I apologize if this post is rather long but I want you all to have as much info as possible so that I can receive the best help possible from you. I will start by saying that my dad's house burned down in th "Slide" fires of California last year and he is in the process of rebuilding it now. He has left me with the job of installing all of the low voltage wiring in the new house and he would like automation and A/V distribution. I have researched a few different systems for the house and I am not really sure which would be best for the situation....hence the reason I am posting here.

The new house will be 3500 sq.ft. with 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a great room, a game room, a kitchen with butler's pantry, a dining room, an office, a dedicated A/V Room that will be 4ft. x 6ft. and two garages. This will be a brand new construction from the ground up project and I need to get it right the first time to eliminate any possible problems in the future. I will spell out exactly what we plan to accomplish here.

I will be distributing CAT6 network wiring throughout the house with a gigabit router and gigabit switches. I have this figured out. I will be distributing telephone throughout the house using CAT5 wiring. I have this figured out. I would like to run 8 RG6 QS cables from the Satellite Dish location into the A/V Closet. I am also going to run 2 RG6 QS and 2 CAT5 wires from the demarc location for Cable TV and Telephone into the A/V closet.

Here is where I need help because there is so little info about how Crestron systems work online and I am not sure if it is an all around solution or if I should mix-and-match different brands to accomplish this. There will be 8 TV's in the house, anywhere between 12 and 16 different audio zones. I want to distribute component video to all the TV's so that each area will be able to access any of the source components located in the A/V closet. The source components will consist of an Escient Vision VS200 movie server, and Escient Vision VC-1 Client and 4 HR21-PRO satellite TV boxes. I would also like to have local source inputs at each of the 8 TV locations so that you could add a DVD player or so that you could watch your digital camera slideshows, etc.

All of the sound for the video and distributed audio will be heard through the in-ceiling speakers located with each TV. I will be installing a HAI OmniPro II security system that has options to do some automation with RS232 control. However, I think I like the idea of Crestron's ProII automation processor better but don't know a whole lot about Crestron products except the fact that I have seen and touched some of them.

We will be doing lighting control as well and would like to go with a Lutron system that requires hard wiring all the lighting loads to a central box in the A/V closet but I am not sure that we will be able to get all of the necessary components like the switches and main brain right up front. Is this something that can be prepared for during construction? I would not want to install that type of system if it is required that you have all of the components in order for the lights to work properly. For example, I would like to install that box and run the wiring to it but, if initial budget does not allow the purchase of the switches...can you still control the lights with standard light switches and, if not, is there a Lutron system that would allow for this?

Can I prepare each window for a Lutron Sivoia QED system without buying any of the motors just yet? What equipment would I absolutely need to buy up front? I would just basically like to wire for it so that the components can be purchased later. Is this possible? How should I go about wiring for this?

I was also thinking of having a few in-wall touch screens located throughout the house as well as wireless touchscreens in the Great Room, Master Bedroom and Game Room to control everything including the security system and whole house audio system.

I am struggling with what equipment is necessary from Crestron to make this all happen and would like some input on just the equipment side of it. I can give you a list of the equipment I was going to use if Crestron is not a good solution. Just email me and I would be glad to help you help me in any way possible.

I appreciate any help you all can give on this project as I am just beginning to get a little overwhelmed with the design but my dad would rather not have to pay someone to design it. Besides, I have enough knowledge of this stuff and the wiring experience I am sure that we will not need to hire a designer. Please help me! It's getting close to time to start buying materials and equipment. :o

I would suggest adding two CAT-6 wires from each TV location to the A/V closet in addition to any other wiring. That will allow you to run component or HDMI with baluns, if you want, at some later date. Never can have too many cables.

Even better is to run large plastic conduit from all the TVs so you can pull any cable at a latter date if needed.

I would also suggest using CAT-6 instead of CAT-5 for your other wiring. It has a much higher bandwidth for future needs, and it costs only a little more.

You Crestron questions will need to be answered by someone who's familiar with their systems.

Thank you Crutschow for your reply. I do plan on adding an additional 2 CAT6 wires at each and every location since the difference in cost of doing it now rather than later is much cheaper. I have also looked into running the gray conduit in the walls for future expansions (or repairing mistakes :D) and I have also looked into the Carlon Orange flexible conduit. I have decided to go with the gray PVC for cost reasons. One question.....everything will be ran with CAT6 except for telephone, do you recommend CAT6 for telephone as well? There is a huge possibility that I will be installing a VOIP phone system rather than the traditional "MA Bell" system so there also may be a need for more bandwidth. Is that correct?

Bandwidth is likely not a problem with any phone system, although VOIP does operate at the bandwidth of your internet service I believe. But just for future proofing, I would go with CAT-6.

Where will you get any Crestron equipment? HOw will it get programmed?