Wiring questions. (1 Viewer)

[kumar]

I am planning to run wires in my crawl space to wire for surround. Though I am not planning to use 7.1/8.1 in the near future I thought what the heck I will wire them anyway.

Now, after reading a lot about all these fancy remote controls with IR/RF etc.. I am thinking maybe I should hide my system, under the stairs ( a small room where I also have my computer network and TWC cabling done. and then use that space to run around my wires).

To explain the dimentions...
My Monitor and two fronts are in the north. Sweet spot seat is about 14ft south of the Monitor. The hidden place where I am thinking of placing the entertainment shelf is about 10 ft west of the sweet spot and may be 16 ft west of the Monitor forming a triangle, if you could imagine that.

Though may be fairly same level of efforts to wire for the speakers, how will I manage/tackle issues like running a DVI cable from this hidden place to my Monitor. Do we get such a long cable?
Those who own nice wonderful theaters can give me some design cautions that I should take care of.
Pointing me to any good websites will also help me.
How good are these RF/IR remote controls.
Anything that I should consider for later additions/upgrades while wiring.
Is this something a person who is avg in being handy can do it over a weekend or three day weekend.

Thanks

 

[kumar]

anyone....?
am I in the right forum?

 

[KenA]

Just a word on RF remotes. They use a repeater to convert the signals back to the IR domain to signal your equipment. The challenge is that they convert ALL RF traffic to IR (you would be amazed at the amount of RF traffic in the typical home), so your equipment will be constantly bombarded with IR signals. While most equipment doesn't mind this and only picks out its own protocol, there are some devices that freak (especially TiVo), when they are bombarded and have a tough time descerning the commands (even when they are sent directly).

I have an IR/RF remote and I disconnected the repeater (no more RF) and I now use a wired IR repeating system that came with my whole house audio. Never have a problem with it.

Added note: I installed IR Man/Girder on my HTPC and just sat and watched the icon flicker whenever it received an IR signal. I never touched my remote and counted about 60-65 signal events each minute.