AVS › AVS Forum › A/V Control & Automation › Home A/V Distribution › Which way to go for Video/ Audio Distribution?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Which way to go for Video/ Audio Distribution?

post #1 of 12
1/2/07 at 12:04pm
Thread Starter 
Hey everyone.

I am in the process of doing a home theatre in the basement.

I am conflicted how to distribute the Video and Audio throught out the whole house.

My equipment in addition to 1080p projector in the home theatre,

1. DirectTV HD receiver.
2. 2nd DirectTV HD Receiver.
3. XBOX 360.
4. 1080p DVD Player,
5. IPod Audio,Video interface,
6. 400 DVD Changer Player.
7. Dual DVD Kareoke Player.
8. Local Channel Antenna Signals(these could be subscribed from DirectTV).

Now all of this needs to be distributed into:

1. Home Theater of course.
2. Pool/Game/Music Room.
3. Main Living Room HD Pioneer Elite (HDMI?).
4. Master Bedroom HD Pioneer Plasma (HDMI?).
5. Bedroom 2 TV (Component).
6. Bedroom 3 TV (Component).
7. Study TV (Component).

Now in addition to the Video aspect of the above,
I would also like to add audio zones with Keypads in:

1. Home Theatre room bar area.
2. Pool/Game/Music room.
3. Master Bedroom/Master Bath.
4. Upstairs Hallway/Upstairs Bath.
5. Kitchen/Formal Living/Family Room
6. Outside Pool/Hot Tub Area/Deck Areas.


Now the $64000 question is whether the above two requirements can be
cleanly done with one system solution like the Audio Authority ATATrix 6Source/7 Destination system.

Everything in the house except the basement is finished. So each room currently has 1 coax cable and 1 Cat5 cable run from the basement located distribution panel.

I am/was thinking of using Russound 6/6 system with the uno keypads for each audio zone and then adding 2 Cat5e cables to each zone and use the ATAAtrix for the Video.

Any comments would be helpful.
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 12
1/3/07 at 10:05am
Thread Starter 
No post on this one?

So many experts out there.

Will appreciate any feedback guys.

Thanks in advance.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 12
1/3/07 at 11:25am
What you want can clearly be done.

You have 8 sources and 7 locations though, so you'd need an 8 x 8 matrix switch for the video side of things.

I've just finishing a similar setup (8 x 8, but I didn't bother with audio zones and keypads, as I didn't have a need for them in my setup) and it works great.

FWIW, IMO, the only reasonable way to do a large(ish) HD video distribution is via component (though someone is sure to chime in if something else has popped up).

In the meantime, read through the old threads here and use the search function - there's tons of great info here.

Cheers.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 12
1/4/07 at 12:46pm
I am looking to do approximately the same thing. Please let us know what you decide on and why.

Thanks,
Steve
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 12
1/4/07 at 10:10pm
I would agree, get a component 8x8 matrix and you will be fine. You just need to decide if you want Cat5 based or standard video cable based.

Personally I went with a non-Cat5 system. The main reason for not using audio authority/cat5 in my situation was flexibility. Most of the equipment is in racks, including any pre-amps. The last thing I wanted was for the digital audio to be sent to the distributed room, i needed it at the head end to go to the pre-amp and the speaker lines to the distributed room.

I have used Cat5 systems and they typically work great but can be a bit more touchy on getting interference. By using smaller gauge video bundles (Liberty Wire and others make 20, 23, 25 gauge video bundles) it is still an easy (albeit, more expensive) run.

To make my own life difficult I am also running HDMI to each room. Either as Cat5 with Gefen's extender or long cables with boosters (either way is still expensive). Since there aren't 8x8 hdmi switchers out there it won't be used, but it is ready for the next year or so. After that, there is the 2" conduit as well

Curt
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 12
1/5/07 at 9:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrikinCurt View Post

...Personally I went with a non-Cat5 system. The main reason for not using audio authority/cat5 in my situation was flexibility. Most of the equipment is in racks, including any pre-amps. The last thing I wanted was for the digital audio to be sent to the distributed room, i needed it at the head end to go to the pre-amp and the speaker lines to the distributed room.

I also have my two main locations using a separate speaker system (i.e. not the TV's internal speakers), one 5.1 and one 7.1, and both receivers are housed in my equipment rack.

I just passed the digital out from the switch into each receiver (I've one for each of the two locations), instead of the baluns for those two rooms.

Cheers.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 12
1/5/07 at 10:08pm
Just note that if your DVD changer is an upconverting player that it will not upconvert over component. Also, HD-DVD titles currently allow you to play full res over component but studios can choose to disable that in the future. For Blu-ray I don't know what their constraints are, if any.

I'm holding off HD distribution until I can figure out how to distribute my upconverting DVD changer as well as any other devices that come out which require HDCP (currently only avail on DVI or HDMI).
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 12
1/6/07 at 12:48am
Well, I'm the in the process of bdding on a sale and installation of a similar system.

I would recommend a xantech system.

For the matrix swithing of your four hd signals I would use the new hd44 switcher with an mrc88. The mrc88 is an 8 zone 8 source controller w/ amplification. The hd44 and the mrc88 are connected using rs232. The hd44 uses cat5e to distribute and will adjust signal strength based on the length of the run automatically and send digital audio with it.

If you wanted to upgrade the switcher to allow component signal over cat5e w/ 8 sources check out a company called Neopro. They make killer switchers for a great price. Neotech can be connected w/ rs232 and then you can send the proper commands or just use IR flashers with the Neotech remote and learn the commands needed.

As for the keypads xantech offers many that can be stand alone units or plug direct into the mrc88 controller. Some can be LCD touchpanels w/ video or without. Or just a normal keypad with a small lcd and hard buttons.

Xantech offers a ton and if I am correct xantech and russound or part of the same higher organization. Xantech being the higher end and russound the lower.

If you have any further questions please pm.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 12
1/6/07 at 9:52am
The big key is to figure out how it all works in your situation. Do you need digital audio to the room? Analog audio to the room? Or both to the headend? How will you control it? RS232, IR, RF, etc?? These are the key decisions, after that it is just product.

I am using a Neothings Avalon 8x8 Pro switcher. Why? It does component, digital audio and analog audio in a 8x8 at a good price that connects to my AMX system. For audio distribution I am using Autopatch 18x18 Precis LT switchers. Why? All I needed was analog audio, volume, and the DSP (EQ) was a nice addin at a really good price.

Nothing will future proof you so don't stress over that (well, aside from conduit, but then you will want something in a different location). Will HDMI be good enough in a matter of years? There are several other standards out there, a couple showing at CES that are trying to replace HDMI already. You just never know! Get what works for your current needs and run conduit when you can.

Curt
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 12
1/6/07 at 10:24pm
Hey curt. Neothings and NeoPro. Hmm......I didn't know that they are the same company. I saw them at EHX and was very impressed. And the prices are great for what they offer. I'm looking to start really pushing them for my installs.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 12
1/6/07 at 10:56pm
This was my first time with them. I still have to write the AMX driver but it seems like a great unit for the price. It cost quite a bit more to get an autopatch to do the same thing.

Curt
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 12
1/9/07 at 5:38pm
I have a similar situation as you and I am very happy using the B&K components. They have 9 inputs and 6 outputs, but your 7th zone is your home theater so that is not a problem as it will have its own reciever. these components also have balanced inputs and outputs so you can share an input between your theater and your distribution system. You should at least check these products out.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Home A/V Distribution

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › A/V Control & Automation › Home A/V Distribution › Which way to go for Video/ Audio Distribution?