Multimedia Home Network

[ryanborg]

Hi Guys.. Need some help with a small project.

Im building a new house from scratch and wish to build some kind of multimedia network for my whole house.

I was wondering. Is there a way to have all Set op Boxes such as Cable & Satellite Boxes.. A Multimedia Server (For my movies and music) All in one location.. and be able to stream them to Multiple Tvs in my house.

The Multimedia server bit i think i can manage with DLAN or UPNP.

What i need to know is how to connect my set top boxes & pc to my tvs so i have everything in one location and stream to multiple tvs (One STP to multiple Tvs and if possible control the chanels from each TV. ) I understand that i will only be able to watch the same tv stations from every room.

Also i assume i need some kind of interface clients for each tv... as regards to wires just let me know whats best as i have to pass everything yet.

Hope i explained myself well.

Thanks in advance

Ryan

[redwudz]

The way my house is set up works well. I have LAN (CAT 6) connections in each room, along with 2 coax cable connections. That's the 'easy' part. How you hook everything up and distribute it can get a bit more complicated. I store my video on servers hooked to the LAN system. Then I can access it from any PC in the house or a set top box like a WDTV Live or similar.

The coax comes in from a antenna for over the air HDTV and also from a local cable TV input. I have a junction box with splitters for the coax distribution. I don't have satellite TV, but I could use one of the coax inputs for that.

The main thing is to get the wiring in the walls when the house is constructed. They also added a six or so conductor audio cable to each room, though I don't really use it for anything. It's meant to distribute audio to ceiling speakers. The wiring for this just goes into wall and ceiling boxes with a blank cover. All those wires and cables just give you the options, even if you don't use or need them all.

Also, if you have land based telephone, you want to run those cables at the same time.

Others can probably give you more specific ideas.

And welcome to our forums.

[Tony_the_Ferret]

What about the reast of the services, Security alarm, power monitoring, room temperatures. these devices may not be Rj45

[redwudz]

My alarm system uses separate wiring, with the alarm console by the door to the garage and the alarm unit in the laundry room, along with the backup battery. (Same place my communication terminal box is) Since I don't use a land line phone, it uses a cell phone module to go to the alarm company. It has terminals by the front door and in the master bedroom. All the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are wired to the alarm system, along with door and window switches and a infrared motion detector in the front room.

Not sure what you mean by 'power monitoring'.

Room temperature is handled by a single programmable thermostat hooked to a central HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) Also separate wiring. Also ceiling fans in all rooms. The front room fan and light use a remote control to operate. The other rooms use a wall switch.

I just switched my internet over to VDSL (Very high speed Digital Subscriber Line.) at 20MB/s. 40MB/s is also available. This uses a 2 wire phone line, but I just hooked it to a CAT6 cable from the external phone box to my main terminal box and installed the modem there. Then over CAT6 to my LAN. A fiber optic connection is in the subdivision phone box, along with a converter for distribution over the phone system, which also uses CAT6 cable to the homes in the subdivision.

[Tony_the_Ferret]

Power monitoring,,,, this is the measurement of electricity used. To be more "eco" we should be looking at where the most is used, that is why it needs to be on the network, to collate all the information for computer analysis.
we should be considering "Zoned" heating and room thermostats to replace the single thermostat and radiator thermostats. In a new build this is all possible

[garryward]

If you think you need 2 cables put 4 in. if you can put ducting into the wall then do so as this will make it easier if you need to install any more cables
It my be worth running HDMI cables to each room; you can but these with built in amps to get the distance and the price of HDMi splinters are coming down
I run a media Pc in 2 rooms using Media browser and I have a HDMI splitter to end my HD cable to 3 rooms