[mythtv-users] OT: Wiring a new construction home for A/V, Ethernet, etc

[Matt S.]

On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 11:58 AM,  <jarpublic at gmail.com> wrote:
>> And just as important as putting in the conduit - get plenty of pull
>> string to put into each conduit.  I had a friend put conduit in his house
>> and he forgot to put in string, so the first cable pull ended up having to
>> be forced from one end through to the other.
>
> I have a buddy that is an electrician. He taught me a nice trick if you have
> conduit. Just put a plastic bag tied to a small string in one end and then
> vacuum from the other end. It will pull the bag and the string right
> through.

These are all great tips. Keep them coming!  I'm sure it'll help not
only me, be a lot of other myth users.

I will definitely make sure to run conduit with all the tips above.
Also, I had already planned on running at least 3 cat5/6 lines to each
room,  1 for phone, 1 for network, 1 for future/other:  I also plan on
running at least 1, but probably 2, coax runs to each room.

As an FYI, here's some more high-level basics of the house and what I
want to do:

- 2 story house, with a basement.
- I will have a fairly large open "closet" area under the stairs in
the basement, which is where I would plan on putting the servers,
switches, routers, patch panels, etc.  It will be my "server closet".
- I will have at least 4-6 frontends, probably not for a couple years
since I only have 3 TVs right now, but I'm projecting for the future.
- I also want to have speakers in the ceilings, pretty much across the
house, for zoned audio - including outside/garage/etc.  This is a
foreign concept to me, I've never personally used or been exposed to a
system like that other than maybe walking through a few houses in the
past that had them - but not personal experience.
- I'm considering external security cameras so I can play with
zoneminder and/or misterhouse (home automation).  I don't know if I'll
actually install them right away, but I want to have the wiring ready
while it's "easy". I know several Home Automation things are going
wireless now, but I'm guessing even with wireless cameras, I'd have to
be concerned with power.
- What else am I missing?  I'm sure there's other things audiophiles,
videophiles, home automation enthusiasts, myth users, etc have come up
with that are "must-haves", things they can't live without, or are
just really really cool.


Also, any good resources out there like websites or forums?  Any good
books?  I appreciate the feedback so far!

Thanks!
Matt