[Mandingo]

My house came with some CAT5 installed but none to my family room or (upstairs) bedroom. So I am about to lay new cable to cover these two rooms and link my two 5k's through my Netgear router (which already networks 3 PC's).


I've not done this before and need some advice:-


1) Is there a kit for CAT5 that anyone can recommend with cable, crimper, connectors and tester together?


2) Any "best practices" when laying cable from upstairs through to downstairs?


3) Is *high quality* streaming going to be reliable across a wired network or would I have to go down to medium?


Please help a complete CAT5 noob ...

 

[lizard_boy]

Unless you really want to do this yourself I'd try to find a pro to do this. A friend of mine found someone in Houston who installed CAT-5 for $100/drop (including equipment). He paid $200 and got two very professional drops put in, 1 going from computer room to the living room, the other from computer room to the bedroom. I think he just searched around on Googld and found this guy.


With a hard wired network streaming high quality should be no problem.

 

[rherbert]

I just ran Cat5 from the upstairs to the basement - it was an enormous pain. But it all depends on how your house is laid out.


You probably don't need a tester, since the ones that actually tell you useful information are usually insanely expensive. I usually test to see if I get a link light between a computer and a hub.


Try to take the shortest path, making sure any segment of cable isn't longer than 150 feet. Cat5 is rated for 300 feet from machine to machine, so if you've got two 200 foot lines coming down from upstairs, that's 400 feet. But that's a really long line, so you PROBABLY won't have any issues with that.


Run more cable than you need - even if you think you want just one, you may want two later. If you don't want to run two, at least run a string to make it easier to pull more cable later. (Especially if you have to cut into walls to drill holes in 2x4s.) Use at least a 1/2" hole so you can run two lines through.


100BaseT Ethernet will have no problem streaming high quality, but your ReplayTV might. I haven't actually tried high quality streaming from ReplayTV to ReplayTV, but medium quality takes 600KB/s, and that's the max recommended for pulling from a ReplayTV to DVArchive. But the network should be able to handle over 10MB/s, so you're fine from that standpoint.


And my final recommendation - get a nice, solid crimper. Back when I was in college, I had to make a lot of Ethernet cables with a crappy crimper, and it was extremely error-prone. When I just wired my house, I had a good crimper, and every connection (shockingly) worked perfectly the first time.


Oh, and my second final recommendation - get some nice Ethernet jacks and faceplates at Home Depot, even though they're kind of expensive. It looks a lot nicer than a cable sticking out of the wall.

 

[Creech]

Despite Lizard's recommendation, I would say that it is pretty easy to do.


Most, if not all, jacks come colour coded. Many come with a small disposable punchdown tool. I ran 6 drops in my home in an afternoon. However, I had pulled cable for a summer at Virginia Tech to earn extra $$$. This was 5 years ago though.


If you think you can install a phone jack, you can run ethernet.


In my home setup, I ran the cables under the house from my wiring closet. I have a crawl space, which made this decision easy. I then brought the cables up right at the baseboards and ran a short piece of conduit to the actual jack box. If I had been feeling fancy, I would have run the lines up into the wall and installed recessed jack boxes. Match the colours of the wires to the colour coding on the jack, snap it into the template in the box, and a couple of screws later and you're good.


On the other end IN the wiring closet, I chose to run to a 8 port jack box. This was to avoid buying a crimper. So my setup is all female to female. I then use very short ethernet jumper cables--male to male, that run from the jack box to the ports on my routers.


The equipment needed to do it how I did was:


Drill

hacksaw or pvc saw (for the conduit)

wire cutters

wire stripper

Screwdriver


In each of the jacks that I purchase a disposable punchdown tool was provided.


To test each connection, I hooked up my router and setup my laptop to connect to the router. My laptop tells me if the connection is running at 100bT or 10bT or not at all. I went from jack to jack checking the speed.


Because I had the CAT5 already--ends of spools from the University--all I had to buy was:


-14 female jacks (6 on each end of each run, then two more to fill out the 8 port jack box)

-5 3 port jack boxes--two of my runs go to the same jack box. (I chose 3 port boxes just in case I wanted to run a second ethernet line AND in case I decided I wanted a telephone jack in any of them.)

-1 8 port jack box

-6 2 foot ethernet cables as jumpers from the 8 port jack box to my router.


I had a bunch of ethernet cables lying around, so I didn't need to buy any for the computers and replay units I was connecting to the network.


Everything cost me less than $50.

 

[Mandingo]

Thanks for the speedy responses. I love this forum.


Following lizard_boy's advice I just called around and found a guy who will come and do the whole thing (2 drops) for $220 this Friday. I suspect by the time I have bought tools, cable and bled all over the floor a couple of times I will find getting a professional a much better bet.


And so would my wife


I was worried about this comment though:-

Quote:

100BaseT Ethernet will have no problem streaming high quality, but your ReplayTV might

Has anyone had trouble streaming high quality over their wired network?

 

[djdementia]

If you aren't planning on doing a BUNCH of cable runs in the future, I highly recommend you higher a professional.


A good kit will probably cost you over $300 . Add in the cost of bulk cable around $100 for 1,000 feet, plus your labor, it ends up being much cheaper to higher a pro for 2 or 3 runs.


Also, if you really want to do it right, you need to do it using Jacks $5-$10 each, and you will need to buy a punch tool $50 - $75.


If you plan on doing a lot of runs (i'd guess around 8+) in the future or something, it might be cheaper to do it yourself.



Now... on the other hand if you are like me, and can borrow most of the tools from your work (or a friends work!) and just pay for the cable and jacks, thats your best deal

 

[rherbert]

Quote:

Also, if you really want to do it right, you need to do it using Jacks $5-$10 each, and you will need to buy a punch tool $50 - $75.

Why would a punch tool cost $50 - $75? The jacks that I got for around $5 had a plastic punch tool included with each one.

 

[djdementia]

Hell I have trouble streaming Low quality over my wired network. I've all but given up on streaming and just copy shows via dv archive (on a schedule) and then watch from my PC on the transferred shows.

 

[leesweet]

The 'real' punch tools are for use everyday, like the 66 and 110s we have at work. The disposable 110 plastic ones that come with the wall jacks are fine. Heck, people have even used a screwdriver!


I'm doing the same sort of cabling with low-voltage boxes to mount the faceplates it, and am using the 3 and 6-jack plates so I can use them or add more jacks later where needed (I'm also running some telco lines to a room that didn't get wired originally).


For those that are looking to do this themselves, and need an easy way to run cable between floors (the hardest part, usually), look at your HVAC system. The air return from the upper floor to the basement is often a straight vertical run, and you can just drop the cable down it and tape it to the wall of the duct with the foil 'duct' tape. Works great. (Note that you should not put cabling in hot air ducts; a bit warm in the winter there!)


Another note: If you are having someone run cable in the attic to other rooms and to the family room, etc., for the RTV or PCs, you may want to run a length of RG-6 coax for possible use with an attic antenna down the road for HDTV. When running cable, the cable is the least of the cost. Labor is most of it, and one more cable where you or the installer already is is peanuts.

 

[zaphod357]

rherbert,


The prices for cat5 jacks, tools, etc, in this thread are very high. These look more in line (and in some cases higher) with the kind of prices you would get going to a radio shack or compusa. It makes much more sense to order from or go to a supply house that deals in this type of equipment. Wall plate blanks should not be more than a buck a piece at most, and cat5 keystones, 85 cents at the highest. The cost of the cabling is negligible as well. As for the tools, a crimper and punch down tool (and obviously one would not need the best ones out there) shouldn't be more than $10/piece. All told, the investment makes alot of sense, especially when you will end up going out to buy 6 foot patch cables (for wall plate to device connections) for $11.99-$14.99+. The same cable, custom made to the length you need it, will cost cents on the dollar. If you need a 20ft+ cable for any reason, forget about buying off the rack!

 

[rherbert]

Quote:

Has anyone had trouble streaming high quality over their wired network?

Let me revise my statement... You will probably be able to stream high-quality video from one ReplayTV to another, or even from DVArchive to your ReplayTV. However, based on the DVArchive notes, ReplayTVs can become unstable if you transfer much more than 600KB/s while you are doing something else.


So, based off of that, I would say that you'll PROBABLY be okay if your other ReplayTV isn't recording or playing something else.


. . . but I haven't tried anything more than medium quality myself.

 

[lizard_boy]

I stream medium all the time (hard-wired) and very rarely have a problem. Every so often the remote unit will do its weekly reboot and I'll have to go see why it stopped streaming.


I don't record many things in high, but when I have the streaming seemed to work fine.

 

[rcsommers]

For anyone looking to install your own network... check the kit at the URL below. It works fine, I've used this kit before.


No I don't work for them. Just info.


Regards


http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=E-CAT5E-K5



Ultimate Networking Kit! Cables, Tools, NICs and More!!! Only $99.99


Product Number E-CAT5E-K5 Shipping Weight 35 lbs

Warranty Period 1 Year Manufacturer

Condition New Manufacturer Part No.

Packaging Plain Box Support Contact Geeks

In Stock And Ready To Ship!




This amazing kit will have you installing a network in no time! The Geeks are supplying you with 1000-feet of Category 5e cable, eight 25-foot Category 6 patch cables, network faceplates, a tool kit, four network interface cars and a 5-port hub! A crimper and cable tester will help you put the finishing touches on your network! If you have been clamoring for a network then you had better pick one of these kits up today!



Features/Specifications

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ultimate Networking Kit


** Package Includes:

One (1) 1000-Foot Cat5e cable on a boxed spindle

One-hundred (100) 30u RJ-45 connectors (packed inside cable spindle box)

One (1) RJ-45 Crimper

One (1) Network Cable Tester

One (1) Cable Tester carrying case

Eight (8) 25-foot Category 6 Ethernet patch cables

Ten (10) 2-port face plates with mounting screws

Ten (10) single port face plates with mounting screws

One (1) tool kit

Four (4) PCI 10/100Base-TX Fast Ethernet Adapters

One (1) Silver 10/100 Mbps 5-port switching hub with power adapter

One (1) Belkin type 1 token ring face plate

 

[djdementia]

Prices I quoted were estimates based on what we buy for my work.


We buy only Avaya Gigaspeed Cables, Connectors and Wallplates.


We only use AMP Crimp tools, and Punch tools. This is the best of the best out there, I'm not particularly familier with the costs on cheap stuff, so sorry if my prices are out of wack


I didn't realize other manufacturers were so much cheaper.

 

[lizard_boy]

Any package that includes 4 cars for $100 is a pretty damn good deal.

 

[asinshesq]

Quote:

Originally posted by lizard_boy Any package that includes 4 cars for $100 is a pretty damn good deal.

They're probably used.

 

[mpsan]

I have gone to Home Depot many times and have CAT5E for outdoor/plenum (sp). I think it was only $14 for 100'. I got coax/telephone/cat5 wall jacks as well. I bought a tool and 100 plugs at Fry's for

 

[suburbanviking]

I haven't seen this in the thread so I'll throw it in the mix.


Keep your cable runs away from fluorescent lights -- either the tube ones like in the kitchen or the newer compact ones in your ceiling cans. Fluoro will wreak havoc on your network.


And make sure if you leave a loop or two in the cable up in the ceiling for flexibility that the loop is not wound too tight or around itself.


I would encourage anyone that has any shred of home improvement inclination to do the drops themselves. Once you have the equipment and parts (cable, terms, etc) the only cost is your time. You can customize it to your liking and add as necessary. We are remodeling the house and I had to move the 5040 from the living room to the master. There was only 1 run to the master for my Rio Receiver but it was no problem to just drop an additional run for the Replay.


Good luck!

 

[jesseg]

$220 seems really high for just two drops. I have drops done all over the country for our company and anything over $80.00 is generally considered a ripoff. Just FYI.. might want to shop around.

 

[collin]

I'd like some advice on the best way to tackle my situation. My house is two stories, and the living room is a tall room that goes up two stories, above that is an (unfinished) attic. There is no crawl space under the house.


I previously tried using HomePlug powerline networking bridges to connect the replayTV to the router, which worked fine for the guide data, but was intolerably slow for DVArchive downloading. So currently I have a long Cat5 cable running from the upstairs computer room, off the balcony, and hanging down to reach the RTV area.


The best strategy I can figure is to run a Cat5 run up from the computer room closet into the attic, then comes the problem. Since the side wall of the living room that comes nearest the TV is two stories high, I don't think it will be possible to drop a line inside the wall down to floor level. However, the wall is also an exterior wall, so I was thinking that I could punch a hole through the attic wall to the outside, then drop the cable on the outside, then punch another hole into the house behind the tv, and install a ethernet wall jack there.


My main question is about the type of cable necessary. I'm pretty sure that I'll need to run a conduit down the side of the house along the edge of the chimney to protect the cable as well. I'd appreciate any advice on whether I need outdoor cable (what is this specifically called?) and also the type of conduit I should be looking for at Home Depot.


Thanks!