I'm admittedly not very current in electronics trends, including home audio, multimedia, etc.

My wife and I are designing a house, and I can do the electronics any way I want. I'm sure many of you are pretty current on this sort of thing.

What should I be considering or looking at? I've always really liked the "whole house" audio/intercom systems, though I'm not sure that's very "in" anymore.

Any advice on special outlets? Communications options? Wireless connectivity? etc. etc. etc.

Thanks!

I tend to think first priority is to wire cat 6 cable everywhere, and only run audio cable for in-room surround.

There are a ton of great options now for streaming audio throughout your house over a data network, and basically just having dummy speaker systems (either powered or with a simple amp) in most locations. Trying to power 2nd zone speakers with a remote receiver is just way too clunky in my opinion.

If you don't wire with cat 6, you can obviously just use WiFi, but having hard wired data is just way more secure and reliable, so if you have a chance to lay it while the house is being built, I say go for it. You'll basically have unlimited options just from having that, and it's pretty future proof.

Thanks Stasco. I cross-posted this elsewhere and Cat6 wiring seems to be the consensus. I'll look into it more closely.

I'm in the process of re-wiring an older home and I'm doing two drops of Cat5e or Cat6 and 1 coax to each room with double that to the media centers in living and movie room. Pretty future/past proof.

All of this runs to the media cabinet that houses AV, PS3, Media PC, blu-ray, record player, etc.

Like mentioned above the movie room is on a completely independent audio setup, but I was able to run a HDMI switch for the PS3 to hookup to it because of the location (lucky me). I had an extra receiver laying around that I use in the media cabinet to power the back deck/boathouse speakers, which is nice.

More info than you asked for, but I guess I would say write it all down, draw it out, build a parts list then vet it here again. It took me about 6 drafts to figure out what I really wanted to do, and what I needed...and I'm still a bit overboard.

Why would you need more that one Cat5/6 drop in one location? Couldn't you just use one + a switch?

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Why would you need more that one Cat5/6 drop in one location? Couldn't you just use one + a switch?

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If only internet was your connection a single Cat5/6 will work but multiple ones are needed to distribute video. Some adapters take one Cat6 but the "cheaper" ones take 2 Cat6 to distribute video. So in this scenario you would at least 3 Cat6, 1 for internet, 2 for video, or 1 for internet, 1 for video, 1 for IR.

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Why would you need more that one Cat5/6 drop in one location? Couldn't you just use one + a switch?

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If only internet was your connection a single Cat5/6 will work but multiple ones are needed to distribute video. Some adapters take one Cat6 but the "cheaper" ones take 2 Cat6 to distribute video. So in this scenario you would at least 3 Cat6, 1 for internet, 2 for video, or 1 for internet, 1 for video, 1 for IR.

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You are oversimplying the issue of "video." A single 100 megabit ethernet cable is fully capable of distributing HD video. Even more so with Gigabit ethernet. You need 2 x Cat5/6 for distributing video carried over HDMI. HDMI is not a streaming protocol - it has up to 19 different signals used for both the audio/video signal and hardware control - that's why HDMI over ethernet requires two cables.

I would, in any case, run 2 x ethernet cables simply because running two cables is almost as easy as running one. And cable is cheap.

I always suggest mounting a big outdoor antenna in the attic & run coax through a powered splitter to all rooms with a TV... In addition to any other A/V wiring.

It's a nice back up if the Cable or sat goes out plus you can't beat the picture for watching live sporting events

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Why would you need more that one Cat5/6 drop in one location? Couldn't you just use one + a switch?

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If only internet was your connection a single Cat5/6 will work but multiple ones are needed to distribute video. Some adapters take one Cat6 but the "cheaper" ones take 2 Cat6 to distribute video. So in this scenario you would at least 3 Cat6, 1 for internet, 2 for video, or 1 for internet, 1 for video, 1 for IR.

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You are oversimplying the issue of "video." A single 100 megabit ethernet cable is fully capable of distributing HD video. Even more so with Gigabit ethernet. You need 2 x Cat5/6 for distributing video carried over HDMI. HDMI is not a streaming protocol - it has up to 19 different signals used for both the audio/video signal and hardware control - that's why HDMI over ethernet requires two cables.

I would, in any case, run 2 x ethernet cables simply because running two cables is almost as easy as running one. And cable is cheap

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It is possible to go HDMI over a single Cat6 but it requires more expensive hardware.

HDMI over Single Cat 6 = $60

With 2 cat 6 cables - $17.25

Then there are the way expensive HDbaseT adapters - over $150

He was questioning why we needed multiple Cat6 cables if we were only using it for data transfer when a single Cat6 will work. Then you can put a switch at the end and you can get multiple internet connections at that location. I was trying to explain the reason for multiple cables are for video distribution (HDMI) over Cat6.

You really only need the extra Cat6 cables if your video sources (DTV, Dish, Bluray player, etc) are located in a different area, other wise you just need one cat6 to the modem location and a short HDMI cable to the local sources.

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Why would you need more that one Cat5/6 drop in one location? Couldn't you just use one + a switch?

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If only internet was your connection a single Cat5/6 will work but multiple ones are needed to distribute video. Some adapters take one Cat6 but the "cheaper" ones take 2 Cat6 to distribute video. So in this scenario you would at least 3 Cat6, 1 for internet, 2 for video, or 1 for internet, 1 for video, 1 for IR.

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You are oversimplying the issue of "video." A single 100 megabit ethernet cable is fully capable of distributing HD video. Even more so with Gigabit ethernet. You need 2 x Cat5/6 for distributing video carried over HDMI. HDMI is not a streaming protocol - it has up to 19 different signals used for both the audio/video signal and hardware control - that's why HDMI over ethernet requires two cables.

I would, in any case, run 2 x ethernet cables simply because running two cables is almost as easy as running one. And cable is cheap.

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Spicewood, when you say run 2 x ethernet cables, I assume you mean run 2 Cat6 cables?

What is the difference between Cat6, Cat6a, and Cat6e (which Wiki seems to indicate isn't even an industry-recognized cable)? Should I be looking specifically for one or the other?

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I always suggest mounting a big outdoor antenna in the attic & run coax through a powered splitter to all rooms with a TV... In addition to any other A/V wiring.

It's a nice back up if the Cable or sat goes out plus you can't beat the picture for watching live sporting events

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PooDoo, this is an interesting idea.

You suggest running coax from the antenna to a splitter, whereby multiple coax cables can go to multiple TVs, and inputting the coax directly into the TV, recognizing that most cable/satellite providers will connect to the TV via HDMI? Then if the power goes down, you can switch to the antenna via the coax?

Old Jock, don't overthink this. Just buy Cat6. The standards are ever evolving and advancing. But Cat6 will meet your needs for decades. I have Cat5 in my house - done before Cat5e was common. I'm not suffering.

Thanks Spicewood!