AV distribution in a 3 bed semi

Paul_GPvR

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Hi ,

I'm trying to work out the best way to distribute all my AV around the house.

Basically what i would like is this to be able to do this :-

Sources (stored wherever):-
Sky HD,
Xbox 360,
DVD,
CD


Lounge - large LCD to be able to view any of the sources in HD, AV amp to play the audio.

Kitchen - LCD to be able to view any of the sources, LCD or in ceiling speakers to play the audio.

Master Bedroom - LCD to be able to view any of the sources, possibly in HD?, LCD or in ceiling speakers to play the audio.

Bathroom - Mini LCD to be able to view any of the sources, waterproof ceiling speakers to play the audio.

Maybe allow for the following future add ons:-

Bedroom 2 - LCD to be able to view any of the sources, LCD or in ceiling speakers to play the audio.

Bedroom 3 - ceiling speakers to play the audio.

Obviously i would ideally like to be able to control the sources from any of the rooms.

Any kind of help with the wiring layout would be a massive help. I think i'm over confusing it and getting a bit lost lol! Ive had a look at the avilynx kit which looks okay, but not sure about the quality. I must stress i'm on a tight budget.

Thanks for any advice,

Paul
 
Just a thought, what about an AV streamer or two...?
 
Not wishing to butt in but can anyone point me in the right direction to av streaming, reading above, which will I'm sure help the first post. Can I control my sat receiver from downstairs and run 2 screens, on same channel of coarse. My sat rec need patching fairley often and I have to take it upstairs to my pc. It would be nice to leave it upstairs and beam the signal to the screen below and be in control of the channel/ satellite changing remotely. If anyone knows what I am talking about please let me know. Thanks.
 
Hello Paul GPvR

If your on a tight budget its worth thinking through if you 'really' need every Source to every Display.

I find most folk once they start seeing the costs mounting are more than happy with SKY HD 'whole house' and the Disc based Sources to the main Display or 'local' to the most relevant Display.

If you had your SD and HD Movies and recorded TV shows on a centralised NAS drive you can use the likes of a SnaZio player (sub 200.00 GBP) in each room on the end of a CAT5 cable to 'stream' your media to a local Display.

Joe
 
Hello Paul GPvR

If your on a tight budget its worth thinking through if you 'really' need every Source to every Display.

I find most folk once they start seeing the costs mounting are more than happy with SKY HD 'whole house' and the Disc based Sources to the main Display or 'local' to the most relevant Display.

If you had your SD and HD Movies and recorded TV shows on a centralised NAS drive you can use the likes of a SnaZio player (sub 200.00 GBP) in each room on the end of a CAT5 cable to 'stream' your media to a local Display.

Joe

Thanks for your help Joe.

I think your right, at the moment i'd be very happy just to distribute Sky,Sky+ or Sky HD around the house.

How should i go about doign this?

Cheers
 
You can do the SKY stuff over coax (3 runs per room)
As Joe said, a NAS plus snazzio / HDMediabox (I have both btw) distributed across CAT5 (4 runs per room in total) will do what you need.
Check out the Home Automation, Lighting, Security, Heating & Cooling & Custom Installers & Installations forums... loads of info
I've been looking at exactly the same thing BTW so do a search on my user Id for some replies!!
Oscarp
 
You can do the SKY stuff over coax (3 runs per room)
As Joe said, a NAS plus snazzio / HDMediabox (I have both btw) distributed across CAT5 (4 runs per room in total) will do what you need.
Check out the Home Automation, Lighting, Security, Heating & Cooling & Custom Installers & Installations forums... loads of info
I've been looking at exactly the same thing BTW so do a search on my user Id for some replies!!
Oscarp

So how would the sky cables be distributed from the dish and throughout the house? Guessing it would all plug into something like a SLx8L Aerial Amplifier?
whats the reason for 3 runs per room?

What would be the cable layout for cat5, for runs to each room near the tv? which all run back to one location i assume?

cheers
 
Hello Paul GPvR

Your first choice is to go SD or HD with SKY and then decide do you want to get RGB (SD) or Component (SD + HD) to each location or 'make do' with the much lower quality RF.

If you have the ability I'd try looking at RF vs. SCART RGB vs. Component on each of the Displays you intend to use and then decide what signal you need to distribute.

With a Networked Media Player (such as SnaZio) you have a central PC (or MAC) + NAS Harddrive + Wired Router(modem) and then 'spider' a CAT5 cable from the Router to each location you want to install a Networked Media Player.

Joe
 
well i think i would need to install rf ct100 around the house anyway to control the sky from whatever room, is that correct? via the rf 2?

So if i wanted to distribute sky HD or xbox 360 or HDDVD i would probably go down the Component route. So how exactly would this work? I've read somewhere that you can solder rca plugs onto cat5 and use that as a Component cable!
 

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Hello Paul GPvR

Assuming you want to Distribute a single SD/HD Analogue Source (such as SKY HD) you will want a DA on the Output of the Source.

If you stick the DA on the Output of an AV Receiver that means always having the AV Receiver switched 'On' plus having an AV Receiver with a Two Zone function - otherwise the master Display will always have to view SKY HD if you want to see SKY HD elsewhere in the house.

You can install a 1x3 or larger Component + Stereo Audio DA (see http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=3565) on the SKY HD Output and use a Video + Audio Multicore cable to each location - or as you say you may want to consider using CAT5 cable terminated with RCA plugs for the runs to the remote location.

You can also install a Component Video + Audio over CAT5 DA with CAT5 to Component + Audio Receivers at each remote location (though its getting costly again) - see http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=3878 + http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=3879

The most cost effective multi room control for SKY HD is going to be over an RF cable system - though you'll need to 'manage' who has control when.

Joe
 

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