[Shane72]

Hi all,


My parents purchased a new home that was just finished by the builder. The electrician ran a single RG59 to the location above the fireplace in the great room. I really want to put the HD cable box in the basement.


The problem is that the walls are closed up. The builder has offered to route a cable outside/under the siding and into the basement. I guess that'll have to work.


The run is 80', so I'm wondering if I should buy a 100' length of HDMI from Mono, or run two CAT5e cables and use a balun.


Thoughts? Suggestions? Please.


Thanks,

Shane

 

[mariomp]

Have him run conduit, that way you can decide what you want to run in there. It needs to be at least 1", bigger is better.


Mario

 

[CVanMeter]

The problem is trying to run that length over HDMI. Many people are happy getting 30 feet over HDMI without the needs of a repeater or extender. So at 100' you no doubt will need to consider that cost.


I also don't know of any HDMI cable designed for exterior applications, so the conduit should be seriously considered for that reason alone. Armored or Direct Burial Cat5 is rather easy to obtain.


Does your HD Cable Box use RF from remote to box ? If so, you might want to confirm it will work between the two needed locations. If not, then you may need to look into an IR Repeater and needed wiring. If the installed RG-59 links the two locations, then you could use it just for the IR Repeater.

 

[Audio Atmosphere]

although these are not cheap these work great for long runs

http://www.accellcables.com/products...i_URcable.html


i would also highly recomend doing a metal conduit pipe of some sort regardless of what you run and also have you decided what type of remote you will be using to control the box remotely???

 

[bvsquidley]

Here are some options for HDMI over Cat 5:

http://www.intelix.com/products/balun_HD.htm


If you are sending 1080i, the DIGI-HDMI-F is a great choice.

 

[skdanser]

I recently used a Vizionware HDMI cable that was 30 meters long (100 ft) and it worked flawlessly. The cable employs active electronics and it preserves full 1080p which most cables do not. This cable costs $950.00 which is not cheap...but it's better to have something that works than waste time and money installing a useless, passive cable. Message me if you want to purchase one.

 

[Rik]

If you opt for cat5e I would go with cat6. It's not much more and extends the bandwidth dramatically. I believe cat6 would be required to move deep color around the home when it becomes available.

 

[Pete Metzk]

How about a link to back that up?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rik /forum/post/12041568


If you opt for cat5e I would go with cat6. It's not much more and extends the bandwidth dramatically. I believe cat6 would be required to move deep color around the home when it becomes available.

You say the walls are closed up, are they finished? If not, have him cut a channel in the sheetrock and place a PVC chase in the wall. He may not want to do it, but you (or your parents), have the checkbook.

 

[bvsquidley]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Rik /forum/post/12041568


If you opt for cat5e I would go with cat6. It's not much more and extends the bandwidth dramatically. I believe cat6 would be required to move deep color around the home when it becomes available.

Good call. More and more high-bandwidth extenders are recommending Cat 6, and I foresee upcoming technology which will rely on it.

 

[Rik]

Here is a link speaking to the differences between cat5e and cat6 from a networking perspective. For example, if gigabit lan is in your future cat6 is a requirement to move data at those speeds. For the miniscule price difference it's a slam dunk.

http://www.broadbandutopia.com/caandcaco.html

 

[seth]



Quote:
Originally Posted by bvsquidley /forum/post/12007904


Here are some options for HDMI over Cat 5:

http://www.intelix.com/products/balun_HD.htm


If you are sending 1080i, the DIGI-HDMI-F is a great choice.

I've been looking at that device set for sending the signal from my HD-STB in the living room to my new LCD up in the bedroom.


Any suggestions for a good/inexepnsive HDMI splitter or distribution amp to use with it? I need something like this so I can still feed the local TV with the HDMI output while also sending it to the distant TV.


Thanks

 

[Rik]

Monoprice has some very low priced HDMI switches. Oppo has a 3x1 switch that can be had for about $99. Monoprices are even less.

 

[fedders]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Rik /forum/post/12064910


Here is a link speaking to the differences between cat5e and cat6 from a networking perspective. For example, if gigabit lan is in your future cat6 is a requirement to move data at those speeds. For the miniscule price difference it's a slam dunk.

http://www.broadbandutopia.com/caandcaco.html

Cat 5e is designed for Gigabit networking per the TIA/EIA-568 standards. No need for Cat 6. However, I will agree Cat 6 has more "headroom" in case the cable is mis-handled as it is installed. I just didn't want anyone to have the impression that Cat 5e would not work for Gigabit.

 

[robertmee]

Don't know if it is marketing, or science, but many of the catX balun manufacturers ARE recommending cat6 for 1080p distribution. Because catx baluns are simply converting unbalanced video to balanced signals and taking advantage of the natural noise suppression of twisted pair, I don't know how much stock I put into that. Maybe a wire transmission guru will chime in.

 

[penngray]



Quote:
Here is a link speaking to the differences between cat5e and cat6 from a networking perspective. For example, if gigabit lan is in your future cat6 is a requirement to move data at those speeds. For the miniscule price difference it's a slam dunk.

cat5e does gigabit lan speeds.


No arguement about using cat6 but if that option isnt available for a similar cost then cat5e is just fine and will be for years and years.

 

[bvsquidley]



Quote:
Originally Posted by seth /forum/post/12082434


Any suggestions for a good/inexepnsive HDMI splitter or distribution amp to use with it? I need something like this so I can still feed the local TV with the HDMI output while also sending it to the distant TV.


Thanks

Intelix manufactures some inexpensive distribution amplifiers:

http://www.intelix.com/applications/...stribution.htm


The 2x2 (HDMI and DVI/digital audio inputs) is $199.95 retail.


The 2x8 (HDMI and DVI/digital audio inputs) is $699.95 retail.

 

[robertmee]



Quote:
Originally Posted by penngray /forum/post/12204051


cat5e does gigabit lan speeds.


No arguement about using cat6 but if that option isnt available for a similar cost then cat5e is just fine and will be for years and years.

We ain't talking about LANs here

We're talking about bandwidth, distance and balanced video signals which are dependent on the cable properties, perhaps more so than a TCP/IP network. Soooo.....Depending on the distance you need to run and the resolution, you MAY need cat6 now with baluns. YMMV.

 

[4HiMarks]

I'm looking into this too. I already have cat5 (probably 5e, but not totally sure) in place for previous ethernet installation. Am I best off to just get some HDMI over cat5e converters? Is there a problem using couplers/extenders/jacks? The HD box is not in the same place all my network switches are. I'm guessing I can't plug it into a hub or switch. Or can I? That would be too easy to get whole house HD then. It would probably be a run of close to 50 feet all told from front of basement to rear of first floor bedroom.


Even if it isn't 5e now, I have plenty more I can pull, I'd rather not have to drill a big hole in the floor for HDMI or component when I don't have to.


So essentially, I'd like to run a cat5e or 6 cable from HDMI/cat5e converter on DVR to switch room, connect it to another cable already present that runs to a jack in the BR, and then another cat5e cable from the jack to a HDMI/cat5e converter on the back of the TV. If it has to be a continuous run, I'd have to repull, but I'm thinking that is still preferable to running HDMI or Component that distance.


-Chris

 

[Greg C]

You need 2 Cat5-e/Cat-6 for HDMI.

 

[dheiskel]

I would consider using a run of single strand fiber for owlink. You can find a 100 foot spool of this fiber on line for

Based upon some research I did with several manufacturers of hdmi over cat5 solutions, 100 feet may not work! Especially if you plan on anything requiring higher bandwidth than 1080i or 720p.


The owlink product is priced slightly more than hdmi over cat5/6 solutions and a lot less than hdmi cables with embedded electronics.