How many Cat5/6 cable???

Plantman500

Hi All,

I'm very new to this site so i'm sorry if you have been here before.

I'm about to buy a new home being built by Barrett's I'm hoping they will let me run cat5/6 cable during its build.

My problems how many cat5/6 cable do I need in each room so that I can have internet and HDMI? Can I do it with one or do I need more?

Cheers Dave:D

Wabbit Ears

wrong forum but If I had a green field install Id run 2x cat 6 and 2x coaxial to each wall point. In living areas Id also run 2x speaker cable.

The Cush

I believe some HDMI units require 2 Cat5/6 cables, so adding a network cable would require a third and possibly for future proofing add a 4th for phone line, connected devices etc.

Paulw

What I did -

spare bedroom - 2x cat5e, 1x coax
box bedroom - 2x cat5e
main bedroom - 1x coax, 2xcat5e near bed, 2x cat5e at TV cabinet
main room - 4x cat5e at PC desk, 6x cat5e at TV cabinet. Already had 1xcoax for UPC TV.

Doing it again, I would run more coax and also speaker cable and phone cable. I didn't see the need for cat6 when cat5e is more than enough for me.

I have a 24port switch in my attic, plus some NAS.

The Cush

Paulw wrote: »

Doing it again, I would run more coax and also speaker cable and phone cable. I didn't see the need for cat6 when cat5e is more than enough for me.

I would always recommend a min. of 3 co-ax to the main room (1 x aerial, 2 x satellite) and possibly a 4th for future proofing. Also a min. of 2 to the other rooms. Better to be looking at it than looking for it.

donspeekinglesh

Worth making sure the builder will let you do it. When we bought we had to pay the site electrician to do it. €60 a point and he wouldn't even terminate them. Really limited how much we could do.

Plantman500

Cheers all very keen to get thing right first time.

am i right to think that i need one for internet and one for TV?

Cheers Dave

MAJJ

Run conduit and have nylon string pulled through, that way you can pull through whatever you need in the future.

The Cush

Plantman500 wrote: »

am i right to think that i need one for internet and one for TV?

One HDMI unit I saw required 2 Cat5 cables.

icdg

Moved to Home Entertainment DIY

andy1249

Heres some information on running HDMI over Category Cable.

http://www.maildogmanager.com/pics/AdminDPL/library/HDMIoverCAT_DL.pdf

Note that for uncompressed HDMI feeds over Category Cable , you need two runs of cable.
This will be carrying a TMDS HDMI signal , and is not compatible with any kind of ethernet devices , including switches , patch panels , homeplugs or the like.

The runs must be unbroken from source ( Blu ray player , console , receiver etc.) to Sink ( Screens ).
They must also be the same length.
Runs using two Category cables supply a clean exact copy of the original signal so there is no drop in quality.

There are now systems that can carry HDMI over a single run of Category Cable.
HDbaseT and HDMI over LAN , but these systems cost an arm and a leg and most say the throughput is "Visually Lossless" , which is just marketing speak for extra compression and the feed wont be a bit for bit copy of the original signal.
There will be a drop in quality , but maybe not enough for you to care , so if you dont mind that and have the money for such systems ( usually 2K and upwards ) then they may be worth a look.

joebre

Posted a question in HE General but hope to get a reply here instead. Two CAT 5E and 2 coax to each TV point in a new build of a two storey house. All boxes to be located in central cupboard upstairs. Would anybody recommend using HDMI to some of the TV's upstairs as some of the runs are between 5 and 10 metres ? I have used 20m HDMI in my own setup with no problems.

cros13

I'd say do a set of four CAT6/6A (if you have the money go for 6A for better futureproofing)

Drop the Coax entirely. With a modern system even if you want Freesat in every room you can just use a central SAT>IP Server ( Like this Elgato: http://www.elgato.com/en/eyetv/eyetv-netstream-4sat ) and distribute all the TV through the network.

Many Samsung and LG TVs have SAT>IP clients already built-in and you can buy standalone clients or use software clients on phone/tablet/PC.

Also worth adding a centrally located Cat6 in the ceiling upstairs and down for wireless access points. You can run power over the CAT6 for those. Ubiquiti's UniFi range is pretty great and offer really cheap three packs: http://wicomstore.com/product/unifi-3-radio-pack/ is the budget option or for the latest standard: http://linitx.com/product/ubiquiti-unifi-uap-ac-1300mbps-80211ac-24ghz5ghz-access-point-3-pack/13807

Remember you are going to live with the cabling setup for decades. Coax and HDMI are things you shouldn't be worrying about (I've already moved to a 4K TV (which will be the hot thing this year, I got my 39" 4k TV for €380 after import duty and the 50" for €670!) and HDMI 2.0 will be out soon definitely rendering your HDMI extenders obsolete.). The safe bet is on IP delivering everything. Netflix and Amazon Instant Video are starting 4K movie and TV streaming in June (House of Cards season 2 will be the first title).

same ol sh1te

cros13 wrote: »

I'd say do a set of four CAT6/6A (if you have the money go for 6A for better futureproofing)

Drop the Coax entirely. With a modern system even if you want Freesat in every room you can just use a central SAT>IP Server ( Like this Elgato: http://www.elgato.com/en/eyetv/eyetv-netstream-4sat ) and distribute all the TV through the network.

Many Samsung and LG TVs have SAT>IP clients already built-in and you can buy standalone clients or use software clients on phone/tablet/PC.

Also worth adding a centrally located Cat6 in the ceiling upstairs and down for wireless access points. You can run power over the CAT6 for those. Ubiquiti's UniFi range is pretty great and offer really cheap three packs: http://wicomstore.com/product/unifi-3-radio-pack/ is the budget option or for the latest standard: http://linitx.com/product/ubiquiti-unifi-uap-ac-1300mbps-80211ac-24ghz5ghz-access-point-3-pack/13807

Remember you are going to live with the cabling setup for decades. Coax and HDMI are things you shouldn't be worrying about (I've already moved to a 4K TV (which will be the hot thing this year, I got my 39" 4k TV for €380 after import duty and the 50" for €670!) and HDMI 2.0 will be out soon definitely rendering your HDMI extenders obsolete.). The safe bet is on IP delivering everything. Netflix and Amazon Instant Video are starting 4K movie and TV streaming in June (House of Cards season 2 will be the first title).

It's not wise to drop coax completely, it leaves you with a FTA only setup completely unable to get Sky through legit means

cros13

same ol sh1te wrote: »

It's not wise to drop coax completely, it leaves you with a FTA only setup completely unable to get Sky through legit means

Sky are going IP too... they already deliver Sky Sport and Sky Movies via the NowTV box for a monthly subscription or daily fee. It's also cheaper.

same ol sh1te

cros13 wrote: »

Sky are going IP too... they already deliver Sky Sport and Sky Movies via the NowTV box for a monthly subscription or daily fee.

Yes but it's too early to drop coax completely. Networks in this country are not ready for IPTV, they still use copper.