Home Automation - wiring cable throughout the house

I posted this on the TV board also . . not sure which is the more appropriate. :)

I am preparing to wire all my upstairs rooms for cable. I am working on mapping it all out right now and I have a few questions I think you wonderful folks can help with.

We have digital cable w/boxes in 3 rooms. only one room actually has a jack in it! upstairs we have them running down the halls and around the doors - (pain in the butt!)
So, I want to run the upstairs lines through the attic, down the walls and into jacks. While I am up there (in the attic) I thought I would go ahead and wire the other 2 rooms so that they would be ready if /when we want to use cable in that room. We also want to move the TV downstairs into another room that does not have a jack in it yet - that one I will do through the basement.

So, in a nut shell I have 4 rooms upstairs, 2 rooms on the main floor and one room in the basement that I want to have jacks in. I have an amplifier in the garage where the main line comes in. that has RF in, DC in and one jack out on it. This one jack has a splitter (1 to 3) that feeds each level. and then we have a splitter upstairs for the 2 rooms up there. I know that I want to use as few splitters as possible.

I am thinking this . . get an amplifier with 2 output jacks . . .bring one cable to the attic and split it into four for the bedrooms. . bring the other cable to the basement and split into three - one for basement, two for the main floor rooms.

How does this sound? Do I need more amplification in there somewhere? Am I missing something somewhere? Any advice/tips/links etc. would be appreciated because this is my first time ever wiring a house like this.

Thanks,;)

What you're planning is perfectly OK for now, since you're only using 2 cable lines upstairs and leave the other two as rough-in.
However, when all 4 lines will be used one day, you might experience a degredation in signal strength.
I'll say go as planned for now. And when you end up using all 4 lines upstairs, install an in-line amp between wall jack and your TV. It gives the signal that final boost right before it gets to your TV and you'll get a perfectly strong signal for your crystal clear picture.

You can also aid your reception and maybe cut the need for in-line amplifiers by using RG-6 coax instead the regular coax. You say that you have digital cable and this is a standard for digital cable drops. The RG-6 has a lower resistance and the added benefit is that if you get tired of the cable company and want to go to a dish you wont have to rewire yet again. It will cost a little more up front but it's well worth it, since you are going in the attic. You only want to go and do that job once!!!

Thanks Guys,

I do have RG-6 - so I think I am good to go - thanks for the confidence that I am doing it right!!!

Trippergirl.... here's my 2 cents..... Can you home run each outlet to a central point in the basement? This would give you maximum flexibility and ease of maintenance. You also would not need splitters. This is important if your cable company offers high speed data and/or telephone. You'd install your amp in the basement.

It looks like you'd have 6 outlets. 3 on the top floor, 2 on the main floor, 1 in the basement. Assuming the distance from the basement to the 2nd floor is not to long (under 50'), you should be ok.

I'd also suggest you ask your local cable company for the wire (RG-6 is correct). Most companies are happy to give it away - prevents service calls down the road. At a minimum, if you have to buy cable, buy it with the maximum shielding.

Let us know how you make out.