Bulding house need av help

C

coachj14

Audiophyte
I am remodeling a house for myself and no wiring is currently in place for anything. I am just about to start framing so I will need to figure out what my A/V situation is going to be in order to run the wires before drywall. Below is an explanation of what I am going for, and as a laymen, I have no clue about home theater or A/V, so if you can give me advice using as much explanation for all the jargon, it would be helpful.
First a couple of notes about my family:
We currently have Cox Cable and are heavy users of the Cox DVR. However, we currently only have one DVR/Cable box [non HD] that we use with an old 60"Mitsubishi projection screen TV [no other TV's in the house].
We also have one HTIB [New Onkyo HT-5300], but it doesn't seem to put out enough sound quality and I am thinking I will need to upgrade that as well. However, it may be the fact that neither my Big Screen, nor my cable box has HDMI. Or I just don't have it hooked up right. Who knows? I plan on upgrading to newer LCD's in three rooms.
One thing for sure is that my wife and I [and 4 year old daughter] have competing interests on shows and often we find that the DVR is recording 2 shows and won't allow one of us to watch something [like the UNC-Duke game].
The other problem is that when you record on the Cox DVR, you have to watch on that same TV and cannot go into another room [or I may be wrong so let me know – I have not discovered how to get any of the recordings off the DVR on to any other media]. We also find that we keep shows on the DVR for long periods of time [like Disney movies] and the space is usually running low for other shows.
What I would love to find out is if there is any way to have a system that allows me to record more than 3-4 shows at one time and watch them on any TV in the house, without using multiple cable boxes???
I do have a computer, and would love to be able to utilize that as a video hub, downloading or recording onto that hard drive, then delivering the audio/video to any TV/system in the house. Is that possible?
I am finding that you can buy tuners for your computer, but I am unsure if you can buy multiple tuners [to record multiple shows at the same time] and I am not aware of how those tuners would record without some sort of scheduling database so the program knows when to record.
I am running COAX to all rooms. However, I am unsure if I need to run any other type of lines?
Nevertheless, I need to figure out what to do so I can wire my home. Below is a description each room and what I want to accomplish:
Main room:
I am looking to make this the main TV watching area and anticipate having a LCD and system with full 7.1 surround system here. I anticipate this system will feed the A/V to that room, as well as feed A/V to the outside patio area where I will have 4 speakers [no surround - a large patio and the pool area]. If possible, I would also like to be able to watch videos from my computer [office] on the TV in this room [or use the computer as a DVR as stated earlier].
Patio/Pool area:
I will have two sets of speakers [or if anyone has another suggestion, I am all ears]. The area is quite large. The patio is 14x40 and the pool area is almost 50’ from there. I am thinking that I would want volume control outside. In the future, I may have a LCD here, but for now, no.
Master Bedroom:
I will have another LCD here. I would think that I will need another system to run the A/V in this room. I could use the Onkyo that I already have. OR, if there are other suggestions, throw them at me. I anticipate that I will want less surround here [maybe 3.1], and will want to have ability to watch from the recording device [either DVR, Computer, or from the main room DVR???]
Office:
The office will house my computer and can be the hub for the data lines and such. I will also have an LCD in here. I anticipate that I will have speakers, but no surround here. This is where I will probably watch games [I am a basketball coach and watch for my job]. Having the ability to record games and watch in here would be ideal, but I would like the ability to feed that stream to other areas of the house as well.
Here is what I want to know:
• Is there a combination of devices that allow you to record multiple [more than 4] shows at one time, store larger amounts of data in one place, and feed that recording to multiple rooms [not at once, but make a decision which room you want to watch]?
• Can you run multiple locations, with multiple speaker set ups from one receiver system, or do I need more than one receiver?
• Any suggestions on hardware for receivers, speakers, wiring, etc…
• What other hardware will I need to accomplish this?
 
WaynePflughaupt

WaynePflughaupt

Audioholic Samurai
The problem here is that whole-house audio/video systems as sophisticated as what you desire are very complicated. Combine that with the fact you have no knowledge of audio and video, your wanting to DIY it – well, it’s kinda of like a first-semester engineering student attempting to design a chemical plant or Navy battleship. I mean, I’m a pretty saavy A/V guy, but I wouldn’t know where to begin for something like you want. You can get good DIY whole-house audio systems from companies like Home Theater Direct, but when you add whole-house video to the mix, things are instantly on a whole different level. And what’s your budget? Even the custom remote control required to intuitively navigate a system like this (Crestron or AMX) will cost probably a couple thousand dollars.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 
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BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
The first thing to do is that you should be settling on a standard. A good standard at this point is HDMI. So, you want to run multiple cat-6 cables from one central location in your home, like your basement in an unfinished area.

Then for each TV, you use an HDMI extender over CAT-6 to handle the HDMI signal for not a lot of cash.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10105&cs_id=1010504&p_id=6532&seq=1&format=2

So, now you have HDMI at each TV in your home.

Now, you take all your sources, such as your cable TV, your Blu-ray player, your PC, and you connect the HDMI out of those sources into a matrix HDMI switcher with full and proper HDCP authentication.

Like this one:
http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=dxphdmi&s=5

You will then have HDMI video and audio to every TV in your home.

For cable TV, your best bet is to get a couple of HD DVRs. Combined with the matrix switch you can distribute video anywhere in your home and pick from either of the tuners and record up to four shows at once.

None of this is inexpensive - like $5,000 or so for the matrix switcher. But, it works and is the best way to get distributed video in your home.

Now, I'm not sure, but Fios offers viewing of recorded content on other televisions with additional cable boxes, so you may want to check if Cox offers such a thing. It's way cheaper to just put a cable box at every TV than to try to figure out ways around it. On the other hand, a properly designed and integrated A/V system can really be a breeze to use and allows for the highest quality video possible at every display location. Combined with a really good remote control system, and it's easy to enjoy and for everyone to utilize.
 
C

coachj14

Audiophyte
What about tivo

Could I simply make 2 runs from each TV with HDMI to two TIVO boxes, set up IR and hub all of that in one place? Wouldn't that get me multiple recorders with the ability to send to multiple TVs?
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
Could I simply make 2 runs from each TV with HDMI to two TIVO boxes, set up IR and hub all of that in one place? Wouldn't that get me multiple recorders with the ability to send to multiple TVs?
This is a possibility. Monoprice has some HDMI splitters which do work well, but I'm not sure if you can have the same thing on multiple TVs at once. I would recommend running mulitple CAT-5/6 cables instead of HDMI because you can pick up a HDMI over CAT-5/6 converter for not a lot of cash and send HDMI 100' without issue using them. Then, if the technology improves and you need new adapters, you can still use the same CAT cabling.

1000' of CAT-6 is under 100 bucks...
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10234

Each HDMI converter is about 35 bucks...
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10105&cs_id=1010504&p_id=6532&seq=1&format=2

If you have 4 TVs and need 50' HDMI cables (that 8 cables totalling 400') then that would be about $400.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10250&cs_id=1025002&p_id=6058&seq=1&format=2

The one roll of CAT-6 will give you about 20 runs (50' each) total, so 5 CAT cables at each display, and 8 HDMI extenders for about $375.

The price is similar, but CAT cabling is far more flexible and future oriented than HDMI cable is by itself.

The HDMI splitter that I've most recently used, with success, is here:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011301&p_id=7618&seq=1&format=2

Monoprice even has a small (4x4) HDMI matrix switcher, but results from that box have been so-so with some users.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=5704&seq=1&format=2

For the money, it's a good way to go.

FYI: RF is a far better and more reliable solution than IR in a home typically.
 
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