04-07-2007, 08:20 PM
OK, first and foremost Lowe's and Home Despot are gonna sell you Leviton or other 'media centers', which are overpriced solutions. You're looking for something well past amateur hour.
Rule #0-
Futureproof your interfaces. Wiring it for the "TV you have now" guarantees the wiring will be useless in the future. Who here has one of those old flat four-wire controller cables in the wall from the Tv antenna rotator on the roof ? (raises hand). Wireless MAY work (think AppleTV's...), but that depends heavily on your internal structures. Wires still got better bandwidth.
Rule #1-
Find out what you want, then check ebay first (really). Lot of used equipment in this market.
Rule #2- Standard racks, man, standard racks. You can swap out switches and whatnot to your heart's desire.
Rule #3- RF remotes instead of IR if you're looking for galactic control.
Rule #4- Max out your wiring. To each access point, run at least two Cat5e or Cat6 lines, 2 RG59 or RG6 lines, and perhaps something else. Personally I'd love to just run Fiber Optic and be done with it, but you're talking serious coin for the interfaces. Leaving a few pull strings is a good suggestion, assuming you have room in the walls.
I did some consulting work with a company that did this ultra-high end setup in this guys house- he paid them over $2M for the job, and then decided to hook up Airport Base Stations for his Ti Books. We did a wifi survey and put in a few more ABS's to cover the whole house. The wiring for his audio/video was incredible- complex switches, software, RF remotes, etc. Real 'smart house' stuff, but it's ALL already obsolete, 3 years later. Oopsie.
Rule #0-
Futureproof your interfaces. Wiring it for the "TV you have now" guarantees the wiring will be useless in the future. Who here has one of those old flat four-wire controller cables in the wall from the Tv antenna rotator on the roof ? (raises hand). Wireless MAY work (think AppleTV's...), but that depends heavily on your internal structures. Wires still got better bandwidth.
Rule #1-
Find out what you want, then check ebay first (really). Lot of used equipment in this market.
Rule #2- Standard racks, man, standard racks. You can swap out switches and whatnot to your heart's desire.
Rule #3- RF remotes instead of IR if you're looking for galactic control.
Rule #4- Max out your wiring. To each access point, run at least two Cat5e or Cat6 lines, 2 RG59 or RG6 lines, and perhaps something else. Personally I'd love to just run Fiber Optic and be done with it, but you're talking serious coin for the interfaces. Leaving a few pull strings is a good suggestion, assuming you have room in the walls.
I did some consulting work with a company that did this ultra-high end setup in this guys house- he paid them over $2M for the job, and then decided to hook up Airport Base Stations for his Ti Books. We did a wifi survey and put in a few more ABS's to cover the whole house. The wiring for his audio/video was incredible- complex switches, software, RF remotes, etc. Real 'smart house' stuff, but it's ALL already obsolete, 3 years later. Oopsie.