Wiring a home entertainment system?

Question

Does anyone have any ideas on how to wire a home entertainment system.

Basically what i want to do, is, i have a room which will soon be becoming empty, im going to have a projector, and a nice surround sound system, however, what i want is to be able to connect these together, but with the wires under the floor.

Simple? But thats not it, i have another room, which has my PC and a TV in it, also has surround sound, and my broadband connection goes directly into this room.

The 2 rooms are not adjacent, there is a landing between them, which i can easily take the floor up.

So, i want to have the 2 rooms connected, basically so i can have any peice of equipment working from any outlet, (thinking DIN connectors)
The most important thing is, i want to have my projector and speakers connected to my PC, so i can use my computers media collection, in a different room.


I know i havent explained this too easily, but anyone know where i can find out how to do it, tools? etc

Answer 1

So you really don't want to know about wiring a home theater but whole house distribution. This is relatively new and still quite costly to do right but as demand and wireless distribution gets better, look for the cost to go down as well. Ease of installation as well, but for now this is best left to a professional installer and integrator to do right.

Answer 2

There are two ways that you could go about this. The more expensive, but neater method would be to install a media centre pc in the 'projector' room, connected by CAT5 or CAT6 cable via hub to the computer in the upstairs room. This would allow file sharing between the computers, streaming of music & video across the network etc. If you just wanted to stream video/audio from your upstairs pc to the projector then an X-box networked to the upstirs pc (running windows media centre edition) would do the job. In either case the projector & surround sound system would be connected to the computer in the downstairs room.



The other way to do this would be to run cables between the rooms. DIN connectors are not the best type to use as the video would be unshielded. Consider using BNC connectors for the video and phono (sometimes called RCA connectors) for the audio. If you want to plug a pc in downstairs you would again need CAT5/6 connectivity from a hub upstairs.



Hope this makes sense to you.

Answer 3

Form follows function. Therefore identify what all you want your system to do, and with what quality you want to experience it. The more stuff and the higher quality, the greater the cost. For such a big investment, I would want to devote a sizeable room as a home theater. Have an audio expert examine the room design and construction-materials. Upgrade the room to enhance acoustics of the system. Unless you are an audiophile and videophile of high caliber, have that professional draft a proposal with specifications, and have the system installed. By the way, have a shielded electrical circuit of adequate amperage installed and dedicated to this system. This will help prevent the pops and hiss of random frequency interference from other household circuits. To have a GREAT system, if you have ask, then you ought to get the help of professionals. I saw such a system in a dream home recently built near New Braunfels, Texas. 120" DIGITAL PLASMA SCREEN mounted on the wall of the home theater; Surround Sound Audio tied into CD, DVD, MP3 and turntable (remember LP's?) and Cable service with EVERY channel you can think of. Cushioned Theater seats in a tiered mini-auditorium with adjustable lighting. All linked to an armchair control console, and alternate control console in the adjacent wet bar area mini-kitchen with pizza oven, popcorn popper and ice cream machine. The system gives you the vibes and the acoustics and amenities make the atmosphere great. So. Whaddayathink?

Answer 4

Your question is tooooo long. You could have put it in a simpler way by asking for help to hook your computer to your projector in another room. Man, you sure scare everybody off.Is it that what you intend to do?



First you need a good video card that has HDMI output because it can transfer both HD signal and digital audio signal. Using DVI output could save you the video card but you have to run a separate audio line to your receiver and you won't get digital audio signals either, plus connection's hassles. Most PCI-express Video cards would have HDMI output but you have to cough up over 100 bucks at least. If your computer doesn't have a PCI-E video card slot, there are a few AGP video cards out there but you have to wait for the sale because they are expensive.



Since you already have your surround sytem in place, hook your HDMI cable into your receiver HDMI input. If your receiver doesn't have HDMI input, hook the cable to the projector HDMI input, then run an optic digital audio cable from your projector's digital audio output to the receiver's optic digital audio input. Switch your receiver to AUX when you want to play programs from your PC.



Be careful when you try to break the plastic cover on your projector's optic digital audio output. It looks different than the digital input cover on the receiver, you have to use a small flat screwdriver to break the plastic cover off. DO NOT puncture too deep into the hole since you may damage the optic fiber.



In other words, you need to connect two rooms together by a long HDMI cable only ( plus the cost of the video card and a short optic digital audio cable from your projector to your receiver)



Here is a good and cheap website to look for all video/audiophile's cables.



www.MonoPrice.com



As for internet connections, go wireless with Lynxis or Netgear router.



Good luck and send me the $$ you'll save from hiring a professional to do the job for $30000 as the previous poster suggested.

Answer 5

Alot of things to answer. I can tell you wiring.



1) Use cat5e for your network wiring.

2) Wiring under the floor? Flat wires? Try this product line:

http://www.flatwiresolutions.com/index.html



Now for the actual wiring for a home theater:



You will need:



-14-4 speaker wire (16-4 will work as well) if you are planning to bi-wire/bi-amp your speakers. You need to run them from the receiver/amp location to each speaker locations.



-How many sub do you want to use? We usually use RG59 for the subwoofer run. Just use 1 run of RG59 for each subwoofer location. It gets abit complicated. This will only work if you have an LFE input on your sub. Otherwise you will need to run a 12-2 speaker wire for other subwoofers. Research your subwoofer before you decide on which wire to run. You should also provision a single CAT5e for control of the subwoofers just incase you have something that doesn't do auto sensing.

-you might need a dedicated power outlet for your subwoofer, you will need to ask the electrician to do this for you.



-Video runs from the receiver to Projector: You will need a long HDMI cable. Well it all dependes on the spec of your receiver and projector. As you mention you want your computer to work with your projector. Well there are plenty of scenarios here. I don't know your budget but here's what you can do:



-buy a video card for your pc

-buy a receiver that upconverts to HDMI. (Pioneer VSX92 for example)

-Buy a projector with HDMI in.



Now for the wiring (the safes thing to do):

-1 HDMI cable

-1 VGA Cable

-3X RG59 (component or s-vid or composite video)

-2X Cat5e (for control)

-you will also need a dedicated power outlet for your projector, you will need to ask the electrician to do this for you.



-If you are planning to have a motorized screen:

You will need 1 control cable, 1 power cable (18-2 cable)



Ofcourse you will need some interconnects for your AV sources to the receivers.



Regarding the tools: You will need a CATMASTER for your networking. Punch down tools, crimpers, a dry wall saw, ir emitters, etc. I'm not sure what are you planning to do.



There are people who does this professionally. You may want to consult your local custom integrator company. A typical home theater would cost you around $30000 and up. Of course there are people who claims to be able to do it for less. Hehehe by using cheaper components though. Expect a higher labour rate for it seems that you are doing a retrofit.



If you are interested in a home theater (we are in Toronto, Canada)...I can point you in the right direction...but you have to guess my email...hehehe won't post it here. Too many spammers.