Cat5 and extender

karltimber

hi,

am currently wiring an extension to the house.

in the basic pic attached you can see the tv (lcd) on the left.
The router is in the utility room.

I suppose I need an extender to view anything from my MCE box in a separate room ?
Where can this extender go ?? It cannot go near the tv unfortuanately.
How about on the top right corner of the kitchen above a high press ???

and run cat5 from router to extender & then to the tv.

thx

8T8

Do you mean an MCE extender ?

The only extender you can purchase over here is the Xbox 360, the standalone extenders were only available in North America (& from accounts arent quite as good as the Xbox 360 extender).

As for putting the Xbox 360 above the press it's possibly do-able if you really want to but you will need to address the issue of getting the video cable from X360 to TV. The X360 wireless controller should work at that distance giving you control over it.

Of course it would be a lot easier with it near the TV & you could use the MCE remote with it.

The X360 can also work over wireless though of course wired is a more reliable option if you can do that.

karltimber

Yes an mce ext is what I am refering to - thx

what cable is required for to connect the xbox360 to an lcd. - dvi?
can I get a dvi cable about 6m long ??

I can leave a piece of string in the attic space and run it later.
I might be able to move the xbox closer

8t8 - what did you mean by "mce remote" useage.
I have my mce machine in a different room - with remote sensor behind a wall.
can you elaborate more on this please.

thx

8T8

The Xbox 360 can connect to a HDTV (running at HD resolutions) via VGA or component cables there is no DVI version of it's output cable so you will have to depending on the distance either use an adaptor or some sort of cable converter/extender.

The length of the official Xbox 360 VGA cable is about 2.5m in length so some sort of VGA female to DVI cable might work try looking around Maplins or Lindy.

The Xbox 360 responds to the MCE remote control so it can be used without the presence of the IR blaster with the Xbox 360.

However I would guess since this is IR technology some degree of line of sight is required, so if the Xbox 360 is out of sight then the consoles gamepad wireless controller is the only choice for control over the interface.

cooperguy

Surely you could buy an MCE ext from the internet from the USA. You hardly have to invest in an Xbox to do it.

SouperComputer

cooperguy wrote:

Surely you could buy an MCE ext from the internet from the USA. You hardly have to invest in an Xbox to do it.

You can but first of all your TV needs to support NTSC and generally the XB360 woudl offer better picture quality.

8T8

Plus you have the added advantage of the fact the Xbox 360 operating system is updated and will work with Vista MCE (although I heard it's working with the beta's already) so you know it will work for sure when Vista is out.

They also ported the MCE renderer to the Xbox 360 so it runs smoother than the standalone extenders.

Another minor benefit is MS are planning an add-on HD-DVD drive for it so it could be a reasonable way of getting HD-DVD support (if that sort of thing floats your boat).

Although to be honest I wish they would release an updated standalone extender that is cheaper than the Xbox 360.

Edit: Speak of the devil it looks like they are actually heading down that route with extenders.

karltimber

so since I am new to mce but newer to extenders

i will need an xbox360 with a network connection (better wired) and I will be able to access my main mce machine thru the xbox ??

thx

SouperComputer

karltimber wrote:

i will need an xbox360 with a network connection (better wired) and I will be able to access my main mce machine thru the xbox ??

Yup, thats the theory!

karltimber

28 inch crt tv just blew !!!!!!

Just as germany won on penalties.
In middle of an extension so it looks like a 37 lcd

karltimber

looks like I can put an xbox under a table (small) that will be under the TV.

So i just need to put in some conduit that will allow me to run a vga/dvi cable from the xbox to the TV.
will drop the network connection to below the table also - to connect to the xbox.

correct ???

thx

8T8

Yeah that will work.

Just keep in mind for HD resolutions to work assuming the new TV supports it these are the only cables that support HD resolutions.

VGA cable
[You can use a VGA-DVI adaptor if no VGA on TV or use the component if present]

Component cable
[This cable actually comes with the premium X360 package so if you buy that no need to buy the cable separately. The premium package comes with a wireless controller and the hard drive along with the HD cable]

The VGA cables offers slightly better image quality then the component but nothing to lose sleep over.

karltimber

I will not be setting this up for a few months yet - but need to run the conduit for these cables now. will just sink a 2" *1" conduit into the wall so I can fish the vga cable tru later.

thx folks.