Pre-wiring House for DirecTV

[Bebop]

You never did tell us which plasma you have chosen?

If you are still interested in the Panasonic Plasma, American do carry them. I saw them in this week's Sunday ads. Unless your are already set on the Pioneer.

Panasonic will also have 58" coming out in a month or 2.

[psubill78]

If I run component, is it possible to use a splitter to feed both a 30 foot run and a 60 foot run at the same time and provide two TV's enough signal?

I haven't tried that....

[murdoc]

Do the DTV HD DVR's have a DVI or HDMI "In" or would I need to run a full cable to the TV?

D*'s boxes do not have DVI or HDMI "in".  You would have to run a seperate cable to the TV (or possibly a switcher).

[Tom Snyder]

I'm still waiting to buy the sets... won't need it till we're ready to move in. I have to go see particular person at American to get my deal, and I need to do everything at the same time... there's a $5,000 limit on the 50% off promotion, and I'm trying to fit a 50 inch Plasma, a 30 something inch Plasma or LCD, and as many of my in wall speakers as I can under that limit. They included wiring the great room with five built in speakers in the house price, but I do speakers through the rest of the house, too.

But if I can get a Panasonic monitor only with no speakers, and no base,, I'll be a happy camper. And I'm hoping that if I wait another few months, the price may come down, too.

[Bebop]

All the plasmas have the detachable base anyway. My new plasma didn't even have the base installed. The speakers are now on the bottom, so width is not an issue.

Only $5000  

50"= $3300(tax included)

$1700 for the rest

[gparris]

When we built our current home in 2003, we added dedicated power outlets anticipating added loads to the system.
400A service or better with room for expansion to the home is good as unused breakers eventually do get assignments.

Additionally, 4 PVC pipes going from basement to attic transverse the middle of the home with openings/coverplates for future wiring is also a good idea.

Add telephone jacks, too, for sat boxes along with those power outlets where your plasmas are going to eliminate power cords and RG6 for everything else.

If you want some non-HDTV plumbing for secuity systems or even whole-house vacuum systems (including power-broom systems incorporated in it), do so.

The point is, anticipate the future requirements/desires now, not regret them later.

[tazman]

Hi Tom

Before you go too far check out this link.  I did several installs with their products.  I am very impressed with the quality and range of product they offer.  I reffit my own home with their structured media system for voice data and video.


http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/catalog/CatalogGroup.aspx?CatalogSection=H

[tazman]

Some of their product can be purchased at Home Depot

[Tom Snyder]

I saw that site. Some cool stuff.. but I saw their Component Jacks and I'm curious how they run AV signals over Cat5e cable.

[tazman]

Hi Tom


As far as I can tell they don't.  Audio is handled by seperate wiring.  Their structured media panels are used as a central distribution point.  Take a look at this link.  http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/learning/training.asp   at the bottom of the list is Residential Distributed Audio Wiring Practices.  There they show you diagrams of wiring senarios and the products used to accomplish it.  I use their system primarily for phone,data, TV distribution.  They also carry Satellite stuf as well.  Diplexers, passive splitters and splitters with DC block.  Their diplexers also have inputs for OTA.

I have looked into doing audio and video distribution over Cat-5 on my home network.  There are several products available for hookup as set top boxes to your HDTV and audio equipment.  ROKU is one manufacturer, D-link is another.  I've looked at these products and read all the reviews I could find.  These units both have some problem or bug in the firmware, or they make use of some proprietary sofware that has some undesirable limitations to it.  They will both receive and play streaming HD content via YPP component conections to your HDTV.   The problems that both these units have, seem to be mostly in the firmware.  In D-links case the proprietary server software you must use on a dedicated PC.  I feel the technoligy behind these products needs to mature a great deal.  There are a few commercial units avialable, but you have to provide your own third party firmware.

Ideally what I would like to do is to Install a couple of large external hard drives directly on my network and access audio and video stored on those without having a computer setup as a server.

[waterhead]

Take a look at Marmax for your CATV and data network supplies:

Marmax Distribution Co.

I installed Leviton equipment in my house, which I purchased at Home Depot. I then went to Marmax to get an antenna. I found that they have a large supply of cable and network parts. When I mentioned that I purchased all my stuff from Home Depot, they were dissapointed and said they could have worked out a deal with me (I think that's what they said).

Their web site may not be the best for browsing. Give them a call or stop in the store.

Paul

P.S. They are in Franklin, at 68th & Rawson

[tazman]

You might find this one also to be a good resource.  A little pricey though.   http://www.hometech.com/home/index.html

[waterhead]

If you go with Leviton stuff, I have some suggestions

 Their panels are small and shallow. They also are made of metal with pre-drilled holes for mounting their modules. I had to drill holes to mount a router and switch. A "professional" I spoke to said he mounts everything to a piece of plywood. This gives you more room for routing cables, and it's easy to mount components on the plywood.

 If you don't want to see all those "ugly" components and cables, buy a cheap kitchen cabinet and mount everything in that. You'll need to put a piece of plywood in the back, as the backs of cabinets are very thin. You then could have room for other stuff, like a server or network drive.

 Make sure you have a power receptical installed at the network hub, you'll find that you may need it.

 If I had to do it over again (and I probably will), this is what I would do different.

Paul

[tazman]

Their panels are small and shallow. They also are made of metal with pre-drilled holes for mounting their modules. I had to drill holes to mount a router and switch. A "professional" I spoke to said he mounts everything to a piece of plywood. This gives you more room for routing cables, and it's easy to mount components on the plywood.

You can get the push tab mounting brackets "only" if you do not want to buy their switches or routers and mount your own.  They are now available seperately or you can use double stick velcro.  What is nice about their boxes is that you do not have to mount them on a basement wall.  They can go upstairs in a utility closet as well.  They are designed to fit into a 2x4, 16" on center studded wall.  Besides... and not to be critical here.  But it doesn''t look too professional mounting stuff outside the box on a peice of plywood.   Kinda defeats the purpose of having the box in the first place.  To each their own I guess.

[waterhead]

Besides... and not to be critical here.  But it doesn''t look too professional mounting stuff outside the box on a peice [sic] of plywood.   Kinda defeats the purpose of having the box in the first place.  To each their own I guess.

That's why I recommended putting everything inside of a nice looking cabinet! You need to read and understand the entire post!

There is no room inside of the panel for my cable modem. It's not even designed to be mounted. Where do you suggest it should be? (don't say it! )