Home Wiring advice please - sbiddle/Cyril7/anyone?

Deonorth

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#28156 20-Nov-2008 14:16

Hi anyone,
Recently have rebuilt house - managed to persuade partner to let me wire it up. Have run CAT5e + RJ6 around the house (relatively decent amounts as had a 300m Cat5e spool to use up!). Phone was already in quote/installed (BT boxes), SKY has been set up to run to the lounge and the alarm is already installed too - didn't touch these.
Have got my cables all running to a cupboard, where I have a 24port rack for the Cat5e to terminate to and the Coax is just hanging out of a hole in the gib at this stage.
My questions are
* What type of switch should I use to provide Internet to the 16 ports I have? (and what's the difference between and switch and a router - in layman's terms)- I use a Linksys WAG54G for my internet connection - giving me 4 ports. I was given a Linksys BEFSX41 (Firewall Router) and hoped to simply plug this in to my modem to give me 3+4 ports.
* I want to share music/movie files across my network - what would you recommend for a device to do this?

* I'd like to put the SKY box in the data cupboard, and hook it up to the coax to allow ability to watch from anywhere in house only issue is the remote. I have enough CAT5e ports to use that to run the Infrared - what do you recommend for me to use? I'm hoping/imagining that there is a RJ45 IR receiver/transmitter set that I can simply plug in (if that makes sense)

* When I hook the coax up to the SKY currently, to take the same picutre around the house, the reception is awful. Will it be my cabling, my connections (most are punch but some are the self screw in). Do I need to put a signal booster or something in my datacupboard? If so, recommendations please?
* Why did I put coax in, rather than RCA connections? They seem so much easier.

Thanks heaps for all your expertise.
cheers
Deonorth

cyril7

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#179083 20-Nov-2008 14:47

Hi, all you need is the WAG it already contains a SPI firewall thats all you need, but in addition I would get a 8port (or purhaps 16port) switch to expand the number of switch ports you need. It would be rare for you to use all 16ports at once, so 8 is probably all you need, which will give you 11 one the link between the WAG and new switch is in place.

As to what type of switch to get, if you are going to do a lot of media file transfers between your pcs then it might be wise to invest in a GigE switch, but personally I just use 10/100 switches. If you have spare rack space where your patch panel is then get a rack mounting switch, although check the depth. Basic 10/100Mb/s 8 port switchs are around the $40 mark, rack mounting ones normally dont start till 16port and a reasonable priced rack mounting one will probably cost around $100.

The downside of Sky distribution over RF is that you limit the signal back to basic composite on a DSB carrier. That said unless you have some interference from an offair antenna then the distributed signal should look pretty good (for RF) but you may need to add some amplication if you are splitting more than 3-4ways. I would suggest that you site the Sky box back where you main TV is, then you can have a component video connection between the STB and TV (assuming your STB supports that), and run the RF out feed back to the cupboard and amplify and split from there. Dont use screw on F connectors if you can help it, crimp tools are not that expensive. Make sure you put connectors on properly, ensure the dielectric faces up to the end of the inside of the connector body, fold the braid back over the sheath to give it better purchase.

IR remotes, I use blue-eye, PM me for pricing.

Cyril

digitaldream

62 posts

Master Geek

#179092 20-Nov-2008 15:08

For the remote, depending on how confident you are with a soldering iron you could try this kit.
Though instead of the supplied cable you would use the CAT5.

Nety

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#179098 20-Nov-2008 15:33

Deonorth:
* What type of switch should I use to provide Internet to the 16 ports I have? (and what's the difference between and switch and a router - in layman's terms)- I use a Linksys WAG54G for my internet connection - giving me 4 ports. I was given a Linksys BEFSX41 (Firewall Router) and hoped to simply plug this in to my modem to give me 3+4 ports.
* I want to share music/movie files across my network - what would you recommend for a device to do this?

IMHO get a 8+ port gig switch. Most PC's are now coming out with Gig nics built in. I brought a gig switch after I found problems steaming 720/1080p vidio accross the 10/100 network provided by my WRT router. The extra cost in minimal and it will then set you up for quite some time.
Also do not go for the cheapest. I did and had problems with some of the devices including the media centre not connecting at Gig. Sent it back and the vendors said it was fine must be a problem at my end. I exchanged it for a known brand and the new switch worked fine.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

cyril7

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#179101 20-Nov-2008 15:41

Yep I agree with Nety, an 8port GigE even though 3x the price at around $130 will not really break the bank, and connections that dont need the speed can simply plug into one of the WAGs 10/100 ports.

I have used a few of these recently, seem to do the trick.

Cyril