There's no need to run cabling in conduit unless you just want to take up space within conduit. What you want is to run conduit - and make sure it is no less than 1" conduit, preferably 1.5 to 2 inches.
Here's the deal - in rooms where you are thinking of a flat panel, run conduit up or down those walls. From an attic, it's no fun at all trying to find studs to run wires down in blown insulation. Likewise, outside walls which may be ideal for a plasma will likely have insulation in them, and maybe even fire breaks. So, just running 5 or 10 feet of conduit from those tough access areas, to unfinished spaces can save you hours of time and headaches.
I am a HUGE fan of motorized blinds - especially blackout blinds. Hunter Douglas makes some that are decent enough, and you can include them with control in a whole house system if you run cat-5 to your windows. Probably not ALL the windows, just a few, like the family room and the master bedroom. If you're doing this pulling yourself though, I would add all the bedrooms. I'm really wishing I had motorized blinds in my kids rooms so it was more consistent to get some sunlight in their rooms.
Cresnet cabling is not necessary. Just run 2 pieces of cat-5. I currently use either cat-5 or 22/12 cabling within my home with about 10 12 button keypads, a couple of touchpanels, and other Crestron devices. Neither AMX or Crestron really care that much and in 10 years, I've never seen a real issue with using Cat-5 for Cresnet.
Plan, plan, plan, plan, plan! If you're ever thinking of doing something crazy in your home, now is the time to plan to wire for it! I had about 7 pages in a Word document just going through my plans. No equipment lists or anything, just a list of what was being planned for each room, what wires to pull, and what the numbers were going to be on each wire. I then labeled every wire with a number AND a name so I knew where it was going. I did not label both ends as 100% of my cabling was going to the head end closet.
Cable TV, Phone, and all A/V go to the basement head end.
I included such fun toys as fireplace control (relay), the blinds (aforementioned), security cameras (keep those cars out front safe!), along with 13+ rooms of audio.
When wiring for audio, don't forget places like your rear porch, front patio, and garage. The garage is simply a kick butt place to have some audio running.
Think about neat places to have stuff - like a TV in the bathroom and phones in there as well.
It's a rare and unique chance in any Audioholics life to be able to get in before drywall goes up!
