A smart home not only promises integration between home appliances, but it also provides entertainment. You can actually set up a media center which contains all your audio and video equipments like DVDs, CD players, satelite radio receivers and audio amplifiers and controllers. You can watch your favourite shows anywhere within your home. You can monitor your kids by using the 'picture-in-picture' capability of your TV set. You can even air your favourite music over the intercom instead of blasting the music from a room somewhere. These are the benefits of a smart home.

            There are many possiblities from a smart home. A hybrid satellite can be created. You can build a seperate video network for your satellite by installing independent runs of coaxial RG6 cable from the dish. This gives you the ability to watch up to four channels on your TV simultaneously. There is also another technology that allows you to distribute locally sourced video around the house-the CAT-5e. However, CAT-5e is not suitable for carrying multi-channel incoming video from broadcast antennas, cable TV feeds or satellite dishes. Video-over-CAT-5e systems are still new and haven't reached their full potential. They might prove to be better alternatives fpr distribution of in-home video sources as they are able to carry higher quality video signals. Apart from that, there are also wireless alternatives for video distribution. Frequency spectrums of between 900MHz to 2.4GHz are usually used, although generally, the 2.4GHz bandwidth systems perform better.

            As for music, you can actually create a single-zone audio system, meaning you have only one audio source but the music is distributed across the entire network at any time.  Single-zone systems are inexpensive, upgradeable and easy to set up. Another option is the multi-zone system which allows different members of your family to listen to different audio sources in different places at the same time. The multi-zone system also integrates better with the video distribution system. For those considering a whole-home audio system, in-wall speakers may be a good choice. Before installing the speakers, a few specifics will have to be considered, for example, the size of the speakers, the speaker depth and the speakers' grill design. The speakers will have to fit into the walls and if they have grills, these grills should be paintable to match the walls around them.

            CAT-5e systems can also be used for audio systems. When you use CAT-5e to carry audio, you cannot use the same wires as those of the phone network or the computer LAN. In the room containing the source device you want to share throughout the home, you can plug a stereo audio patch cable between the device and the faceplate. In remote rooms, audio patch cables are used to connect the faceplate to the inputs of a local receiver or amplifier. A special CAT-5e audio hub is then used to connect all these remote outlets.