Hi Theodore,

Finishing my basement.
My wife wants a 50+" tv on the basement wall ..."whenever I'm done."
We're NOT trying to make a "media screening room" with perfect seating
and acoustics. Just a big tv with some comfy sofas.
My question is, is it worth the effort to extend the cable tv wire to
this location from the main floor tv/cable/dvr box? Or are today's tvs
and perhaps a dvr box upgrade so fantastic that I can just as well do
everything via my local wifi network in the house? I haven't stayed
current with the latest A/V tech and I just don't want to go through
all the trouble to run the cable wire for nothing.

Wireless is great for devices that are mobile; tablets, laptops, etc. Wired
connections are still faster and more reliable for stationary devices like
a TV.

At the very least, run a coax and CAT6 ethernet cable to your TV location.
If you think you may ever want to relocate the TV, go ahead and run extra
cables there too before you close everything up.

Related follow up question: my wife wants surround-sound and is asking
me to install speakers in the walls and ceiling. Is this sort of
thing done anymore?

Absolutely. Just make sure you use plenum rated speaker wires if you run
them inside the walls.

I installed in-wall speakers around our house because I like the clean look
(no big speaker boxes sitting on shelves). But you could run the in-wall
wires to speaker jacks just as easy.

I don't want to install something that is obsolete or even regrettable.

One of the best things I did when we built our house was to install conduit
and empty junction boxes. Rather than preinstalling a bunch of cables I may
or may not need, I can easily install new cables and cover plates as my
needs change.

Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com