[Ack226]

We're in the process of building a new house, and I'm trying to lay out a plan for the electronics and AV equipment. We'll have to use satellite for TV, and I'll most likely have a t1 for net access due to business needs.


My current plan is:


--Cable, power, and cat 6 network outlets at every television location.


--prewire surround sound in the media room.


--Cooled and ventilated network closet where all network cables will terminate. Wired for phone, cable, lots of power. Will hold networking equipment, file server, possibly media server.


Anything else I'm missing? What do all of you wish you'd done during construction of your homes?

 

[pbharriso]

Instead of a T1, you might think about cable + DSL for backup, although from your statement regarding satellite, maybe you do not have access to cable.


T1 is expensive and slow.

 

[Ack226]

We're in a rural area, no DSL or cable is available. We're pretty much stuck with satellite for TV and expensive and slow T1 for internet.


Any other suggestions on what to build into our house during construction?

 

[Stew4msu]

Depends on your viewing habits. For example, I ran 4 cable lines to my living room and home theater, because I wanted the ability for dual DVR's there and satellite DVR's need 2 inputs apiece (although D* just came out with a new solution that allows 1 run, but it's in limited release). You'll also want to make sure you have 4 lines run from your dish location to the wiring closet.


Will your equipment be right below (or next to) you displays? If not, you many want to run conduit/HDMI/component to the display from the desired equipment location.


Are any of the displays going to be mounted on the wall? If so, you might want to run conduit/HDMI/component to that location as well (even if the equipment will be near).


Any chance you'd want a display in a different location in a room at some point? I ran cable to my game room and after 3 years, I wish I would have also run some cable to the other side of the room so I could rearrange things if I wanted.


Any chance of whole home audio? Now's a good chance to run speaker wire to several rooms and terminate it in the ceiling, in case you ever want to add different audio zones via ceiling speakers (and the patio). The speaker wires should probably terminate wherever you expect your main AV receiver to be located.


While there's, obvioulsy, ways to do it without, you might consider running multiple Cat6 to main areas. I know in my living room I have 2 DVR's and a blu ray player all connected.

 

[Ack226]

Great advice Stew. Thanks!


I didn't know that DirecTV DVR's required 2 cable inputs. I suppose one line with a splitter won't work, right? I also didn't realize I'd need 4 lines from the dish to the closet. What's that about? I've been assuming that the dish-TV lines are all standard coaxial cable TV wire. Is that right?


Thanks!

 

[Stew4msu]

Yes, they require 2 cables going in. The new solution they came out with (SWM - single wire multi-switch) is available as a dish or as a multi-switch, but it's not widely available and it's better to have the cables and not need them.


No, splitters won't work with satellite TV.


Yes, Directv uses a 5 lnb dish and it has 4 lines running from it into the house (unless you get one of the new SWM Dishes mentioned above). From there the lines can either be run directly to the equipment or they can be run to another multi-switch which can then have as many as 16 outputs (which is why the 4 lines should be run to an equipment closet where you can later put the multi-switch if you need it). One thing I forgot is that if you think you might want to pull in local channels over the air via an antenna, then you might want to run an additional cable from the attic (or wherever you'd place an antenna) to the closet.


Yes, lines are all standard RG6 cables.