Newbie needing advice on full refurb AV system

kdc87

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Hi Guys,

This is my first post so go easy, apologies if it's a bit lengthy...

I'm an aerial and satellite installer doing increasingly more av installations. Usually quite basic things like a couple of boxes into a hdanywhere 4x4 and running alongside an aerial distribution system etc, done a few small sonos installs too.
I have an AV guy that I usually pass bigger jobs like these to but I'm going to use this one as an opportunity to learn.

I've a pal who's refurbishing a large 4 bed property and wants a full hd distribution system but also a media room with 5.1 sound system.

So here a quick run down of whats required.:thumbsdow

Downstairs: Dining kitchen area - 55inch tv with possible soundbar
Formal living room - a socket on wall (which will be covered by a picture/mirror) with all facilities incase TV is fitted.
Garage conversion media room - 65inch screen, using old surround sound system (tannoy speakers, yamaha receiver), wiring to ceiling location for possible projector.

Upstairs: 3 Wall mounted TV's each connected to hd distribution system using cat.6

He wants all the equipment in a small cupboard under the stairs.

He wants 2 sky boxes, 1 apple tv, possibly blu ray and freeview as a back up incase the system goes down.

My questions are:

1. where should I put the av receiver ? as he doesnt want it seen in the media room just wants the tv up on the wall.

2.should i suggest he uses a control system so that they dont need multiple remotes around the place ? and if so what one, ive heard of control 4 being used but someone suggested to me the logitech harmony?

3. Will there be too much heat build up if putting all the sources and equipment under the stairs.

4. He says he might turn the media room into a proper home cinema in the future and that he wants all cables necessary left in the location for a projector, but how do I work out where this exact location should be.

5. should a gigabit switch be fitted in the cupboard to give extra ethernet points at each tv location incase of hardwiring tv's for smart features? Also should the bt master socket and router live in here ?

I know there is alot of questions.

Any info or advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers, K:smashin:
 
Hi

Looks like a 6x6 HDBaseT Matrix you would need in that scenario, have a look at our range here
HDBaseT and HDMI Matricies

Now for your questions

1. where should I put the av receiver ? as he doesnt want it seen in the media room just wants the tv up on the wall.

This can be located in the central area but then you need to get all the speaker cables to it and consider control as well, however quite a common way of doing it. Though whether its located centrally or in the room you need to carefully consider that HDMI can only send one type of audio signal at a time so if you want 5.1 in the media room you have to ensure all other TV zones can also handle 5.1 audio (soundbars are the most common way of ensuring this)


2.should i suggest he uses a control system so that they dont need multiple remotes around the place ? and if so what one, ive heard of control 4 being used but someone suggested to me the logitech harmony?

You have to be a registered Control4 installer to supply Control4 and it can be cost prohibitive. Harmony Universal remotes however can and are used for a cheaper solution


3. Will there be too much heat build up if putting all the sources and equipment under the stairs.

Make sure you allow for airflow and you should be ok

4. He says he might turn the media room into a proper home cinema in the future and that he wants all cables necessary left in the location for a projector, but how do I work out where this exact location should be.

Without knowing the projector to be used you cannot know the final position so best to leave plenty of spare cable

5. should a gigabit switch be fitted in the cupboard to give extra ethernet points at each tv location incase of hardwiring tv's for smart features? Also should the bt master socket and router live in here ?

As default I would always wire 3 x Cat6 to each Tv/Projector point so you can have hardwired Smart TV, HDBaseT and a spare. So yes a Gigabit switch is a good idea as wired is always better than wireless for Smart TV function.

Yes its best if the router and BT Master socket are located centrally as well, but you may also then want to consider the distributed Wifi rather than relying on router Wifi

I hope that helps

Seb
 
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Thanks for you reply Seb.

If you could pm me a price for the matrix. I do have a trade account with hd anywhere so will also check them out.

So can the cat6 from matrix run atraight into to the avr which will then output the hdmi signal into a cat6 balun and run to the tv arc port?
 
Hi

I will pm you a trade price however if you also want to bring ARC into the equation then we may have to change both the matrix and the setup a little.

As regards the output of the matrix to the AVR what we normally recommend is that you run from one of the HDBaseT ports direct to the HDBaseT receiver attached to TV and then use the mirrored HDMI output to the AVR.

If you also want ARC then also attach a seperate ARC enabled HDBaseT extender set to the AVR output to the TV .
 
Learning - on the job is OK if your customer understand that concept.

Design - at this point forget about any particular bits of kit and get a proper brief from the client.

Control - how does the client want to operate the system and what do they want the Control system to take charge of?

Network - don't assume it is a secondary consideration, wired and wireless access must be planned out carefully.

Video - are you briefed to cater for 1080p or 2160p?

SKY - are you going with SKY+ HD or SKY Q?

Audio - you either need to cater for the same audio in all Zones or treat the Cinema Zone independently of the rest of the property.

HD Matrix - may be relative or may not, the brief for the size of Displays and required Sources in the secondary Zones will give you a good steer on that.

Budget - have you discussed where the customer wants to be on the overall budget?

Joe
 

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