Another home networking help thread
Discussion
Looking for some opinions on how best to run all my electrics, networking, sound etc now that the time where I have to make some decisions with my build is fast approaching.
What I am looking to acheive is TV into 4 rooms initially (with another 3 possible locations at a future date), all to be able to recieve Sky, with a blu ray player probably just required in the sitting room, kitchen/lounge and Cinema/games room. Would also like multiroom audio in maybe 8 or 9 rooms.
So my thinking is I should have 2 sky boxes in a central location somehow distributed around all the required rooms with something like a HDAnywhere or similar, network connection in every room as well and a co-ax for freeview. So this would be 2 x CAT 6 (one plus a spare) for HDAnywhere which also distributes network along the same CAT 6 plus a co-ax however this seems very low compared to what a lot of people talk about running around the place. Why would I need to put more in? Is there a more cost effective option than the HD Base T matrices as they are pricey when you need more than 4 rooms.
As for audio I'd like ceiling speakers for most rooms accept the cinema and the sitting room where I would have proper speakers through an AV amp. So in these rooms I could use a SONOS connect I assume with a SONOS connect amp for the others wired to the ceiling speakers, is this the correct approach? It does seem to get expensive going down this route. I guess the option would be to just have 2 or 3 SONOS Plays and take them into the room that requires them at the time, is there another approach that I am missing?
Other things I am looking at for the house is a lighting system by ECOLED but not sure if I am going to go for any sort of control system as yet and maybe an alarm system and a gate entry system. Do you think it will be worth biting the bullet and paying someone to help with the design or should it be something that I can work out myself easily enough?
There appears to be so many options and different ways to do things it all gets a bit overwhelming!!
What I am looking to acheive is TV into 4 rooms initially (with another 3 possible locations at a future date), all to be able to recieve Sky, with a blu ray player probably just required in the sitting room, kitchen/lounge and Cinema/games room. Would also like multiroom audio in maybe 8 or 9 rooms.
So my thinking is I should have 2 sky boxes in a central location somehow distributed around all the required rooms with something like a HDAnywhere or similar, network connection in every room as well and a co-ax for freeview. So this would be 2 x CAT 6 (one plus a spare) for HDAnywhere which also distributes network along the same CAT 6 plus a co-ax however this seems very low compared to what a lot of people talk about running around the place. Why would I need to put more in? Is there a more cost effective option than the HD Base T matrices as they are pricey when you need more than 4 rooms.
As for audio I'd like ceiling speakers for most rooms accept the cinema and the sitting room where I would have proper speakers through an AV amp. So in these rooms I could use a SONOS connect I assume with a SONOS connect amp for the others wired to the ceiling speakers, is this the correct approach? It does seem to get expensive going down this route. I guess the option would be to just have 2 or 3 SONOS Plays and take them into the room that requires them at the time, is there another approach that I am missing?
Other things I am looking at for the house is a lighting system by ECOLED but not sure if I am going to go for any sort of control system as yet and maybe an alarm system and a gate entry system. Do you think it will be worth biting the bullet and paying someone to help with the design or should it be something that I can work out myself easily enough?
There appears to be so many options and different ways to do things it all gets a bit overwhelming!!
Can't help you with Sky as they don't seem to allow anyone to decode the streams except themselves.
I am considering a (freesat) MythTV or tvheadend type system that will sit in my comms cabinet with 4 or 8 tuners and a centralised recording store. Then have a small client at each TV and wired ethernet to move the data around.
That will allow me to watch Live and record from any room and playback in any room.
I use Squeezebox for my music needs.
I am considering a (freesat) MythTV or tvheadend type system that will sit in my comms cabinet with 4 or 8 tuners and a centralised recording store. Then have a small client at each TV and wired ethernet to move the data around.
That will allow me to watch Live and record from any room and playback in any room.
I use Squeezebox for my music needs.
I clicked on this to see what the answers were... 
And there are not that many!
With Sky, would it not be practical to run Sky Go - the version that allows multi machines? A good mate does do this sort of thing if you want a contact but it isn't that cheap it seems..... The prices have tumbled in recent years with streaming vs Hard wires.
We need to embark on a solution when we 'go upstairs' and would need/like to run Sky in 4 or possibly 5 rooms so will be interested to see if anyone has any ideas.
And there are not that many!
With Sky, would it not be practical to run Sky Go - the version that allows multi machines? A good mate does do this sort of thing if you want a contact but it isn't that cheap it seems..... The prices have tumbled in recent years with streaming vs Hard wires.
We need to embark on a solution when we 'go upstairs' and would need/like to run Sky in 4 or possibly 5 rooms so will be interested to see if anyone has any ideas.
Ok, sorry for the delay, big breath here are some answers/ideas.
So in essence, yes your right, with the recent advent of HDbaseT you can now run HDMI, ir, rs232 ethernet and (in some cases) power, down a single Cat5 or 6 cable. As an industry we are adopting Cat6 purely as it gives us a little more performance rather than Cat5 bouncing around at its limits.
However it is still quite expensive, and one issue I have this it is that the majority currently need local power source. If you don't need all those function or can't justify the cost, have a look at HDbaseT Lite, which uses a similar system but reduces the additional functions, usually you just have Ir in one direction and sometimes power. However a big plus is that the receive units require less power so can be run by the 5v USB ports on modern screens.
This does mean you need a second Cat6 for network services, but over a great hardware cost saving it can be worth it.
A standard tv point for me is a pair of Sat/Tv cables and 3 Cat6's. 2 coaxes for TV and or local sky connections and 3 cat6's for HD video, Networking and a spare for future use. You can get this all into a double gang back box but it has to be a deep one (48mm)
For music, there are a couple of ways to go. SONOS is great, user friendly and it just works so well or you could go a more traditional route with a wired system with keypads in the room and six different sources based in the central rack. However the problem comes with scalability. If you need a 7th room, you have to buy another 6 zone box! With SONOS, you want another room, just buy another box for that room, simples.
Finally the other stuff.
Lighting control, that is a tough one, get it right it is great and very effective, but in most cases you have to plan for it from day one as the wiring is totally different to traditional wiring. Alternatively you could go retro fit and wire in a traditional way and just add rooms to a system as and when you can afford to or want to. Have a look at Rako Controls for this type of idea. They also have controls for LEDs and RGB control which I am looking at for a couple of projects.
Alarm, get one without a doubt, it is a massive deterrent.
Gate Access, if you have a long ish drive, or an house that is worthy of one, then it is a worth while investment.
Hope that all helps.
There are a couple of us installers on here so happy to help out in some shape or form if you need to. Between us we have done a number of PH projects.
V.
So in essence, yes your right, with the recent advent of HDbaseT you can now run HDMI, ir, rs232 ethernet and (in some cases) power, down a single Cat5 or 6 cable. As an industry we are adopting Cat6 purely as it gives us a little more performance rather than Cat5 bouncing around at its limits.
However it is still quite expensive, and one issue I have this it is that the majority currently need local power source. If you don't need all those function or can't justify the cost, have a look at HDbaseT Lite, which uses a similar system but reduces the additional functions, usually you just have Ir in one direction and sometimes power. However a big plus is that the receive units require less power so can be run by the 5v USB ports on modern screens.
This does mean you need a second Cat6 for network services, but over a great hardware cost saving it can be worth it.
A standard tv point for me is a pair of Sat/Tv cables and 3 Cat6's. 2 coaxes for TV and or local sky connections and 3 cat6's for HD video, Networking and a spare for future use. You can get this all into a double gang back box but it has to be a deep one (48mm)
For music, there are a couple of ways to go. SONOS is great, user friendly and it just works so well or you could go a more traditional route with a wired system with keypads in the room and six different sources based in the central rack. However the problem comes with scalability. If you need a 7th room, you have to buy another 6 zone box! With SONOS, you want another room, just buy another box for that room, simples.
Finally the other stuff.
Lighting control, that is a tough one, get it right it is great and very effective, but in most cases you have to plan for it from day one as the wiring is totally different to traditional wiring. Alternatively you could go retro fit and wire in a traditional way and just add rooms to a system as and when you can afford to or want to. Have a look at Rako Controls for this type of idea. They also have controls for LEDs and RGB control which I am looking at for a couple of projects.
Alarm, get one without a doubt, it is a massive deterrent.
Gate Access, if you have a long ish drive, or an house that is worthy of one, then it is a worth while investment.
Hope that all helps.
There are a couple of us installers on here so happy to help out in some shape or form if you need to. Between us we have done a number of PH projects.
V.
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