My apartment is so small that this really isn't necessary, and I don't even have cable or caller ID. But oh, how I want it...
From the New York Times (a while back): MEDIA NETWORKING; Ingenuity Can Pay When Wiring The Home, and Cost Less, Too
When an estimate for running the skeins of wire needed to network Michael Spilo's 21-room Connecticut house for audio, video, phone and computers came in at $60,000, he did what any software engineer and entrepreneur would do: develop a system at a much lower cost.
The result is SkipJam, hardware devices connected by a single wire that let you run music, television, phone, security cameras and PC's anywhere in a building from anywhere in the world with Internet access.
The setup requires one $799 iMedia center that attaches to each device. It routes signals to a $499 iMedia player, which has outputs and built-in amplifiers that connect to speakers, TV's and computers.
The system has a built-in TiVo function and ties phone, PC and TV together, so your television and PC screen can display caller ID. You can watch your computer's video files on the big screen, and the TV remote doubles as a phone handset and an intercom, so parents can call their children to dinner and turn off their television from another room.
Mr. Spilo's installation of audio and video for 6 rooms and audio for 10 more costs about $6,000. The units are available at skipjam.com and at home networking and automation dealers.
Of course, it would probably run amok and destroy Tokyo...but that's a small price to pay.
