New system...again (sigh)

[jskibo]

I'm in my 3rd house in 4 years and each time I keep trying to build a better system.

1st house was a 1920's vintage that had a lot of x10 stuff installed (not many boxes had neutrals in them). Wife liked it except the ghost lights going on and off sometimes.

2nd house was a new build. Ran a ton of CAT 5 and RG6, used homeseer, UPB and an ELK-M1. Worked well, but we got transferred again....soooo

Now I want to build a system that is expandable (in other words add to it as I can afford time and money)

New house is a 2 story, aprox 2100 sq ft. 1st floor has been gutted. 2nd floor will get its work next year as we add on another 2 car garage and loft and change the roofline of the whole house. In addition, I have a 2200 sq ft hangar (private airport) and a 1000 sq ft 2 bed / 2 bath apartment attached to it (50 feet from the main house)

I'm running wire through the 1st floor of the house now and want to get as much in as I can:

I have 6 PC's and a Limeware NAS for media storage. 12 UPB switches I pulled from the other house. A dell server to run automation, etc... an airpanel 110 and 3 dell axims, bidding on Fuji 3500's now. Also have 4 BTV licenses

I plan on using an Elk-M1, UPB, Russound CAV6.6 so far.

No cable available, DTV folks pissed me off last time, will likely go DISH Net. Will need Sat Internet for now as well, since we are too far from the switch for DSL and no cable.....T1 is still a bit costly

Rooms:

Living room:
Plasma
HK Receiver
Xbox 360
HK DVD
Ceiling speakers
Wall mount a touchscreen

Bedroom:
LCD on wall
Airpanel by bed
Ceiling speakers

Kitchen:

Touchscreen in wall
Ceiling speakers

Cameras by front door, back door, pool, 1 looking out on the approach end of the runway and 2 in the hangar.

I would like to central closet mount the Dish boxes and distribute to any tv in the house. I want to use 3 zones for the Russound downstairs, add one A-bus to the outside back (same as kitchen zone).

Wall mount tablet touchscreens would be hardwired. I can use the Axim's and airpanel for mobile.

What's the best system (cost and feature wise) to distibute the DISH contenet to multiple TV's? What kind of wiring too?

IP Cameras? or other? Need night vision, not concerned on color.

Can you run ethernet to the Fuji 3500's?

Software? Do I go back to Homeseer (still have a license) or does Dean drag me to CQC after PM'ing me a few years ago several times? :lol: (Can I get the 2 years ago price...LOL)

Also have J River license and a nicely sorted 15000 MP3 collection I want to distribute to any room

Anything better than Russound? I can get dealer price on that, can't on the Nuvo....

I'm sure I will think of more, but I have about a month to get the wiring in before I wallboard....

Any help?

 

[RandyKnight]

Regarding Satellite Internet, check into Wireless broadband via the Motorola Canopy system. I'm in a rural area without access to DSL or cable as well and this is what I'm putting in. 2M down / 1M up for $60 / month. They have a 1M plan as well. The wireless broadband ISP's are popping up all over so I'd think you'd have some availability. There is basically a radio antenna they mount on your roof and it's wireless from there.

The other option if you have coverage is something like Verizon's EVDO service, designed for laptops and phones but you can get 2M service for $59 / month. Put it in a laptop with ICS or even build out a little linux NAT router and you're in business. If you want to spend a little more on this route, this company seems to have some pretty cool EVDO stuff.

http://evdo-coverage.com/

I decided to go with the Motorola Canopy stuff since the provider has a 30 day moneyback guarantee but would / will consider the EVDO route if that doesn't work out.

 

[jskibo]

Do you have a link to the canopy coverage areas? Searching on it seems to only bring up hardware dealers....

 

[Spanky]

ELK will be showing the new ELKRM at the EHX Show which fully supports the Russound CAV6.6, CAM6.6. The new version also supports the Russound Media Server and IPOD Bridge. It loads the album art onto the touchscreen which I understand Russound does not do yet on their touchscreen.

This new functionality will be a software upgrade to all ELKRM customers.

 

[RandyKnight]

Do you have a link to the canopy coverage areas? Searching on it seems to only bring up hardware dealers....

Canopy IS hardware so that makes sense. What you're looking for is an ISP that has wireless broadband implemented via Canopy. DSLReports.com is good. Or just google your town and wireless broadband, etc.

For example, if I google "Rockwall wireless isp", Netport USA is the first result, which is the ISP I'm using.

Mine gets installed tomorrow ... I'll try to remember to post a report here.