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#1
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Advice Please
Hi,
Hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I am doing home remodeling. While at it I decided to redo my wiring for A/V distribution. I ran RG-6 (x2). CAT-5 (x2) and speaker wire from each room we are remodeling and brought each individual line back to a central electrical room in the house. I didn't run anything like S-Video or RCA cableing. I would like music and video in each room. I have 2 satellite boxes (from the same provider) and am going to add a 3rd from a different provider. I also have a CD player and DVD and VCR but am questioning the real-life useability of having DVD/VCR centralized. The CD player may be replaced by either a CD "jukebox" or put onto a computer HD in the future. I want to do this on the "cheap" for now but not so cheap that I am totally wasting my money. So where do I go from here? Any guides? I live outside of Toronto, Canada in case anyone can recommend someplace I can visit or buy from directly. Thanks. Alan |
#2
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Maybe you can get with the same money a dvd player for each room.After all
they sell only for 50 euro (here) and calculating what the electrician would charge you for this type of wiring you could get 2 dvd players with cruise control. -- Tzortzakakis Dimitriïs major in electrical engineering, freelance electrician FH von Iraklion-Kreta, freiberuflicher Elektriker dimtzort AT otenet DOT gr Ï "Alan" Ýãñáøå óôï ìÞíõìá . .. Hi, Hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I am doing home remodeling. While at it I decided to redo my wiring for A/V distribution. I ran RG-6 (x2). CAT-5 (x2) and speaker wire from each room we are remodeling and brought each individual line back to a central electrical room in the house. I didn't run anything like S-Video or RCA cableing. I would like music and video in each room. I have 2 satellite boxes (from the same provider) and am going to add a 3rd from a different provider. I also have a CD player and DVD and VCR but am questioning the real-life useability of having DVD/VCR centralized. The CD player may be replaced by either a CD "jukebox" or put onto a computer HD in the future. I want to do this on the "cheap" for now but not so cheap that I am totally wasting my money. So where do I go from here? Any guides? I live outside of Toronto, Canada in case anyone can recommend someplace I can visit or buy from directly. Thanks. Alan |
#3
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In , on 12/05/04
at 08:52 PM, "Alan" said: Hi, Hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I am doing home remodeling. While at it I decided to redo my wiring for A/V distribution. I ran RG-6 (x2). CAT-5 (x2) and speaker wire from each room we are remodeling and brought each individual line back to a central electrical room in the house. I didn't run anything like S-Video or RCA cableing. I would like music and video in each room. I have 2 satellite boxes (from the same provider) and am going to add a 3rd from a different provider. I also have a CD player and DVD and VCR but am questioning the real-life useability of having DVD/VCR centralized. The CD player may be replaced by either a CD "jukebox" or put onto a computer HD in the future. At the moment, there are a daunting number of options, more every week. In your case, a satellite "multi-switch" (shares a single dish with multiple receivers) is relatively inexpensive. Dozens or even hundreds of receivers can be accomodated with proper design; eight or less is a one-box piece of cake. (one must have run enough RG-6 lines to the dish -- one per LNB.) There are also inexpensive modulators that will allow you to distribute video sources (except High Definition sources) over the same RG-6 as the satellite. It gets harder if you want to simultaneously distribute cable TV and local video. There is also some relatively new technology that allows component video to be shipped over CAT-5. A relatively inexpensive and straight forward audio option is to use autotransformer speaker volume controls in each room (with or without IR repeaters). I want to do this on the "cheap" for now but not so cheap that I am totally wasting my money. So where do I go from here? Any guides? In the future we will become more computer network based, but for the moment, the really good systems are expensive and, while it's great for the new generation of MP3 aficionados, old style audio types don't appreciate the audio quality of the low end (about $200USD) stuff offered by the computer manufacturers. I live outside of Toronto, Canada in case anyone can recommend someplace I can visit or buy from directly. In the US, most higher end audio stores are in a good position to help. Some may be snotty and want to stress having them do all the wiring, others will be happy to sell you a bag of parts and, if necessary, some consulting services. Occasionally, I'll see the autotransformer volume controls in mega bulding supply stores. I can't recall seeing satellite multi-switches, but both are easily available mail order. They are premium products, but I've had good results with SPAUN multi-switches. Multi-switches are easy to deal with. Just hook all the LNBs and the satellite receivers to the box (sometimes there may be a setting or two), and you are done. Make sure you purchase a multi-switch with enough "ins" and "outs". You need enough outs for your network of receivers and enough ins to do High Definition. In most home situations, a 4-way or 8-way is enough. Resistive volume controls (sometimes called "L-Pads) are cheaper than autotransformer speaker volume controls, but the autotransformer controls are far superior and not very expensive in absolute terms. Use the premium type that offers to match impedances. (there will be a discussion of "1x", "2x", "4x", or "8x".) In most cases I've had very poor luck using the speaker controls with built-in IR sensors, but the XANTECH units seem to be reasonable. I use separate IR sensors. They take-up more wall space than the integrated units, but are much more reliable. If you use remote IR sensors keep them *AT LEAST* four feet away from lamp dimmers. If you are using Plasma TV's, the IR sensor situation becomes more complicated. ----------------------------------------------------------- spam: wordgame:123(abc):14 9 20 5 2 9 18 4 at 22 15 9 3 5 14 5 20 dot 3 15 13 (Barry Mann) [sorry about the puzzle, spammers are ruining my mailbox] ----------------------------------------------------------- |
#4
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Thanks for the advice.
"Barry Mann" wrote in message om... In , on 12/05/04 at 08:52 PM, "Alan" said: Hi, Hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I am doing home remodeling. While at it I decided to redo my wiring for A/V distribution. I ran RG-6 (x2). CAT-5 (x2) and speaker wire from each room we are remodeling and brought each individual line back to a central electrical room in the house. I didn't run anything like S-Video or RCA cableing. I would like music and video in each room. I have 2 satellite boxes (from the same provider) and am going to add a 3rd from a different provider. I also have a CD player and DVD and VCR but am questioning the real-life useability of having DVD/VCR centralized. The CD player may be replaced by either a CD "jukebox" or put onto a computer HD in the future. At the moment, there are a daunting number of options, more every week. In your case, a satellite "multi-switch" (shares a single dish with multiple receivers) is relatively inexpensive. Dozens or even hundreds of receivers can be accomodated with proper design; eight or less is a one-box piece of cake. (one must have run enough RG-6 lines to the dish -- one per LNB.) There are also inexpensive modulators that will allow you to distribute video sources (except High Definition sources) over the same RG-6 as the satellite. It gets harder if you want to simultaneously distribute cable TV and local video. There is also some relatively new technology that allows component video to be shipped over CAT-5. A relatively inexpensive and straight forward audio option is to use autotransformer speaker volume controls in each room (with or without IR repeaters). I want to do this on the "cheap" for now but not so cheap that I am totally wasting my money. So where do I go from here? Any guides? In the future we will become more computer network based, but for the moment, the really good systems are expensive and, while it's great for the new generation of MP3 aficionados, old style audio types don't appreciate the audio quality of the low end (about $200USD) stuff offered by the computer manufacturers. I live outside of Toronto, Canada in case anyone can recommend someplace I can visit or buy from directly. In the US, most higher end audio stores are in a good position to help. Some may be snotty and want to stress having them do all the wiring, others will be happy to sell you a bag of parts and, if necessary, some consulting services. Occasionally, I'll see the autotransformer volume controls in mega bulding supply stores. I can't recall seeing satellite multi-switches, but both are easily available mail order. They are premium products, but I've had good results with SPAUN multi-switches. Multi-switches are easy to deal with. Just hook all the LNBs and the satellite receivers to the box (sometimes there may be a setting or two), and you are done. Make sure you purchase a multi-switch with enough "ins" and "outs". You need enough outs for your network of receivers and enough ins to do High Definition. In most home situations, a 4-way or 8-way is enough. Resistive volume controls (sometimes called "L-Pads) are cheaper than autotransformer speaker volume controls, but the autotransformer controls are far superior and not very expensive in absolute terms. Use the premium type that offers to match impedances. (there will be a discussion of "1x", "2x", "4x", or "8x".) In most cases I've had very poor luck using the speaker controls with built-in IR sensors, but the XANTECH units seem to be reasonable. I use separate IR sensors. They take-up more wall space than the integrated units, but are much more reliable. If you use remote IR sensors keep them *AT LEAST* four feet away from lamp dimmers. If you are using Plasma TV's, the IR sensor situation becomes more complicated. ----------------------------------------------------------- spam: wordgame:123(abc):14 9 20 5 2 9 18 4 at 22 15 9 3 5 14 5 20 dot 3 15 13 (Barry Mann) [sorry about the puzzle, spammers are ruining my mailbox] ----------------------------------------------------------- |
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