Raj, You've got work to do and a good starting point would be:
First Off: Do NO actual work until you decide on a company. You want the installation company to be responsible for all aspects of the final result. If you run a brand of cable that they don't like they cite it as the reason your projector fell from the ceiling and flattened your dog.
Design: Study some designs you like and decide where your source equipment/screen/speakers will end up. Consult with prospective installers, lay their proposals out on the kitchen table, and make up "your list" from their proposals.
Cabling: Are the walls still open ?? Get the in-wall cabling in place while you're still building. Put enough extra cabling in place for when you upgrade. Plan for continencies by doing things like running conduit for future whole house speakers and running Cat5e NOW for future remote keypads. One FAT conduit from the source equipment up into the attic is worth it's weight in drill bits and installer fees later. (Two FAT conduits are better.) If you've got the wall space to run a 1 & 1/2" or 2" conduit from the source to your projector you'll be in great shape when it's time to do whatever comes next.
Fiber: As a contingency you might install fiber anywhere you anticipate needing it. Perhaps up to your projector ? Who knows what technology's next. You can always feed it up a conduit, but if the wall in your media room is going to be sealed up you don't want to re-open it later. If you shop prudently for fiber you can get high quality computer industry data fiber at a good price. It's less expensive and has just as much throughput as esoteric glorified "Fancy Brand" fiber. Remember, it's FIBER ! Shiny blue anodized terminations and GOLD (??) endings have no bearing on how much light passes through it. Have your installer put it alongside your other source wiring.
Next: (Not necessarily in this order.)
Decide on a video source.
Decide on a screen that lets your video source reflect all that hard earned cash you spent.
Decide on a speakers. (mega-important)
Decide on an audio source. (One that can give your speakers the power/control they want.)
Sounds like you want to keep it FAIRLY simple. A hot-rod DTS receiver with loads of inputs/outputs should serve you well. You might want to consider a receiver with RS-232 in case you get bitten with the whole house central control bug later.
Decide what YOU want, and to a point, stick to your guns. This does not mean you should throw out knowledgeable advice, just sleep on the suggestions and temper them with how you want your system to be configured when the dust settles. Keep in mind that a reputable higher end installer probably recommends/sells certain brands because they have had both good results and reliability with those pieces.
Get references: A hi-tone installer should have a portfolio with pictures of RECENT jobs and be able to refer you to satisfied people you can talk to about their work.
Accountability: If you keep it all under one roof then you can call one number, and that's who you'll be talking to when any problem arises.
*You could choose to sort of sub out the various stages of the job, but keep in mind that a lot of finger pointing will occur when some component won't work or talk to another over "so and so's" wiring etc. You may end up being hardpressed to pin any one vendor down to resolving the problem.
*Get a guarantee of FULL functionality for a duration of time, in writing before committing.
Houston should be full of reputable installers. I used to live there and I know there were GREAT home audio stores with fantastic showrooms when I was there.
You've got a nice sized room and you may want to forego in-wall speakers and go for nicer enclosed speakers for the rear - a good installer can "in-wall" these for you and it should look great.
What's your room going to do when there's no movie playing ? You should probably design it to be media room rather than just a home theater. You could install all your equipment into a built in entertainment center on the front wall with the main and center speakers, and maybe use a "perf" screen that scrolls down out of the ceiling in front of your speakers while a movie plays. Opinions vary on the pluses and minuses of perforated screens - go see/hear them for yourself at a dealer with a nice showroom.
[Link: stewartfilm.com][Link: audioenz.co.nz]Sounds like the dimensions on your room are already decided but here are two links anyway:
[Link: home-cabling.com][Link: xsspl.tripod.com]
