Home Network / Media Wiring New Build

Redfowler11

In the process of first fix electrical on a new build and looking for advice of what cabling to install. Electrician suggesting 2 co-axial for each tv and Ethernet Cat 5e. Also looking to setup a home media centre and home network. Looking to future proof as much as possible.

glashanator

Redfowler11 wrote: »

In the process of first fix electrical on a new build and looking for advice of what cabling to install. Electrician suggesting 2 co-axial for each tv and Ethernet Cat 5e. Also looking to setup a home media centre and home network. Looking to future proof as much as possible.

If you, as you say are "Looking to future proof as much as possible", then you should be using cat 6, not cat 5e. a little more expensive but carries 10 times the data, at 250MHZ. and as far as I know it can carry HD down the line to your tv.

You can get a hub now, that everything can be patched into. then sent out to all your tv's and data points,that includes sky box,network,computer motherboard,dvd player, external hard drive. and can be controlled from ipad/tablet thru an app. very good software.

p.s. If you have speakers in your ceilings you can access spotify or the like,again all accessed by your app on your ipad.

gomamochi1

glashanator wrote: »

If you, as you say are "Looking to future proof as much as possible", then you should be using cat 6, not cat 5e. a little more expensive but carries 10 times the data, at 250MHZ. and as far as I know it can carry HD down the line to your tv.

You can get a hub now, that everything can be patched into. then sent out to all your tv's and data points,that includes sky box,network,computer motherboard,dvd player, external hard drive. and can be controlled from ipad/tablet thru an app. very good software.

p.s. If you have speakers in your ceilings you can access spotify or the like,again all accessed by your app on your ipad.

Could you recommend this hub please as doing similiar in coming months? Thanks

DeeJunFan

i think the hub being referred to is a switch. Basically you attache your Broadband router to it and then take all your CAT 6 cables from it to rooms in the house giving internet access (home network) to all rooms.

If you are looking to distribute TV (HDMI) over CAT 6 or CAT 5e cable you don't need to use a switch as they don't require internet access.

For example if you want your sky box centrally located and available to view in multiple rooms. From sky box in media centre you take the HDMI output from skybox to a HDMI Matrix (allows signal to be sent to different rooms) Then you need a HDMI cable from the matrix for each room which will plug into a HDMI/CAT 6 balun, this will then transmit your HDMI signal over the CAT 6 cable (up to 100M) at the room you want the signal you have another HDMI balun which takes your CAT 6 cable and then puts it back into HDMI cable into the TV.

As said above i would definitely go for CAT 6, not a great deal more expensive but if you are looking to transfer media its going to be much better.

There are a crazy amount of options for doing all of this. Depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.

If you only want sky in 1 room and access to movies etc in all others.

Simple solution would be leave your sky box in your main living room.

Setup home network (Broadband Router - Switch - CAT 6 into each room) (Decent switch for say 150 could spend much more) Cable is fairly cheap around 100 per 300m
Attach a NAS to the Switch (Good NAS for around 300 again Could spend 1000)
Use Raspberry Pi with XBMC at each TV were you want to access content from the NAS (budget say 50 per Pi)

More complex solutions include.

All media devices centrally located
HDMI matrix to allow HD content to be available to multiple zones at once. (minimum 1500)
Audio amplifier and some multi room audio system (Decent audio amp rack mounted for multi room min 1000) Multi room system (again at least 600-700 depending on number of rooms) some places will charge more (a lot more)

Drift

I'd suggest that 2 coaxial connections for a TV is a bare minimum so I would bring 4 to your main tv point in the living room.

It's a number of years ago since I checked now but at the time a HDMI to Cat6 Balun required 2 Cat 6 wires for each HDMI cable. That may have changed since though.

Again it's a cost trade-off but if you plan on sending TV pictures via a Cat6 wire you should probably look into using a Shielded wire to prevent interference from microwaves, phones, hair-dryers ... etc. etc.

glashanator

There are many ways to skin a cat, especially with the hardware you're looking for. some are using old trusted ways, others are being braver and experimenting with newer stuff.

I'd agree with drift, a copper covered co ax will stop interference, or cross talk,as will the cat 6 compared to cat 5.... especially if you're running wires all over the house.

The hub i talked about is just a central point that houses all your media boxes,and all your cat6 and co ax are ran into this hub,its nothing fancy.... the real work is done by the patching inside the hub..... but remember all rooms have to be chased and wired for all of these,maybe something the OP hasnt allowed for.

In my opinion this is not a job for your electrician. I had a Digital Tv guy who specialized in all of this.... the electrician was delighted to say the least. The digital guy drew up a schematic for all the runs of cat6 and co ax, back to one point. We chased for each run accordingly in every room, and the electrician 1st fixed everything and labelled them , without the pressure of worrying what they were for. 2nd fix hasn't happened yet,but the plan is the electrician comes back and 2nd fixes all the normal stuff. and the digital guy 2nd fixes all the media stuff.

Done this way there has been absolutely no headaches, and if you're not well versed on this stuff.... this is a great direction to take. each man to his own job ....etc.

DeeJunFan

Drift wrote: »

I'd suggest that 2 coaxial connections for a TV is a bare minimum so I would bring 4 to your main tv point in the living room.

It's a number of years ago since I checked now but at the time a HDMI to Cat6 Balun required 2 Cat 6 wires for each HDMI cable. That may have changed since though.

Again it's a cost trade-off but if you plan on sending TV pictures via a Cat6 wire you should probably look into using a Shielded wire to prevent interference from microwaves, phones, hair-dryers ... etc. etc.

You can get baluns that require only a single CAT 6.

Oral Surgeon

How much is all this media costing if you don't mind me asking??

glashanator wrote: »

There are many ways to skin a cat, especially with the hardware you're looking for. some are using old trusted ways, others are being braver and experimenting with newer stuff.

I'd agree with drift, a copper covered co ax will stop interference, or cross talk,as will the cat 6 compared to cat 5.... especially if you're running wires all over the house.

The hub i talked about is just a central point that houses all your media boxes,and all your cat6 and co ax are ran into this hub,its nothing fancy.... the real work is done by the patching inside the hub..... but remember all rooms have to be chased and wired for all of these,maybe something the OP hasnt allowed for.

In my opinion this is not a job for your electrician. I had a Digital Tv guy who specialized in all of this.... the electrician was delighted to say the least. The digital guy drew up a schematic for all the runs of cat6 and co ax, back to one point. We chased for each run accordingly in every room, and the electrician 1st fixed everything and labelled them , without the pressure of worrying what they were for. 2nd fix hasn't happened yet,but the plan is the electrician comes back and 2nd fixes all the normal stuff. and the digital guy 2nd fixes all the media stuff.

Done this way there has been absolutely no headaches, and if you're not well versed on this stuff.... this is a great direction to take. each man to his own job ....etc.