My plan for my refurb. Thoughts?

KamSandhu44

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Hi all,

Another home refurb thread.

I planning to start a refurb in March.

I have tried to put together a plan that I think will work and wanted to get the forums thoughts.

This is the proposed floor plan.

Plans.jpg


I plan to run at least 4 runs of CAT6 to each room with the central point being under the stairs.

The 'Family Room' will be the main TV/ Projector room.

I was planning to run active HDMI cables to the Family and TV room and use the CAT6 cables for backup.

I am also planning to wire for a future projector, so further active HDMI and CAT6 cables in the ceiling.

Speaker config wise, I am wiriing for a 5.1.4 system.

The TV room will only have SKY HD going to it. The Family Room, to start with will only have SKY HD and XBOX One. Eventually there will be an AV amp and blu ray player added.

There is no home automation involved, I just don't need it or have the budget.

Is there anything I am missing or should consider.
 
Hi
I'm by no means an expert, but I'm mid way through a big refurbishment myself so I've been taking a lot of advice on this sort of thing recently.
Like you, I'm planning to run multiple cat 6 cables to all my rooms.
The thing I would consider changing on your plan is removing the hdmi cables and going with hdmi over cat 6. There's a couple of reasons for this - a) there are distance limitations for hdmi cables, and b) the potential to expand in the future.
HDMI over dual cat 6 is cheap and should do the job, but hdmi over single cat 6 (hdbaset) is more reliable and still affordable.
As I said, I'm not an expert, but this is the advice I have picked up and am implementing it in my build with a hdbaset 4x4 matrix managing content over cat 6 to all my tv's. [emoji5]️
Seb from @Aclass Technology has been a huge help to me regarding this sort of thing so if you're lucky he (or someone else who knows more than me) will point you in the right direction [emoji106]
Good luck with the work!
 
Also no means and expert but might want to wire for 7.1 speaker cable wise. in case in the future you want it..

I've just found out I think I haven't run enough CAT6 to each room in my design... in the room you have the main set top boxes make sure you have cables for the set top boxes as well as the needs for the TV. Smart TV + Set top.. Think today SKY, (1) Stereo (1) Apple TV (1) Loop back (1) XBOX or PlayStation (1) think about if you want cameras in the future... Front door, back door... CAT6 POE.

From the master phone point to where you are having your router put in 2 x CAT 6 in case one gets errors...
 
Hi
I'm by no means an expert, but I'm mid way through a big refurbishment myself so I've been taking a lot of advice on this sort of thing recently.
Like you, I'm planning to run multiple cat 6 cables to all my rooms.
The thing I would consider changing on your plan is removing the hdmi cables and going with hdmi over cat 6. There's a couple of reasons for this - a) there are distance limitations for hdmi cables, and b) the potential to expand in the future.
HDMI over dual cat 6 is cheap and should do the job, but hdmi over single cat 6 (hdbaset) is more reliable and still affordable.
As I said, I'm not an expert, but this is the advice I have picked up and am implementing it in my build with a hdbaset 4x4 matrix managing content over cat 6 to all my tv's. [emoji5]️
Seb from @Aclass Technology has been a huge help to me regarding this sort of thing so if you're lucky he (or someone else who knows more than me) will point you in the right direction [emoji106]
Good luck with the work!

I was in two minds about the long runs of HDMI cables and am still not sure about them. Maybe I will have to have a rethink.
 
Also no means and expert but might want to wire for 7.1 speaker cable wise. in case in the future you want it..

I've just found out I think I haven't run enough CAT6 to each room in my design... in the room you have the main set top boxes make sure you have cables for the set top boxes as well as the needs for the TV. Smart TV + Set top.. Think today SKY, (1) Stereo (1) Apple TV (1) Loop back (1) XBOX or PlayStation (1) think about if you want cameras in the future... Front door, back door... CAT6 POE.

From the master phone point to where you are having your router put in 2 x CAT 6 in case one gets errors...

I did think about 7.1.4, but I don't know how well that will work as the sofa will be quite close to the wall.

Currently I just have a Sky box and XBOX, in the future everything will run through an amp. My thinking is 4 cat cables should be enough?

CCTV is planned for the future, but was not planning to cable for this now, the plan was to use external grade CAT6 when the time came.
 
I was in two minds about the long runs of HDMI cables and am still not sure about them. Maybe I will have to have a rethink.
The other benefit to hdbaset is the ability to control your devices as it allows for ir and rs232 across the same single cat 6 cable.
Also I would recommend running a coax cable to each tv point as a back up / freeview duties.
 
Also I would recommend running a coax cable to each tv point as a back up / freeview duties.

Coax was the other thing I was debating about, currently I do not use it and will probably never use. I was actually not going to bother putting any in. I have still not made my mind up about this.

I only have two TVs and two Sky boxes. With the announcement of Sky Q and their mini boxes I didn't see the point of coax.
 
Currently I just have a Sky box and XBOX, in the future everything will run through an amp. My thinking is 4 cat cables should be enough?
You might want to read into the controller distances for the Xbox just to make sure you will still be able to control it when it is in the cupboard away from your gaming position.
4 cat cables to the tv's should be fine, that's how many I'm doing -
1) hdmi over hdbaset
2) smart tv features
3) if I want to add a box in future (Apple TV, rasp Pi)
4) future proofing ie if new standards (like 4K UHD or better) require dual cat cables for hdbaset.
Whilst you're doing the work, you might as well run an extra cable or two to another part of the room just in case you want to hard wire anything to the network - a pc, kids laptops etc. Cat cable is cheap enough that it's worth doing now even if you don't think you'll need it.
 
Coax was the other thing I was debating about, currently I do not use it and will probably never use. I was actually not going to bother putting any in. I have still not made my mind up about this.

I only have two TVs and two Sky boxes. With the announcement of Sky Q and their mini boxes I didn't see the point of coax.
Of course it's up to you, and I don't currently use coax either, but my thinking is that for minimal extra cost and work it is worth having a cable tucked behind my tv just in case. Also, you may in future get additional tv's, or sell the house to someone who wants a tv in every room etc etc.
 
Of course it's up to you, and I don't currently use coax either, but my thinking is that for minimal extra cost and work it is worth having a cable tucked behind my tv just in case. Also, you may in future get additional tv's, or sell the house to someone who wants a tv in every room etc etc.

Actually, that is probably a good idea. It's a small cost and will allow for freeview.
 
Hi there i'm with you on the coax, I've designed coax to the back of each TV and location also bust in case. you can also go HDMI over Coax if ever need and 100 Mb networking (would not use it that much but possible) great for free to air applications, radio. It will all be digital in the future..

Think the most important is a low loss clean connection from your incoming to your router, this makes a hugh difference in quality of internet performance. I have used cable and ADSL and with good quality CAT6 and Coax to my node zero before was getting great speeds and reliability...
 

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