future proof video cabling

Skip all of that in favor of a lot of Cat6. But also put in normal RG6 coax runs as well.

When you say "empty cable runs", I assume you mean you can't run some flex conduit for future-proofing? Why not?

Jeff

Right now, the cost to go up to 10gig is not justifiable. It can cost up to more than expected, and only Fiber is right now the only technology that is capable of greater than 1gig, due to manufacturers have not perceived changing the technology for use in a office environment for workstations and the consumer market.

It will be pretty much longer than most people realize that anything more than 1 gig will be mainstream for wired networks, until there becomes a perception of need by consumers and companies needing anything faster to move data between workers and servers. Also, the biggest bottleneck to the outside world, is how fast the connection from the ISP to the end user is. No matter how fast the data is moving inside in the LANs, you are still only able to communicate to the outside world at the throttled speed given to you by the ISP.

As for use for video solutions such as hdmi and cameras, you will be fine with the cat-6 for a very long time.

+1


Apparently, according to Greg, 3G HD-SDI over coax is an illusion.

Actually fiber is not dead. It is used for communication more than you think. Along with highspeed networking. Copper is dying is what you really should realize, when it comes to highspeed technologies like Internet, etc..

And yes, anything over 1g for ethernet, & WAN is always going to use Fiber, because of the distance issue when using Copper. Goes for the same when sending ground point to ground point video, when Satellite costs are too high for the short distances, or up to a communications link.

As for 3G HD-SDI, unless you are building a production studio in your home to send out feeds to various endpoints to allow consumers to view, you will never see it in the home/consumer market.

The only real point of using Cat-6 in a home theater setting would be for HDMI over Ethernet, and if the person wanted to, to keep things all the same, use it also for the LAN & VoIP connections. Otherwise, Cat-5e will work just fine, since again the bottleneck to the outside is always going to be the connection at the router to the ISP.

...except when it's used over copper, and it is often.


Incorrect, again.


Can you back this up or is it like the rest of your posts...completely fabricated garbage.

In the modern television and film facilities these days, fiber and HDSDI are about equal in high speed signal transport. Large, real time, (that is several streams of 2K or even 4K 24fps) SAN infrastructures are still almost exclusivily Fibre Channel. (note Fibre is not a spelling error in the term Fibre Channel).

In broadcast plants where signals are delivered pre-compressed or video tape based, Fibre Channel sees little use. Here gigE and HDSDI are the standards of choice.

HDSDI is used for realtime monitoring, projection and video transport, up to 3gbs as said above. I just saw a report in this months' SMPTE journal that 6gbs and 12gbs HDSDI interface is being developed using multiple 3gig channels. So HDSDI still has a strong future.

Note that in addition to Ethernet over CAT6/5 we still use a lot of AES and even analog audio. Timing signals are still analog video as well.

HDSDI is indeed very rare in a typical HT though it is used in some niche cases. I use it myself but I build interface hardware for a living so that's my excepetion. And some rare HTs with no budget constraints also use HDSDI gear. For my non-HDCP signals I run 1.5gbs HDSDI right up to the projector and convert it to HDMI right there with a 2 foot HDMI cable between the converter and projector. No cable length issues at all. (although me 50ft monoprice HDMI cable works fine too).

Since this is future proof, what about CAT7 instead of CAT6

Yes. Lots. If you're burying everything in concrete and brick , I would run at least 3-4 cat5e/cat6 to the projector location. And at least 2 to any other location that could use any!

Jeff

Let's not confuse the poor guy with discussions about what's being used in the communications / IT business. All the above is correct, but do not apply to residential construction or home A/V and networking needs.

Simple copper will continue forever* in its role in home networking / AV uses because it's cheap, simple, and ubiquitous...


Yep, absolutely correct. Cat6 is generally overkill, but the cost delta is small, so if that makes it easier to sleep at night, use it. HDBaseT works on Cat5e. And as bitrates go, remember that Blu-ray is only pumping ~50Mbs from the disc to the decoder...

Jeff


*It may get replaced some day, but I'll be too old to care by then - you can argue with my holographic avatar when the time comes.

You could probably use "Octopus" cable for a lot of the drops, that have video and ethernet cabling going to it. Octopus also comes in flavors that have mutliple audio, so you do not have to pull long runs of bundled cables. Your costs go up when you start throwing words like "Professional" and "Studio" or "High End", when you start talking to companies that do this type of work.

The best way to start is by getting a set of the blue prints and overlaying sheets over it, that would allow you to make changes of how you want the drops and wiring, then when you get the result you want, hand that over to the architect, so they can draw up a professional pull sheet and spec sheet along with schematic for who will be doing the work. Worst thing to do when pulling wiring, is find out that those twenty or more runs you pulled for two days, are now either going to the wrong locations, or got cut too short for where they actually were supposed to be going.

The cable trays and conduits for the pulls help, but not something you would see in majority of the residential installations, but it is helpful. Future proofing, you build into your current want, and only place that I can think of future proofing, would be if in twenty or so years the choice in controlling devices, technology, or wanting more home automation, can really be the only things I can think of off of the top of my head.

I am lucky with my home, due to one I have a unfinished basement, and accessible attic space, along with a common area near where the coax for CATV & wiring for the Telephone Company, who I have both my high speed and tv with are both very well protected from damage and any electrical surges, and can easily be updated if the technology ever changes, which I really do not see happening in my area. With the exception of the high speed and TV, in that the provider is testing in certain areas here in the states with using mesh networking vs. running physical Copper lines to the structures.

And always, always give yourself enough space for storage of supplies needed for patch cords, etc, along with a dedicated space or spaces for the various technologies you are planning on using, vs. trying to wedge into a shoebox, because it now has become a after thought.

Realistically and in a home theatre setting I personally cannot ever see the need for a true fibre solution as a transport medium for high definition audio/video. Pull some extra CAT6 and be done with it.

10GBASE-T is a 10 Gigabit over Ethernet standard that uses unshielded copper wire (CAT6 or CAT6a) but the costs to put in the connectivity equipment to support it are difficult to justify. We are talking $7k switches and $500+ NICs.

As it stands now there are very few consumer electronic devices that even support Gigabit (1000BaseT) outside of computer networking, and until there is a demand for consumer electronics to NEED that sort of bandwidth then the cost will remain high.

We did - we just called them "empty conduit".

HDMI will probably carry us for quite a while - DisplayPort, etc. have lots of other features not needed for A/V purposes. When we get beyond 4k displays I'd expect we'll just be running Gbit Ethernet to the projector and streaming video from the source/receiver. Or using HDBaseT, which would be the same cable type anyway...

Jeff

jautor, a company has already come out with a Fiber-Optic HDMi cable (Rainbow Fish Fiber Optic Inc.). Catch is, that the cable runs about $250 for a 25 foot length, and you have to have a USB on the device that the Receiver for the cable plugs into, so that you can power up the TX & RX ends.

Right, which is why it won't catch on in the mainstream, as long as we can solve it with copper... HDBaseT is already down to ~$200 solution cost for a single link.

Jeff

Fiber has been "the future" for 20 years... Another 20 maybe it will be! (I'm talking widespread, residential interior wiring here)


I don't know - and that's why you should run some extra. Cat5e/6 is just plain useful for lots of stuff, and it's so cheap, having a few extra lines for "something" is a good idea.

Jeff