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New System from scratch

C

Clueless

New member
Hello All

I was wondering if someone would take the time to help me understand how to buy and set up a system for my client. I am a builder who has dabbled in a small amount of automation, and I am to install Kaleidescape into a large home that I am constructing. I have searched the forum but a lot of the answers are technical in nature and I am looking for basic information to begin with....

Is there someone that can answer the following?

I am using Sonos for sound throughout, which is hardwired with Cat 6 cable. I am using IP cameras with pan/tilt for CCTV. I have to select an intercom that will interface with house phones. I will control all blinds, lighting, cameras and theatre with an iPad, that I intend to both wall mount and have free, and have iphones that the client uses already as television remotes.

The Kaleidescape output is required for the theatre, bar, family room and two bedrooms. The house is a brick/concrete construction of approx 18,000 sq feet so I am not considering wireless links.

1. Can someone give me an equipment list? eg is a mini system suitable for this?
2. Do I need to separately hard wire each zone, or can I use the Cat 6 layout that I am to use with the Sonos?
3. If a separate zone, is a single Cat 6 enough?
4. How do the zones control remotely, ie do I need a repeater signal from a remote to the server or does the player in each zone do that?
5. I have yet to spec up a theatre projector and equipment list. Are there any recommendations in relation to the projector specs (eg I am looking at Sim2 Domino-60) that will affect the K output?

Thank you for any answers...

Cheers

J
 
I don't think I can give you a complete answer but heres my best effort:

1. You need to assess how many movies will be on this system, then get the server that makes the most sense. I assume since you have the sonos system that will handle the music.

2. There are other ways to do this but the standard approach is to have a kaleidescape player at each display you wish to have kaleidescape access at. You should find out from your clients where they will want to import or have the ability to load discs and those rooms should get the 1080P player. The rooms that are just going to have playback (lets say a gym) should get the mini player- I think you save a few dollars and its smaller. As to should you have a separate network or not, you do not have to- we run several players around our house along with the usual network traffic and weve never had any problems- and ours is cat 5e. But if I could go back and do it cleanly, Id set it up so the k players were on their own network- and I might go and do that one day.

I would also recommend as a good matter of preventative maintenance, whatever services you think a particular room needs today, run 2x that- as you know its cheaper to do that than to add wires/ rewire. Ethernet is kind of like the magic cable because you can run so much over it. So having more than one run to a room can't be a bad thing IMHO. Lets say you're taking about a bedroom and you think it should get 2 feeds for sat tv/ cable (dual tuners) and a wired network jack, phone etc, I would double this. Just can't hurt to have it.

3. Yes. There is 1080i material that is on the server and its there for demo purposes and you can't add HD to it right now, but the point is running over my older network with lots of other traffic and it works fine.

4. I believe you can control the player over IP but they also have IR and RS232 for control. Id check with Kaleidescape for the codes.

5. I think any modern projector that has HDMI in will be fine in that regard. I think you have many other considerations to worry about. My 2 cents for a theater is you want big and bright and if you can do whats known as constant image height / 2.40:1. For more on that check out:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=554901

Basically its a way of not having black bars on your home theater screen and the effect is very much that of being in a real movie theater vs. watching a large screen.
 
I recommend that you contact a dealer who has experience installing Kaleidescape Systems. They can consult with you to learn the particulars of the installation and provide guidance on the appropriate configuration and infrastructure.

You can use our Dealer Locator to find a Kaleidescape Dealer that can help with your questions:
http://www.kaleidescape.com/buy/

Tom Barnett
Kaleidescape, Inc.
 
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