Good question, I am planning a similar setup and perhaps to further confuse (myself mostly) I was thinking that since I have home-runs of speaker wire going to my media closet (which will also house my Hybrid/core) I would need to send the audio out of each room's MD back to the media closet to be amplified there and then feed the ceiling speaker in that room. For example, if I'm in the master bedroom and I'm watching a movie, I could then have the audio going through the ceiling speakers, when I change to music, then I have that coming through the ceiling speakers.
I was looking at tri-amps for each zone, but a multi-room amp might be the better (and more economical) way to go. I'm just a bit fuzzy on where and how the audio signal is amplified...

Great post, please keep us updated on how this works out, I'm going through the same thing and didn't know how to narrow down the list of choices, Thanks

This may be a very basic question, but would a Nortel NTDU96 with touch screen work as an orbiter, or is the Cisco the only one capable? I thought it had more to do with the image/code the system was pulling off the Core, but if it is Cisco specific I know to stay away from the Nortel...

Thanks

Reading through what I can find, it looks like the preferred IP phone is the Cisco 7970; or am I incorrect, will any IP phone work (like a later version Nortel)?

Thanks,

GG

I'm looking to do the same. I picked up a side out rack from Middle Atlantic off e-bay for a pretty good price. My plan is to mount it inside a cabinet that will be in my "media room" and is where I have all my cabling coming to from all over the house. The suggestion above about labeling the panel is excellent and is the way I'm planning to set things up. I'm also getting ready to build the Hybrid/Core that will sit in the rack, so I'm looking at picking something like this up;

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150519438421&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

If you have a spec on what you are building for your Hybrid it would be helpful to know what it is as I am not seriously into computers and the amount of options and choices available have my head spinning.

I also picked up a rack mounted switch and POE injector for my IP cameras. I've tried configuring them with Zoneminder before MCE is set up, but that has proved to be rather difficult.

looking forward to any info you have to share, when I get the rig assembled I'll get some photos...

I've been looking at something like this to power each audio zone from a central wiring closet since I have all my speaker wires running back to where the Hybrid/Core will be. My thought was to have the audio from each MD travel back to the wiring closet via coax and then feed that input to an amp to power the speakers (I know this is a round-about way to do it, but speaker wiring was already run that way). Curious to see how this works for you....

I am looking to implement the following at my front door; it has a camera and from what I gather, it can hook into the phone system.

http://www.cyberdata.net/products/voip/digitalanalog/intercomvideo/index.html

Does anyone here have any experience with this? Any watchouts?

Thanks,

GG

Searching around e-bay;

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220685773177&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks for the response, as they say, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is ($50 for a hybrid!!), also on the RS232, then you would need to make sure you have enough space for any controlled devices...

Thanks,

GG

Sorry if this is basic, I searched but could not find an answer to this;

RS232; if I have more than one device that can be controlled via RS232, do I need a separate connection for each serial cable back to the core? (Can they be daisy chained or "networked" so that you would only need one serial connection on the back of your Hybrid/Core).

Also, saw this on ebay, not sure it would make a nice Hybrid/Core?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370445526846&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Thanks,

Thanks, I will try it out that way.

I am almost at the point of installing my system and wanted some advice. I have a gigabit switch, a couple of IP cameras (POE that run using a POE injector), and I may have a couple of Cisco 7970 phones also. My question; should I connect everything to the switch when I do a fresh install on my Hybrid Core, or should I install OS on "naked" system (nothing plugged in) and then start adding things one by one?
Thanks for all the help and advice, I've been on here for a while reading up as much as I can and I'm looking forward to finally starting.

I'd love to hear how this all turned out, I too am at the point of deciding on Hybrid/Core, I got my gigabit switch a couple of IP cameras, and an ASUS EEE box as future MD, your experience would be very much appreciated here...

I believe this may be the equivalent, but I have not purchased it, so I'm not sure. Let us know how this works out,

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=gyration+remote&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=5017180982541222379&ei=x--OTIrqJsvMngfomcDvDQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CFAQ8wIwAg#

Did you ever get a response to this? I am also looking to implement something similar, I have all my speaker cables coming to a media closet and would like to have the ability to send audio to any room (either for the tv in that room, music, intercom)...
If you got this going, I would be curious to hear how it turned out. Also, what is the make of the multi-room amplifier you got/