I am in the process of planning an upstairs addition that will include a large game room based on the below:



Our idea behind this room is that it will be a family/game room first but I would also like to think ahead about adding more of a media room component at some point down the line. Right now the design calls for the TV to be in the recesed area shown on the bottom of the above plan. I am not looking to do a built in but have the recess there as a screen so you do not see the back of the components and cables when you get to the top of the stairs and room entry. The idea behind positioning the TV on this wall is so that we can create a TV sitting area in the bottom 1/3 of the room and have the remainder as a game area with a shuffle broad table along the longest single wall at the top of the above picture. Also, thought having the sound travel into the room that direction may help keep some of the sound form the TV from bouncing down the staris into the lower level since the stairs and the whole room are open.

Are kids now are only 16 months so for now we will most likely just use an old TV in the space for occasional use and leave the room primarily open for a play space. We intend on staying in this house for a long time though so can foresee adding a wet bar down the line and wanting to make it where you have the option of using it for movies.

Based on the plans and our ideas for the use of the room where would you think of prewiring speakers for surrond sound for the TV area portion of the room and would you also pre-wire for a possible projector at some point?

I understand not wanting the tv as the focal point of the room but it seems the viewing area in that corner would be poor. Can't sit in the dormer area because of the wall.

There's a thread on the home improvement board where people saw having a recessed wall doesn't work well if you get a bigger TV that no lingers fits.

Have you thought about using a corner stand in that area so it points towards the middle of the room instead?

If the "attic access" at the top is the same level as the room, that's the ideal wall for the TV. wouldn't be hard at all to have all the wiring behind the wall, i.e. in the attic.

I have thought about a corner stand and haven't ruled it out. We have our current living room set up that way and it works well to see from the whole room as well as the kitchen next door. Just had wondered if it would make sense to try and create separate dedicated areas in a large game room.

Cecil, the wall at the top is the same level (all one level in the picture except for the stairs at the bottom) and I do agree that it would probably be the best if it was just TV room. The wife wanted the option for a wet bar down the road and the only place to stub that out in in the top left corner next to the bathroom and that made me question if you would want a TV and wet bar in the same general area. Also, she would also like a shuffle board table and with that being the only long span wall seems that it is the only place a shuffle board table could go.

My wife and I are in a weekly shuffleboard league at the bar down the road!

You could hang the TV well above the shuffleboard table. I have a motorized wall mount with remote control that tilts/swivels the screen.

One old fart piece of experience to pass along. Don't put in a wet bar. You won't use it nearly as much as you think.

If you're adding onto the house, why are you stuck tying the wet bar into bathroom?

I have been concerned about how much use a wet bar would get but thought that perhaps with it being a different level it would get used or maybe it would allow a place for the kids to gt ice without having to come downstairs but I am by no means set on it.

Hadn't though about installing over the shuffle board but can see how that could work because i was already planning on building cabinets under it for additional storage and could use that for components. Guess if i went this route i could easily upgrade to a projector later if we decided we wanted to and it would provide the most space. You may have me rethinking here.

I am probably overthining this and my guess it is really wont matter but I had thought of placing the TV in the bottom right so that the sound would be directed into the room and have to bounce off the back wall before coming down the stairs in the hopes that some of it would get absorbed in furniture and what not. Main reason for being concerned about this is that the stairs will come down into a short hallway that leads right into our main living area so I was concnered about having someone that is in the main living being disturbed by the upstiars TV. My guess thoug is that no matter what we do the kids and noise will be uncontrollable.

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If you're adding onto the house, why are you stuck tying the wet bar into bathroom?

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I guess mainly from the thought of making it easier to tie into the lines we are already adding.

Also, thinking ahead, "components" are going to be minimal. A sat/cable/settop box, mine are tiny since the one whole house DVR is in a closet. A stick on an HDMI port for streaming and maybe a game console. That's it other than sound system, which doesn't have to be on the same wall.

And IMO you're not overthinking. You only have one chance to easily run conduit, place outlets, etc.

As a "game room" or "play room" that TV location is at best OK. But if you had six kids in there half of them will be sitting off to the side. A corner wall mount that angles the TV into the room will help.

As a "media room" that TV location doesn't work at all. A media room makes the TV the focal point of the room, with audio to match. You want to minimize off angle viewing. I think adults would not like sitting so far to the side of the TV, where picture quality falls off.

Add: for speaker placement, I suggest reviewing the information at the site below (Dolby Labs):

http://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/surround-sound-speaker-setup/index.html

I think I am starting to reconsider the long wall at the top as cecil pointed out.

Thanks for the Dolby link that is exactly something I was looking for.

Also what would be needed to pre wire for a projector and how do you determine the distance to place it at? Is the a sight for it like the Dolby site (or does the Dolby sight have info in it)?

http://www.projectorcentral.com/projection-calculator.cfm

You will need to determine a projector before you use it since it is projector specific.

Epson has one as well just change it to the "home" tab instead of "business":

http://www.epson.com/alf_upload/landing/distance-calculator/

You could mount your TV on the long wall and install a motorized projector screen on the ceiling and have it drop in front of the TV when you want to have movie time or watch the game.

Don't put a ceiling fan in the room if you expect a projector later.

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Also what would be needed to pre wire for a projector and how do you determine the distance to place it at? Is the a sight for it like the Dolby site (or does the Dolby sight have info in it)?

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As far as prewire, just make sure you have an outlet in the ceiling and you will need either an HDMI cable or cat6 cables (or both) and use baluns to convert from hdmi to cat6. The cables would be routed where your components are located.

For my projector, I have 1 HDMI and 3 Cat6 cables.

Would it make sense to run all of the cables in conduit so that it would be easier to replace if there is ever a new wiring technology that comes along?

Also do ceiling fans cause issues for the function of a projector or is it more of a clearance issue. Just worried that in a large room upstairs in Texas and someone who is cheap on ac it could get stuffy in the summer. Just wondering if I could try using two small fans located to the sides of where a projector may go so that they would not interfere with clearance when you hang it from the ceiling.

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Would it make sense to run all of the cables in conduit so that it would be easier to replace if there is ever a new wiring technology that comes along?

Also do ceiling fans cause issues for the function of a projector or is it more of a clearance issue. Just worried that in a large room upstairs in Texas and someone who is cheap on ac it could get stuffy in the summer. Just wondering if I could try using two small fans located to the sides of where a projector may go so that they would not interfere with clearance when you hang it from the ceiling.

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If you are going to have the wiring done before sheet rock, it is actually better to run the cables outside the conduit and run a pull string in the conduit. This way you don't fill the conduit with cables that can be installed before sheetrock.

The ceiling fans will cast a shadow if in the way of the projector. No electrical interference from them, just the shadow.

Got it. Sounds like maybe if I position them off to the side or behind they may not interfere.

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Would it make sense to run all of the cables in conduit so that it would be easier to replace if there is ever a new wiring technology that comes along?

Also do ceiling fans cause issues for the function of a projector or is it more of a clearance issue. Just worried that in a large room upstairs in Texas and someone who is cheap on ac it could get stuffy in the summer. Just wondering if I could try using two small fans located to the sides of where a projector may go so that they would not interfere with clearance when you hang it from the ceiling.

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If you are going to have the wiring done before sheet rock, it is actually better to run the cables outside the conduit and run a pull string in the conduit. This way you don't fill the conduit with cables that can be installed before sheetrock.

The ceiling fans will cast a shadow if in the way of the projector. No electrical interference from them, just the shadow.

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Good points. I agree with leaving the conduit empty. Use it just for new cable.

I was concerned about a ceiling fan being being in the way of a projector's image - since even a ceiling hugger fan hangs almost 18 inches down. I had not thought about the shadow issue.

After thinking about it I think that since this is a multipurpose room I will look into adding electrical up high on the long wall so that I can use a drop down screen for movies and a TV for daytime viewing.

Seems that most of the projector calculations on the sites Olag provided reflect a throw distance between 12' and 16' so if I want a ceiling fan in the space I would be better off using two and locating them to the sides of where the projector would be mounted.

For streaming would it be best to set up multiple Cat 5/6 locations where the components will be located so that a blu-ray and cable or other streaming devise can have their own dedicate plug or can you split one Cat %/6 location to for both like using a cable or hdmi splitter?

If at one physical location you might have a smart TV, a blu-ray and Roku device, you only need one ethernet connection because only one would use bandwidth at a time (assuming these devices use HDMI for a nearby TV). You would need an ethernet switch or hub to share the ethernet connection. It is debatable whether or not it is easier/cheaper to have multiple ethernet connections vs. a single+switch.

Thanks. I currently use an hdmi splitter to run a TV on the patio so it makes sense on the bandwidth angle that i would only need one.

One thing to consider when mounting the projector on the ceiling, make sure either the projector has a "lens shift" capability or attach a piece of wood so that it spans the ceiling 2x4's similar to the below image so you can center up the projector with the screen:



Its not the best photo but the only one I could find with a piece of wood on the ceiling. This is because if you dont have the "lens shift" capability and your ceiling 2x4 is not centered with the screen, you will get a skewed image. The wood piece would allow you to center the projector without hitting the ceiling 2x4s. Most newer projectors have the lens shift but just in case you pick one that doesn't.

You might even consider doing the wood piece for the motorized screen so you dont have to use a sheet rock anchor on one end.

The lens shift lets you place the projector off center up to 30 degrees and still gives you the correct image on screen.

Also, there are a few projectors that have ethernet connections for control but not really for streaming or internet connectivity. I would run a long HDMI cable (up to ~50') and a couple of Cat 6 cables to the component locations from the projector. This way if in the future, HDMI goes away, you can use the Cat6 and the appropriate balun required.

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If you're adding onto the house, why are you stuck tying the wet bar into bathroom?

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I guess mainly from the thought of making it easier to tie into the lines we are already adding.

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From a construction standpoint, it's not much more complicated to put it anywhere else depending on how you're supporting the new floor. I wouldn't let that being a limiting factor on placement.

My in-laws did something kind of like what you are, but with an existing attic space they always intended as a room. They put in a wet bar and small drink fridge and use them all the time. It's actually really convenient for parties and such.

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Would it make sense to run all of the cables in conduit so that it would be easier to replace if there is ever a new wiring technology that comes along?

Also do ceiling fans cause issues for the function of a projector or is it more of a clearance issue. Just worried that in a large room upstairs in Texas and someone who is cheap on ac it could get stuffy in the summer. Just wondering if I could try using two small fans located to the sides of where a projector may go so that they would not interfere with clearance when you hang it from the ceiling.

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If you are going to have the wiring done before sheet rock, it is actually better to run the cables outside the conduit and run a pull string in the conduit. This way you don't fill the conduit with cables that can be installed before sheetrock.

The ceiling fans will cast a shadow if in the way of the projector. No electrical interference from them, just the shadow.

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You could run the cables in or out of the conduit if your concern is that you'll replace them in the future. There's nothing that says you can't pull the old cables out and replace them with new cables in the same conduit. If you want to add cables in the future, you will want some empty conduit.

As for an outlet in the ceiling in the future, since you may not know exactly where the projector will eventually go, I would just run empty conduit from wherever you plan to keep your media stuff at to the center of the room and cap it. You can always add the outlet later on.

Also, the ceiling fan may or may not cast a shadow. It depends on where you put it in relation to the projector and screen, and the light sources in the room. If you have all of the lights off, no windows, and the fan isn't between the projector and screen, there's nothing to case a shadow with the ceiling fan, but a full length window or door behind the fan could cast a shadow on the screen.

Wiring questin: 10 years from now, what all will be wireless? I doubt that power will, but I think video will be.

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Wiring questin: 10 years from now, what all will be wireless? I doubt that power will, but I think video will be.

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Even so, wired will always be more stable, reliable, and most likely produce a higher quality picture and sound.

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Wiring questin: 10 years from now, what all will be wireless? I doubt that power will, but I think video will be.

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Wifi is already fast enough for Netflix. So I don't see that what uses wireless will change all that much. For many people it HAS to be wireless because their homes aren't wired for networking.

Wired networking is more reliable, secure, and will produce the fastest speeds. I think most reasonably modern homes will have both wired and wireless.

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wired will always be more stable, reliable, and most likely produce a higher quality picture and sound.

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"always" is a very, very, very long time. I don't know that it will remain true that wired is "better".

What is the best way to setup the home network form a wiring and router standpoint? Right now I have Fios and I believe (not at home right now) the router has four outputs plus wireless so right now since my home is not set up with any network cabling I use wireless for netflix in the living room and run my home computer wired.

Since we are looking at adding the addition it seems like the right time to add Cat5/6 to my other TV locations and then I am adding the game/media room and the kids will eventually need a workspace as well. Do you run all of those to the router location and then try and pair up with splitters the cable runs that you think would not be sharing bandwidth at the same time, i.e. dedicate line for the computing locations and then share TV locations or do you need to get a router that has an output number that match the number of cable runs you have?

For computer networking it is simple. Buy a gigabit switch with 4, 5, 8 ports etc. Plug one port into one of the ports on the router. Anything cabled to the switch will share the internet connection and will be networked within your home.

Your "router" is really a combo device. The four ports you mention are really a 4 port switch.

Note that your router does not have "outputs." Computer networking is 2-way communication. Those are ports, not outputs.

I should know better than that on the difference between outputs and ports but I am showing why this board is great- Thanks for the help

Another question:

It seems that there are two options when looking at mechanical lowering projector screens, ones that mount on top of a wall or ceiling and ones tath can be mounted in the ceilineg so you so not see the casing.

Does projector screen technology change enough that having one built into the ceiling could end up leaving you stuck with something that has been surpassed in performance or will it be a rather static competent of home media equipment?