Equipment is housed in a nearby closet and controlled by a Logitech Harmony 600 remote.  We’re running DirecTV HD since they have the largest selection of HD channels.

We also wisely ran conduit from the AV cabinet so that we can pull new cables as technologies become available.  Doing things over again, I would have run a lot more conduit throughout the house to allow us to pull new cables even though it can get expensive to do so.

Motorized shades are housed in ceiling coves which also hold RGB LED light strips which can be controlled into any color or light level that suits the mood.  The shades are translucent in the TV room to provide privacy while the shades in the rest of the house are only for solar control.

Our only regret is that we went to great time and expense to soundproof the floor using extra soundproofing in the basement ceiling covered by plywood, Maxxon AcoustiMat III, 2” of concrete, an anti-crack membrane and then tile.  You’d think it might work and it tries pretty well but NOTHING is up to the challenge of the EP600 (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).