Future proof

[JimexPL]

I'm currently in the process of renovating the family holiday cottage and am trying to work out how far to go with av/Internet wiring.

It's an average sized 2 bed 400 year old cottage that will not be used as Alain home. Tv reception is currently a bit patchy, but a satellite dish might be possible.

Current ideas are-
Network each room, with sockets near potential tv points, terminating in the boiler room, where we would locate a router and at some point connect a central heating controller to the Internet.
Tv aerial points in each room.
Quad lnb dish, giving 2 connection to the living room for sky plus (not that we intend on having it initially - prob go for freeway hd), and a single cable to each bedroom.
Hidden wiring for 2 surrounds. I think that any more would be excessive for a holiday home.
5amp light sockets at specific points in the living room in a separate circuit to the main lights.

Am I missing or over doing anything?

[bobthemonkey]

Cat6.

Flood the place with it. When you think you have enough, double it.

At the end of the day, you can use Cat5/6 to send just or do just about anything ranging from HDMI to device power.

[Tuna]

What the 'flood wire... and then double it' comments hide is the basic fact that you can put as many sockets in as you like, but the moment you move into a room you'll find you want a socket somewhere else. It's a hopeless task, but all you can do is try to put sockets in good places and allow for future modifications.

With that in mind, if you can run a conduit through the house that is accessible enough to allow you to add cable runs later on, you are giving yourself the greatest flexibility.

Unless you plan to put your satellite receiver in a cupboard, you should probably run high quality sat cable at least to the obvious tv locations, and bring it to a central place (where you can connect the relevant ones to a dish). Remember sat dishes cannot share connections with multiple receivers, so you need a double or quad LNB (the connection block on the dish itself) if you want to connect more than one receiver.

Alternatively, if you DO plan to put all your AV gear in a cupboard (and use a universal radio remote to control it), run decent HDMI cables (at least two) to each TV point. Of the two options, this is the more expensive and least flexible - you can't join, cut or do much else with an HDMI cable once it's in. However, it gives you a very neat installation and you might want the security of hiding AV gear from guests.

All that said, there are up and coming wireless HD devices and you can cover most homes with a couple of Wi-Fi access points. Add in a SONOS or equivalent audio set up and the vast majority of your cables will be redundant. There is no such thing as future proof

Edited by Tuna on Thursday 13th January 10:04

[dan101smith]

You don't say if you are doing the cable runs yourself, but if you are stick to Cat5e as it's easier to work with.

Otherwise you're pretty much there.

[JimexPL]

Thanks for the advice.

Not planning anything as dramatic as a full av set up hidden in a cupboard.
After all, it is only a second use cottage and I need any friends/family that will also use it to be able to understand the kit that is in there.
I'm thinking of a TV with built in freesat and freeview combined with an all in one blu-ray/reciever, with each bedroom initially only having a small freeview tv.

I've got a load of cat 5 cable left from doing an office refit, and this should amply cover the 5 main rooms in the house.
Installing some conduit is a good idea. Given the limitations of a grade II listed cobb-built cottage, doing this between the main bedroom and living room is a possibility.

[VEX]

Based on the fact that it is a holiday home I would say you are pretty much spot on.

For developer installs I do something similar, good quality coax (WF100 ideal) to TV points in each room, with 3 being feed to the main / living room.

At least 2 CAT5/6 cables to the same TV points (I install 3) and at least one other point in the room for 2 data points in a plate. Usually this is positioned on the opposite wall to TV.

Don't forget power next to the tv points, or maybe a flex outlet if your thinking of ultra flat tv's, with a fused spur switch down at socket level.

Also consider a wireless access point (and power) in the loft to be able provide a boost to the wifi in the upper floor.

Hope that helps.

V.

[blugnu]

I've been trying to minimise clutter in our house.

My thoughts would be a sound bar instead of surround speakers - much less room and hassle, and they're surprisingly good. I have a yamaha ysp800 which fits perfectly under my 32" tv. It replaced a 5.1 setup.

Get a PS3 and rip a load of music to it, and plug it in to the sound bar. You then have a decent CD collection in the cottage, a games console, and a blu ray and DVD player with surround sound, and it takes up hardly any room. You can also connect the ps3 wirelessly, although good luck with that if it's a cottage with stone walls!

Cat 5 to every room sounds like a plan. You could always just then terminate each socket with a wireless thingumy so each room has wireless even if the walls are thick. Most devices support wireless now.