roof to the TV room (for Sky+ if needed)..and coaxial cable to the other rooms with a TV set in there

place a power point next to the CAT 5 points (it always happens you need them)

You might not need the network cables..but are handy for a number of things
can be used for voip...Ip camera's...Streaming music...

EDIT

wexfordman -- KAT5 looks pretty good also---will read up on it myself!!

Slaphead07

If you're serious about HiFi you should consider running a separate mains ring just for the sockets to be used for the HiFi. "Dirty" mains electricty does affect the sound and it's a small cost if you're getting the house rewired anyway. Use MK unswitched sockets for your mains HiFi.
Of course I realise this will only appeal to a minority of High End geeks (yes my hand is in the air) but it's worth mentioning.

joebre

I am buying a 2 storey, timber framed, fully finished showhouse.
I have gone to a number of recent shows and been reading this board but I still need some help on cable choice !
I intend mounting all wall mounted tv's, with a wall mounted control pad in each room. A freind has offered me a roll of Cat 6 that I hope to wire to each of the control pads. I realise that I will need an electrical socket behind each TV.
Is a single socket enough ?

The real decision is the cable type needed to bring to each TV. I am hearing about Cat 6, RG 59 or RG6. Can anybody advise, please ?