[J-dubb16]

Ok guys bear with me, I have read a lot of these threads so as not to ask newbie questions, I think I have the basics down, now to the good stuff.. I have never had Satallite before and I have never done multizone/multisource distribution before.


I think I have decided on the Niles ZR-8630(about 90% sure). Now I have a few wiring questions, first I will outline what I have and want in the new house:


Family Room-

7.1 setup and the new HD DirecTivo. I have an Integra(DTR-7.2) receiver, DVD player and CD player there as well. Have a LG HDTV rec. which Iwill move to the Master bedroom


Master Bedroom-

5.1 Setup(surround receiver will come later) a DirecTivo and my currert LG HDTV receiver.


All other rooms shall have a pair of speakers, RG6 and Keypad capabilities for distributed audio and video, these will be controlled with Niles keypads in each room/zone on an as needed basis.


Room over the Garage:

This room is the future theater and it is a couple years down the road. I intend on this room to be self-supported, meaning it acts on it's own with all it's own equipment. I want to have future capability of an HD Directv, if not HD DirecTivo.


Here are my questions:


1. Number of runs of RG6 to the attic for the Dish and OTA antennas. As I understand it the new HD DirecTivo has 2 DTV tuners and 2 OTA tuners. Also, I might want to run the OTA seperately because of interference issues I have read about., but I can figure that out later. Let me know what the standard procedure is.

Here is what I am thinking (listing OTA runs seperate from SAT runs):


Attic to Rooms:

2 RG6 - family DTV

1 RG6 - family OTA, split internally by the D* unit feeding 2 tuners

2 RG6 - MB DTV

1 RG6 - MB OTA

2 RG6 - sat. receiver in distribution closet and later for theater


That is a total of EIGHT, WOW


Rooms to Distribution Closet:

1 RG6 from Familiy and MBed to closet for connection to Niles

1 RG6 from future theater to closet incase Sat from closet gets moved to the Theater.



2. I am using the Niles to distribute the following inputs:

DVD, CD, SAT1(family), SAT2(Mbed), SAT3(distributed and later theater SAT) and computer MP3s. The Niles has built-in radio tuners.

How do I get the signals to the Niles as well as to my receiver or RPTV in the family room. I don't want to send the signals to the Niles first and redistribute. Would just get a splitter for all the signals that don't have dual, simutanious output?


3. In the Master bedroom, if I have the receiver driving the 5 speakers for a 5.1 setup, is there any way 2 of the speakers could also be integrated into the Niles system for distribution from other inputs, ie MP3s, CDs or DVDs from the family room setup.


4. How do you modulate a security camera into this type of setup, at most I will have 3 cameras, probably just one to start. I do not want to use a Niles input for the camera.


I know I have written a lot, so I will stop there. I amy have some more question and your answers may spawn some more inquires and thinking on my part.


Thanks,


J-dubb

 

[J-dubb16]

Have I gone into too much detail for anyone to answer. I did not mean to make the post so long, I just wanted to list all info anyone might need to make a good comment


J-dubb

 

[ontheinside]

#1: To make your life easier I would look into bundled cables. I have used Isotec in the past and it is good stuff. It is easier to pull two of these to each room than 4-6 runs individually, and since it has a outer protective jacket the chance of damaging the inner wires is reduced. Isotec makes several structured wiring bundles. I used the 2- RG6 & 2- Cat5e model they also make it with fiber as well. I would recommend two to each room along with your speaker cable.


#2: To feed the audio back you could use balanced converters that feed audio signals over cat5.


#3: There are switches that manually or auto select between two audio feeds. So you could use one set of speakers for two different audio feeds.


#4: cameras. you can use a modulator to put the cameras on a unused channel, each their own or with a video sequencer on one channel


Get yourself a large 50" empty panel to put all your stuff in.

 

[J-dubb16]

I am actually going to have a cabinet in the Laundry room with all the equipment. The backside of the electronics will be accessed by a small door into the back of the cabinet from the hallway.


Was I correct about the abount of RG6 required from the attic (sat. and OTA antenna locations.


J-dubb

 

[ontheinside]

I just put a new HD dish and antenna on the roof, 5 runs of RG-6. I did pull one extra to the box outside, just in case.

 

[DennisBP]

If you are going to need to modulate a signal, you may want to modulate both your TIVO's, even if won't be HD. I will guarantee you that you will find that you will have programs recorded on the "wrong" Tivo, unless you record the same programs on both.


I have both my Tivo's together in my equipment rack and modulate to all TV's in the house. I am getting HD Tivo, but in order to get HD on my remote HDTV, I am running 6 rg6 runs. 3 for compoent (rca to coax connectors), 2 for audio (I may use only one if both have digital audio), and 1 for the modulated signal.


We all are waiting for a solution to modulate HD through coax.


You can get some great deals on coax on ebay. I suggest Quad Shield from your dish/antenna to Tivo's.

 

[J-dubb16]

No sure if I understand why I will have problems? I will have a DirecTivo in the master bedroom and a HD DirecTivo in the family room. They will be directly connected to an entertainment system as well as each one sending it's own signal to the Niles for distribution to the other rooms of the house. Thos other rooms will have to watch what the family room or master bedroom is watching or access a 3rd receiver in the closet with the Niles, which will be labeled sat #3. Mainly I want to be able to record a show on the Tivo in the family, but if we want to watch from the bed (not necessarily in HD) we could.


Also, if I want to send the HD signal to the bedroom would all I have to do is run 3 RG6 from the family room directly to the bedroom and put RCA connectors on each end? What would I do for audio, run a fiber line?


J-dubb

 

[AJF]

If I am understanding correctly, it sounds like you are going to run RG6 from the attic to rooms that will have sat receivers and then from those rooms to the distribution center in the laundry. If that's the way you're going about it then you are missing the basic strategy of "future proof wiring". All wires should be home run to a central distribution point, in your case the laundry closet and then distributed out to all of the rooms. This will give you the most flexibility now and in the future.

 

[J-dubb16]

Buy then won't it get expensive to run a DVI fro the central point to the two HDTVs. That is the only reason I was doing it this way. I did not think HD distribution was cheap.


J-dubb

 

[AJF]

I'm just saying that all that I've ever read on this forum and elsewhere is that just about all RG6 and Cat5 are homerun to a central hub. From there you distribute out to the rest of the rooms. That is how my house is wired. 6 runs of RG6 from the attic to the hub, then 2 runs of RG6 from the hub to each room for video. I have all of my sat rec's at the hub and distribute the signal out to the other TV locations. HDTV does pose a problem but not if the rec's are located at the TV location. You just send the raw satellite signal from the hub on 1 RG6 to that room and I believe you need the second run of RG6 for Tivo and OTA signal can be diplexed on one of thoses wires.


There was also a great deal of excitement at this years CES about some new products with the ability to send several streams of HD content over 1 coax:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...highlight=moca
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...highlight=VOOM

 

[coxpt]

I have installed several of the Bobs. I didn't read all the posts in great detail, but here are a few of the things I have run into:


Bob will only take analog inputs of audio, so make sure all the input sources have that, and it is active. Usually you can then take the digital outputs of these sources and run them on an RG6 to the surround recievers.


Also if you are doing high def and want those recievers to go into the Bob make sure the composite and HD signal output can be active at the same time. As far as HD recievers go the Samsungs are the only ones I have found that do this now, don't know about the HD TIVO.


Make sure you have an RG6 going from every TV back to the Bob for video distribution. You can run two tv's on one zone, but may need a video amplifier. Make sure the keypads are in a good location to point the remote at, if not run another cat 5 from the keypad location to the TV.


email me if you have any questions.

[email protected]