By the way, AVS is an awesome site! I just discovered it today and I could've used y'all's expertise about 2 months ago before I started wiring.

Anyway, so far I've run what seems like miles of COAX, Cat5, Speaker, Security and door bell wire throughout the house and I'm about 2 weeks away from throwing up the drywall. Before I do that, I want to make sure that I've got the wires in there that I'll need.

Some of the basics:

> Living room/great room will have the surround sound and DLP TV.

> 6 other rooms/areas will have speakers and TV capability

> Home run closet for all components and wiring

> Want to control the components in the closet via IR or RF (cat5 currently run from each room to the closet for IR)

> Direct TV satellite

> I haven't purchased much of the hardware yet, so I'm still flexible on what I hook up to the wires (after the drywall's up).



Questions

1. it's a 50ft run up through the walls and ceiling from my closet to the DLP TV. would you suggest HDMI or Component? will Component support 1080p or is the investment in HDMI worth it in the long run?

2. are the cables on Monoprice for real? a 50ft HDMI cable for $70? is there a noticable difference in quality between these and other "name brand" HDMI cables?

3. can i just put good RCA connectors on 3 coax cables and voila....Component Video cable?

4. my computer's in my office. i'd like to be able to play the video and audio that's on my computer on the TV's and speakers throughout the house... at least in the surround sound room. what wires do i need to lay in now to be able to do this later?

5. maybe this is another thread, but do folks prefer IR or RF to control the components that are tucked away in their closet? currently i've layed cat5 from each room to the closet to do IR. is there a good site/thread out there that can give me some good advice on this one?


Seeing as today's my first day on AVS, I haven't had a chance to read too many of the other threads. So if there are other threads or sites that folks could point me to re: the above points, I'd love to see them.

Like I said, I haven't bought the hardware yet.....and that's a another bunch of threads for another day.


thx much,
tb

2. are the cables on Monoprice for real? a 50ft HDMI cable for $70? is there a noticable difference in quality between these and other "name brand" HDMI cables?Yes, all the cables I've bought from Monoprice have been great: coax, HDMI, audio, CAT5. I've only bought 6-foot HDMI cables so I don't know specifically about 50'. Some of the cables are available with a "fancy connector" or in heavier gauges. These features are not necessary to provide a high quality audio or video signal (unless the cable is very long), however they do make the cables more rugged physically. So I think their enhanced cables are a good value.

3. can i just put good RCA connectors on 3 coax cables and voila....Component Video cable?Yes, if you're talented with the soldering iron. I've soldered many coax cables over the years as a ham radio operator, and the stray strands in those coax braids can be annoying. (Shorting out an audio cable is one thing, but just try it with a radio transmitter putting out several hundred watts! :eek: ) Actually, I guess a good quality crimp-on RCA connector would work too. I suggest using RG-59 coax for component video, as RG-6 is kinda stiff for interconnect cables.

I'll leave it to the experts around here to answer the other questions...

Hi-

Regarding #3. I have several long runs for my HDTV setups. I pulled RG6 and used high-quality compression connectors. I did all of the finishing myself and they all look great and perform very well.
Try this to get a look at them:
http://www.parts-express.com/webpage.cfm?&WebPage_ID=3&manufacturer=363&raid=1&rak=f_conn

My set-up is a dish Vip 622 in the utility closet. -> short run to an HD Dist. Amp. -> 50ft runs to two receivers -> 30ft run to displays.
RG6 is stiff... I am okay with that. I used RG6 from Home Depot. If you really go for it, you can pull RG6 and finish it at the wall with a nice plate, then use more flexible cables between the wall and the box.
Pull an HDMI cable, too.

Note, these are not crimp-ons. These are the compression connectors that are highly prevalent today.

The reason to go HDMI instead of component is if you care about future content that will be HDCP protected. HDCP doesn't work through component cables, and thus some HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and HTPC players may down-sample the HD sources to 540p resolution when they detect analog component out.

You should at least run the cable! You could run component, too, and use whichever suits you best.

Monoprice is OK (I've bought there serveral times) although the Bluejeans cable HDMI I got was more flexible (I also got a similar Monoprice cable). Bluejeans was only $6 more expensive if memory serves, and usually has their cables in stock (as opposed to Monoprice...)

For the computer, I would run a digital audio cable, and then either a VGA cable, a HDMI cable, or DVI cable from the computer to where youre listening equipment is. Depending on how far it is, you may actually be better off getting a cheaper computer to put next to your receiver (a "HTPC") and just fileshare your media files to that machine.

Which brings me to the subject of networking: You're saying you've run Cat5. Have you run Cat5 for Ethernet? Or, even better Cat-6, or at least Cat-5e, for robust gigabit Ethernet performance? If not, I would suggest running one Ethernet cable from each "equipment point" to the homerun closet, and putting a 16 or 24 port Gigabit switch (and potentially a patchbay) in that room. Your computer is one equipment point, but each place where you want to put a receiver/amp or TV is another equipment point.

Also, have you done Cat-5 for phones? You might want to double up each phone outlet with one phone, and one Ethernet. If you're still sticking with wired phones, Voice-over-IP is getting to be the Next Big Thing.

Good luck! I just finished the same kind of job (drywall starts tomorrow), and you become an expert in hole drilling pretty quickly :-)

good inputs, thx.

re: "For the computer, I would run a digital audio cable, and then either a VGA cable, a HDMI cable, or DVI cable from the computer to where youre listening equipment is. Depending on how far it is, you may actually be better off getting a cheaper computer to put next to your receiver (a "HTPC") and just fileshare your media files to that machine."

> when you say "digital audio cable", what type of cable/connector do you mean?

when i said cat5, i meant cat5e, so hopefully i should be ok.

it's funny. you mention that VoIP is going to be the next big thing. i'm guessing that in just a few years all this cable will just be taking up space between the framing as we move more and more towards wireless.

i'm still trying to get some inputs on IR vs RF, though. if anyone has had any experience in that i'd love to hear from you.

thx,

One more thing... I have a coax run for digital audio in my set-up. I convert the optical audio-out to coax. I've also pulled a run of Cat-5e in all of my bundles... just in case.

I agree to pull HDMI... just don't call it "future proof".

Now that I think about it, you may way to make a track or condiut on certain runs in case you need to pull another cable.