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Research, suggestions wanted.

744 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by Mako PJ, May 10, 2007

Mako PJ

Discussion Starter · May 10, 2007

Ok, basically speaking out loud here, any solutions or even completely new ideas are welcome.

We are looking at buying a new house soon and what I wanted to build was a single AV closet that house all the AV equipment from one central place in the house.

So, I would like to play my Xbox 360 from any TV in the house as well as say watch a movie off of my PC. Now the problem is, you have multiple connection and speakers and how do you manage that.

Equipment I want centralized:

- Xbox 360

- Xbox

- Xbox (modded with Media Center)

- DVD Player

- (2) HD Cable Boxes

- PC with movies, photos and mp3s.

I don't know what house we are going to buy but my inital plans are to wire 4 areas:

- Bedroom 1

- Bedroom 2

- Living Room

- Outside (music speakers only)

I would like to be able to have at least two of the areas able to pull content at the same time, I would like to play my Xbox 360 from anywhere in the house, etc.

Things I think I would need to buy:

- Alot of compentent cable

- 2 Audio systems

- 4 Sets of speakers

- Plenty of speaker wire

- Probably have to run some type of IR system from all locations to closet

- Some type of dual switchbox for video and audio, is there anything out there that will help manage this?

- Setup PC

Any ideas, suggestion, or anything to get something like this going. I would love to be able to manage this all from one closet or basement area. Is this a dumb idea? Problems, pitfall, don't dos, etc.

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Ozy666

· #2 · May 10, 2007

Make sure your closet is big enough with adequate ventilation!

Also, run more cable than you think you will need, or use conduit to facilitate pulling extra wires through.

One of the big hangups I see is that it looks like you're going to be putting in analog (component cabling) when technology is trending towards digital connections.

Also, some (most?) of the higher-end receivers can handle multiple audio zones, and some have the ability to convert component input to HDMI output, which might help you go digital.

Ozy

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Mako PJ

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 10, 2007

Cool, I didn't know most of them handle more than one audio zone.

The problem I see is finding a video switching device that can handle this, any suggestions?

The other way I was thinking of going was, to just put an Xbox at all the TVs, run media thru the Xbox via Media Center, but than I have to move the Xbox 360 around depending on where I want it at the time. Of course the cable tv would not be centralized it.

So, basically I am either looking at a centralized location or just centralized media server.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozy666 /forum/post/0

Make sure your closet is big enough with adequate ventilation!

Also, run more cable than you think you will need, or use conduit to facilitate pulling extra wires through.

One of the big hangups I see is that it looks like you're going to be putting in analog (component cabling) when technology is trending towards digital connections.

Also, some (most?) of the higher-end receivers can handle multiple audio zones, and some have the ability to convert component input to HDMI output, which might help you go digital.

Ozy

Save

Ozy666

· #4 · May 10, 2007

I think the top end receivers can switch audio and video into multiple zones (try looking at the Denon 5805 for example) but I'm not exactly sure about this.

Otherwise you could look at a 5x4 HDMI matrix switch, monoprice has them for ~$300 I believe.

Ozy

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Mako PJ

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 10, 2007

Thank you Ozy I will check into these products. If anyone else has any suggestions, comments or idea... please pass them on. Just trying to get the best plan together.

Thank you again Ozy.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozy666 /forum/post/0

I think the top end receivers can switch audio and video into multiple zones (try looking at the Denon 5805 for example) but I'm not exactly sure about this.

Otherwise you could look at a 5x4 HDMI matrix switch, monoprice has them for ~$300 I believe.

Ozy

Save

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