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

[Allen Edwards]

On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 8:27 AM, Matt S. <skd5aner at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi!  Sorry for the OT, but I figured that the topic ties into this
> community pretty nicely
>
> Any advice, websites, books, etc out there for wiring a home during
> construction?  I'll be starting to build my house in the next month or
> so from the ground up.  I've pretty much got carte blanche on what I
> can do, and I plan to do most of the wiring for cat6, coax, phone,
> A/V, speaker, etc myself to gain some sweat equity, and I'm just a DIY
> kinda guy - which I'm sure most of you on this list can relate to.
>
> So... Where should I start?  I want to do it "right", and I want to
> make sure that I'm futureproofing it as much as I can.  I've got some
> general ideas and thoughts, and I'm no stranger to making cables, I've
> just never done a full home setup before from the ground up.
>
> Also, I don't know if I'll do home automation from the start, but it'd
> be nice to get anything I'd need behind the walls while I can, so that
> I'm set to go.
>
> Thanks!
> Matt
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You got a ton of great advice.  I will just throw one thing out which,
 hopefully, will not get a lot of hate mail as I know a lot of people
disagree with it but it works for me.  High grade coax, like RG-6U
works for almost everything (not ethernet obviously although
technically it can).  You can obviously run RF trhough it but it will
also work great for video, S-Video, Component, Audio, and S/PDIF.  You
can buy it in large rolls for cheap (10 cents a foot) and but a $50
crimp tool and high quality crimp on connectors and you are set.  I
run audio, s/pdif and video about 100 feet from my main room to my
study no problem.  I have a run of 10 of these things from the front
of the room to the back ceiling for the projector but had to open up
the walls to install a DVI cable.

Another thing to consider is that as far as audio and RF is concerned,
bigger is better.  Fat cables have less loss than normal cables and
skinny cables, like the ones that come in the bundled cables, are
worse.  As an example, I had a projector that would not work with a
long run of S-Video cable but did just fine with two RG-6U cables and
S-Video adapters.

If it were me, I would run 5 RG-6U cables and a couple of CAT-5 or
CAT-6 cables to each room.  Personally, I use F-connectors and F-to
whatever adapters but  you can get connectors of whatever flavor you
want.  Snap-n-seal is a good brand.
https://www.tselectronic.com/ is a good source of cable, tools, and connectors.

Finally, if you think you will ever use an overhead projector, put a
DVI (or hdmi) cable in the ceiling.

Hope you find this helpful.

Allen