[rinku2012]

Hello,


Recently i bought a new house ( 3 story town home) and had setup networking with the home builders. They have installed Cat 5e cables ( i requested them to install Cat 6 but they dint listened as cat5e is there standard policy) across my bedrooms

They have installed 1X Cat 5e, 2X Rg6 Coaxial cable and 1 Telephone jack ( at back end that is cat5e cable)


i want to have HDMI across Cat 5e as i have a desktop system where all the movies are stored and i want to place it in one of the bedroom and the tv will be in my living area.


Based on my above networking setup, can anyone suggest me the good setup of watching movies on my tv using HDMi solution ( cat5 to hdmi converter)


Since i want to place my Desktop machine in 3rd floor and my tv is in living area, is there any way that i will be having any connectivity to my USB keyboard and Mouse

 

[rinku2012]

today i had a discussion with a networking guy and he said he can go on top of my Attic and install Cat 6 cables across all my 3rd floor 3 bedrooms and to my living room. He mentioned that it would be difficult to install cat 6 cables to the 4th bedroom ( which is located on 1st floor)


so if i go with cat6 cables, do you guys suggest me to go 1 single cable from any of the bedroom located on 3rd floor directly to living room or just go withc at 6 cables connected to switch and then from switch to tv ?

 

[mdavej]

With gigabit speeds, a single run to a switch is usually fine. I assume all rooms won't always be streaming 4K video at the same time. Otherwise, play it safe and do home runs to all rooms. Doesn't make much difference since the bottleneck is always going to be the one cable going to your server PC.


Although lots of people do HDMI distribution over ethernet, since you have a computer involved, it's totally unnecessary. All you need is client Echo, Xbox or XBMC boxes and no HDMI distribution and no remote control of your desktop PC at all. Each client has it's own interface that works with a regular IR remote, just like a cable box or DVR. I run 5 TVs, all with Echoes, from one server and do all my movies, photos, music, and cable DVR from it. A few rooms also have BD players for discs, Netflix, Amazon, etc. Works fine, and is relatively cheap to set up. Since I have an older home, and it's difficult and expensive to run ethernet, I just use Moca everywhere. It cost me only about $8 per node to do ethernet over existing coax. So I got every room connected for a grand total of about $40.


Check out the Home Theater Computer forum for more suggestions.

 

[AV_Integrated]



Quote:
Originally Posted by rinku2012  /t/1526870/hdmi-solution-from-cat5e-cable#post_24595814


Hello,


Recently i bought a new house ( 3 story town home) and had setup networking with the home builders. They have installed Cat 5e cables ( i requested them to install Cat 6 but they dint listened as cat5e is there standard policy) across my bedrooms

They have installed 1X Cat 5e, 2X Rg6 Coaxial cable and 1 Telephone jack ( at back end that is cat5e cable)


i want to have HDMI across Cat 5e as i have a desktop system where all the movies are stored and i want to place it in one of the bedroom and the tv will be in my living area.


Based on my above networking setup, can anyone suggest me the good setup of watching movies on my tv using HDMi solution ( cat5 to hdmi converter)


Since i want to place my Desktop machine in 3rd floor and my tv is in living area, is there any way that i will be having any connectivity to my USB keyboard and Mouse

If all of your content is on hard drives on the PC, then you need to determine what device you want to do playback and where you want that device. if your intent is for the PC to decode the video and use a playback solution like XBMC then you will want some sort of extenders. Far more often is to use a local playback device which connects to your network, then install a robust gigabit network. There are a number of home media streaming devices which can handle HD streams across the home network which match up to Blu-ray Disc quality playback and can handle multiple displays at once. Compressed streams at lower bit rates can be handled in ever greater abundance.


You do not NEED cat-6 for this, and installing it doesn't make much sense. I would look at the contractual work and obligations as specified. I had a few items in my home building contract which were written on paper and were not adhered to, such as installing a dedicated 20amp circuit for my power at my equipment rack location. They had to come in a do the work later on, and repair all damages. Considering the profit that is built into the jobs, this type of extra work should be called out immediately and brought to the attention of the builder. They can fix drywall easy enough and paint to match typically without issue. But, if it isn't in writing, you are on your own.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mdavej  /t/1526870/hdmi-solution-from-cat5e-cable#post_24596370


Although lots of people do HDMI distribution over Ethernet

Almost nobody does HDMI distribution over Ethernet. HDMI distribution is often done over category rated cabling, but not Ethernet, these are completely different things.


But...

Quote:
Originally Posted by mdavej  /t/1526870/hdmi-solution-from-cat5e-cable#post_24596370


... since you have a computer involved, it's totally unnecessary. All you need is client Echo, Xbox or XBMC boxes and no HDMI distribution and no remote control of your desktop PC at all. Each client has it's own interface that works with a regular IR remote, just like a cable box or DVR. I run 5 TVs, all with Echoes, from one server and do all my movies, photos, music, and cable DVR from it. A few rooms also have BD players for discs, Netflix, Amazon, etc. Works fine, and is relatively cheap to set up. Since I have an older home, and it's difficult and expensive to run ethernet, I just use Moca everywhere. It cost me only about $8 per node to do ethernet over existing coax. So I got every room connected for a grand total of about $40.

...is completely correct. Local media streaming services for home playback is the way to go with network stored content. If the content in the home gets serious, some sort of RAID setup is strongly recommended.


But, HDMI distribution of video can be desired in certain situations such as a desire to actually use a full PC remotely on a display with full resolution and quality. Then, of course, I would use a good wireless keyboard setup to go with it. Still, cheaper to put small local streaming devices if that is all that is desired.

 

[cbsiftcb]


~~Almost nobody does HDMI distribution over Ethernet. HDMI distribution is often done over category rated cabling, but not Ethernet, these are completely different things.

 

Would you expand on the statement "HDMI distribution over category rated cable". What cable type and what distribution method?

 

[jautor]



Quote:
Originally Posted by cbsiftcb  /t/1526870/hdmi-solution-from-cat5e-cable#post_24598955


Would you expand on the statement "HDMI distribution over category rated cable". What cable type and what distribution method?

Meaning HDMI-over-cat5e, which was mentioned above - but mixed in the context of an IP-based streaming solution. It's important to note the distinction between the point-to-point HDMI-over-category-cable products and IP / Ethernet-based solutions. HDBaseT and other HDMI extender products are NOT Ethernet, but they use the same type of cabling.

 

[mdavej]

I meant the latter anyway, implying the physical layer. In any case, that's expensive and unnecessary in the OP's case, as we both agree.

 

[Joe Fernand]

So easy to mix up all of the various Technologies/terms 

‘~~Almost nobody does HDMI distribution over Ethernet’ – mostly true in the Residential market but a growing number of HD over LAN (you can’t call it HDMI) solutions are making inroads in the Digital Signage, ’In-house’ corporate TV, Sportsbar market.


It’s always a ‘lossy’ solution so not the first choice for Residential.

http://www.octavainc.com/HDMI_extender_LAN_HDDSX.html


HDMI over HDBaseT (single CAT) and HDMI over Dual CAT are lossless solutions so the better choice for Residential.


Agree with the other posts that distributed Media Players may be the better solution for this particular system.


Joe

 

[rinku2012]

as i mentioned i have talked to a person and he said he will be able to add Cat6 cables on my 3rd and 2nd floor. My plan is to have 2 X Cat 6 cables in each room ( Master bedroom, Bedroom1, Bedroom2 and Living area). But all these cables will be connected to switch

Does this plan sounds good or does anyone suggest me to add 2 X cat6 cables directly going from Bedroom 3 to Living area so that i can do HDMI over CAT 6 ?

which one is recommended ?


i am thinking of future once i have kids and both the bedrooms are utilized, then i am thinking of where to keep my HTPC equipment

 

[mdavej]

Everyone in this thread and your other thread in the HTPC forum is recommending against HDMI over CAT6 (or 5) in your situation. Why do you think you need HDMI distribution when all your content is coming from a PC? You do realize the cost difference could run into the thousands, will little or no benefit, right?

 

[rinku2012]

yes that what i thought too. this is why i was thinking is to keep my htpc in one of the bedroom either on 3rd floor or 1st floor, connect it to the existing cat5e network outlet, then have one more small laptop near my tv and connect that laptop to the existing cat5e netwokr outlet and watch movies from there. will this setup be good ( cost effective ?). so that i can keep my wife happy too and i need not to worry about the pricing of installing cat6 cables ?


my question here is if i go with the above setup, if i watch movies from laptop , will i get the 7.1 sound system to my speakers ( as the laptop is having normal intel hd graphics card) ?

 

[AV_Integrated]



Quote:
Originally Posted by rinku2012  /t/1526870/hdmi-solution-from-cat5e-cable#post_24620595


yes that what i thought too. this is why i was thinking is to keep my htpc in one of the bedroom either on 3rd floor or 1st floor, connect it to the existing cat5e network outlet, then have one more small laptop near my tv and connect that laptop to the existing cat5e netwokr outlet and watch movies from there. will this setup be good ( cost effective ?). so that i can keep my wife happy too and i need not to worry about the pricing of installing cat6 cables ?


my question here is if i go with the above setup, if i watch movies from laptop , will i get the 7.1 sound system to my speakers ( as the laptop is having normal intel hd graphics card) ?

There are any number of PCs you can use for this, as well as room media players. They all have different capabilities, but as long as you use a player which can run 7.1 audio and the encode has 7.1 audio, then it will be available to your surround system. Keep in mind, any rooms that you need 7.1 surround sound in will need all the appropriate equipment as well.

 

[rinku2012]

HI,


Yes i have 7.1 pre wired setup in the house. i will purchase speakers after couple of months. I just to have the setup before purchasing them. i am thinking if i use laptop, can i convert the audio coming out from laptop to 7.1 audio system ?