# Building new house...need help with HT build!



## lukefortney (Apr 1, 2013)

My Situation

We are building a house (starting to dig next week) and I want to do a fairly substantial HT and whole home media set up. I am fairly capable with construction and wiring, but after reading on this forum for hours I have realized I am a novice when it comes to home theater. I am going to use my current set up to start off, with the exception of purchasing a universal remote and necessary repeaters to control my HT, lights, shades, and fire place. I will only be automating lights and shades in my family room to start off. 

Here is what I currently have:

Family Room (downstairs)

60" Samsung Plasma
Yamaha RX-V371 which came as a set of 5 speakers and a powered sub
Samsung DVD
Xbox 360
Direct TV Box

Living Room (upstairs)

46" Samsung LCD
Samsung DVD
Direct TV Box

Here's what I eventually would like to have set up in the new home:

Family room:

80" or so LED (too much light for projector) hopefully they'll come down in price a little next year
Decent quality receiver/speaker/sub set up budget of 2-3k
Universal remote that controls HT, lights, shades, fireplace, makes coffee
DVD
Xbox
Google TV Box

Living Room:

46" Samsung LCD
Direct TV
DVD
4 in ceiling spkrs

Master BR:

TV
Direct TV
DVD
2 in ceiling spkrs

Covered Deck:2 in ceiling spkrs

Garage:LCD, 2 in ceiling spkers

Hot tub room:LCD, 2 in ceiling spkers

Patio/Fire Pit:2 out door spkers

Bar in family room:LCD 

Basement bathroom:small LCD

Whole home-hoping there is a way to access these 2 components from each zone listed above:

Google TV
Media Server
Would also like to do a couple outdoor surveillance cameras, and maybe one day a security system. 


I'm not too familiar with media servers, but I want to upload or store all my movies and music in one place where I can access it from anywhere. I've heard you can have walmart upload you dvds to vudo but If I can simply store them on a server in my home that might be a lot easier and more convenient.

It would be awesome if we could stream music AND control each zone with our android phones, but not sure if that's possible. Would like to have as much as possible hidden in our utility room downstairs. At this point I'm not concerned with picking out TV's or speakers. I'm mostly focused on how to set up and wire the whole home thing and how to control it. 

My family room layout is attached below

I'm sure I am leaving things out, but Thank You in advance for any advice you might have!


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

First, welcome and thanks for joining us! Please visit us often.

There is quite a bit to discuss here, but I will start and I am sure other members will add their thoughts.

I cannot open your attachment. That is likely because you need 5 posts. So, I suggest going to our post padding area to get your count up.

You definitely want to prewire before the walls go up. And that means more than just your HT. Even tho wireless networking is a mature technology, wired still works best for moving big files around and especially for streaming HD video. So, I suggest pulling two Cat 6 cables to each room. That goes for coax, too for satellite and OTA (antenna). 

I am assuming that you have one of the later DirecTV boxes, so one coax is all you need for the sat and networking. Anticipate where you may want DVRs in other rooms - that is why I suggested two coax runs.

Definitely prewire for a security system. Again, hard wired is the way to go for new construction. Wireless works, but you have to remember to change batteries in the transmitters.

Plan ahead for the permanent location for your new AV gear when you upgrade. Pull at least two HDMI cables between the TV location and where your gear will be. For long HDMI runs, the Monoprice Redmere cables are great. Almost all AV gear has a network connection now. Rather than running multiple Ethernet cables for each piece of gear, use a network switch with 8 or even 16 ports at the AV rack location.

Media streaming technology changes rapidly, so discussing that now is kinda pointless. My favorite streamer is the Netgear Neo TV 550, but it has been discontinued.

I don't have experience with whole house audio, but again, selecting speaker locations and prewiring now is a good plan.

Well, this is a start. I am sure others will add their thoughts. Congrats for the new house and also for planning ahead for your AV gear.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
Welcome to HTS. The past few weeks for me have been quite eventful with someone hitting my car, me stupidly not wearing my Seat Belt and doing a faceplant into the windshield replete with Elephant Man style bruise on my forehead that eventually included two bloody eyes. I was an idiot for not adjusting my seat back to where it usually is as my GF is 5 foot 3 and I am a touch over 6 feet tall. The accident occurred about 1 mile from my house so time was not on my side. And that is not 1/60th of it

Back on topic, I would go with a 75 inch panel as the prices are far more sane and would also recommend avoiding spending extra on 4K as the content still is not there. Mitsubishi still makes Microdisplays that are really not that much thicker than a panel, but cost thousands less and provided wall mounting is not a must would be an easy and cost effective way to get an 80 inch display.

I will come back to this in the next few hours. I have slept 4 hours the past 2 days replete with planes, trains, and automobiles all in order to procure a mint Lexus LX470.
Best,
J


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