Sound/Vision, and Home Theatre in a new two storied house (or How to Correctly Wire Your House)

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#105032 15-Jan-2008 19:03

Just a basic round of technologies, the biggest bandwidth hogs will be mpeg streaming and someone editing raw images. Beyond that there are the types with large server requirements for some reason or whatever.

So reality time, HD mpeg tops out at around 40Mb/s even for the most demanding, well inside 100Mb/s. Video editing on raw video is well inside in the 1Gig region even for HD. So exactly what will be using 10Gig, if you are not providing a backhaul for dozens of clusted servers then I dont exactly see the domestic application, now or the future.

But hey I though upgrading my TRS80 to 64k of ram was way over the top.

Cyril

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#105073 15-Jan-2008 21:40

amdex modules will snap into a clipsal plate, and since they make a nice range of plates then PDL 600 (which IMO are bloody ugly) thats what I have gone for here. You can also get other brands of modules that will snap into clipsal but I havent had any reason to yet. The 2000 series plates have some nice plates to make more then one plate join together for where the HT equipment goes, look on ebay for some examples but dont buy there, get the plates from a wholesaler.

You can look on ebay aussie for some decent deals on small quantities of gear, most places are ok to ship to nz even tho they dont list it on their listings.

For distributing the phone, I have the phoneline going to a normal telecom dual plate with the adsl filter behind it, when the pstn was used in more then one place I put a tripple adaptor into the phone socket and then used some BT to RJ45 cables I crimped up into the patch panel. Apparently some people have issues with RJ11/12's stuffing up their RJ45 sockets and I didn't want to risk it. There are overpriced pstn distribution modules to snap into a similarly overpriced little flushmount cabinets which seem to think that 8 cat5e runs and an 8 port switch is sufficiant for a whole house.

Richard rich.ms

Jax

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#105076 15-Jan-2008 22:14

Check this link:
www.telepermit.co.nz/Ptc106.pdf

I found this document to be very useful.

jpwise

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#105120 16-Jan-2008 08:19

hrm, read that PTC doc this morning, actually makes for interesting reading, most of it's pretty basic but a few good tips (allow 300mm cable at both ends for terminating / reterminating, etc), and interesting to see they brought out a PTC (225) section for home distribution units, except there's no PTC'd units yet. Edit: Scratch that apparently there was some PTC'd back in 2006, just nothing since.

I think the only real question I had left was the choice of flush boxes. Use electrical flush boxes, plastic/metal?, or I've also seen these open backed Gib flush boxes that are essentially a frame without the back on it. Any suggestions? If it was fully populated with 6 cables my only concern is it would be quite cramped squeezing through the openings in a standard electrical flushbox.

Jp.

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cyril7

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#105126 16-Jan-2008 08:38

You would be surprised how easy 4 cat5 plus to 2 coaxs are to cramp in a standard 144 Flush box, otherwise the open back frames are what I use if things are going to be tight. Normally the biggest hassle is fighting with the wall insulation. I only use plastic flush boxs, unless working on a firewall where you must use metal boxs with a retarding backing insert.

Cyril

jpwise

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#105141 16-Jan-2008 09:53

cyril: Thanks for that. I assume the 144's, are the standard standard flush boxes? I've probably used them but didn't know they were 144.

Everyone else: other minor tidbits from that PTC doc, mount with the RJ45's so that the pins are on the top edge (ie: upside down). It stops dust from sitting on the pins resulting in poor connections when you plug something in. ;p Minor tidbit but not something I'd consciously thought of before I saw it mentioned in that doc. Definitely some good tips if you haven't done a home install before, myself included. ;)

Jp.

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cyril7

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#105145 16-Jan-2008 10:08

The PDL 144 is the stock standard flush box.

Mounting the RJ45 with the termianls to the top (so plastic retaining clip to the bottom) is standard practice. If you have a jack point in an exposed location that you want better protected, then PDL have a PDL-Keystone clip with a hinged lid (619MKLC $3).

Cyril

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#105167 16-Jan-2008 11:49

hrm... now this is getting interesting. : ) Just been familiarising myself a bit more with the 110 and keystone stuff.
Also spotted the 619MDL - Standard Cat 6 RJ45 with clear gravity lid (and space for id label). But I'll have to work out a list of exactly what and where for each room first and then start pricing bits.

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#106082 22-Jan-2008 11:15

K, another question, probably more up Cyril's alley aswell.

Is there a standard for colour coding cabling? Cat 5 & 6 cable comes in a variety of colours, is there a standard?

I've been doing some digging and seen a few references to Blue for Data and Green for Voice, Red for some particular (?Xenix?) patch cable, etc.

Given the number of cable runs the permanent cable may aswell all be the same colour, but what about cable at the patch panel? Are there any standards or conventions for colour coding the patching of network vs phone vs other, etc?

Edit: Just came accross this - can anyone comment?

http://policy.cqu.edu.au/Policy/policy_file.do?policyid=641 (word doc)

COLOUR	SERVICE
Grey	Voice
Blue	Data
Red	Cross over

Thx.
Jp.

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richms

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#106124 22-Jan-2008 15:37

Crossovers are normally purple IME - red for external network, blue for internal, green for digital phones and something I can recall for the analog phones.

For a house you wouldn't have to worry about digital phones or external network, closest would be the unfilterd pstn for the adsl router, which if it plugs in at the demarc is a non issue. If you have an integrated wifi router then you may have to patch the unfiltered phone line up to a location that gives better coverage and then patch the lan cable back on a second cat-5 to a switch.

Richard rich.ms

cyril7

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#106262 23-Jan-2008 12:55

For domestic definitely dont worry about the colour, however good clear labling is a plus, if you dont have a cable labling machine (and they can cost a bit) then use white electrical tap wrapped around the cable but leaving a flat flag of tape to right on with an fine point permant marker.

Even in many corporate installs colour cable coding is not normally used unless specifically requested.

Cyril

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#106399 23-Jan-2008 21:58

Hi all, good serious content thread this one.
Along similar lines, can I just ask what cable people would opt for when making own interconnects etc. I'm not in the position to shell out $100+ for a 3m sub cable for instance. So I've opted to make up my own using RG6 cable with RCA crimp connectors at either end. What I was figuring was that the solid core and significant screening would make this a good bet, but how does the 75ohm aspect come into play here? What are your thoughts?

Cheers,
Jackson.

richms

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#106436 23-Jan-2008 23:50

75 ohm is good for video since thats what it uses, but sat/matv grade stuff has a steel center thats just copper coated, so is crap at low frequancies - there is CCTV grade stuff with a solid copper core and more braiding on it for video signal work.

You only need rg59 - its thinner so you can fit more thru a hole in the wall. I crimped f connectors on (ickky hex ones) and then got faceplates with f on the back and rca on the front. You can get f to rca barrel connectors too which will do the trick.

You dont need to spend $99 on component cables, there are heaps on trademe for 1/10th that which are real coax, the cellnet ones from recellular are not real coax, but I got a 10m one on a $1 reserve auction and to tell you the truth I cant see any difference on 576i stuff on it. It seems to be just a cheap cable with fancy metal bits with colored o rings that screw onto the cheap moulded plastic plug. For shorter lengths look at mikesheaf - they are actual coax with moulded plugs on it - but there are a few other sellers of the same type periodically.

Richard rich.ms

jehallinan

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#106518 24-Jan-2008 14:33

cyril7: Search on some of my threads you will find comments on this in the past. But basic points provide a entral comms closet to place a RJ45 patch panel logical places are in the garage if its part of the lower floor, or in a cupboard under the stairs. Run plenty of Cat5e, I recommend a minumum of 12 ethernet points in a 3bedroom house, ideally more. A 4-5bed house I normally feed 24points into. Dont install BT phone sockets anywhere, do the whole thing on Cat5e with RJ45s. Dont forget power to the comms cupboard. The secuty will go there aswell.

I normally mount a wall rackmounting patch panel in the comms closet, in the same rack mount install a 16 way FastEthernet Switch. This is also where your ADSL router will go and your phone circuits terminate direct from the Demarc. I have designed a phone termination panel that has an integral wired DSL filter and RJ45s for patching phone circuits to the patch panel along with a security loop and test sockets.

Normally I provide two RJ45s per bedroom, one beside the bed, one where the TV will/might go. Each entertainment area provide at least 2 RJ45's, Office 2 or 3, Kitchen 1, dinning room is often where at least 1 is recommended. I also place one in a high up location with power that would be a logical WiFi AP point to give good coverage of the main living area.

I normally provide one permantly wired phone socket within the kitchen bench (and power). This is normally the primary phone or DECT basestation in most homes, so I wire it inside the cupboard, and provide a small hole in the benchtop for the RJ11 and DC to pop through and the basestation sits ontop, saves the clutter of the powerpack on the kitchen bench.

You also need heaps of RG6 coax. 3 or ideally 4 for each entertainment area, 1 for each bedroom, possibly 2 for the Masterbed. All these should go to either the same comms closet or if that is far from the roof area I normaly place it in the ceiling space or often a PDL flush mount switchboard in a top floor hall is fine, remember to provide power just incase. You will need two runs of coax to the roof for both a dish and a UHF antenna. Sky/FreeView sat obvioulsy need the dish, Tauranga should have good DTT coverage, so a UHF antenna is needed there. Duobond coax is fine, use the Sky spec'd one, some are recommending quad shield for the DTT service, however from experience in Aus it seems that duobond is fine, most interference comes in via the antenna itself.

Finally you will need two cat5e runs from the comms cupboard to the telecom demarc point. I also would run a RG6 coax to the demarc back to the comms cupboard or to the coax distribution area, if they are sited differently I normaly run it to the comms cupboard then run a wayline between the two sites. The reason for this coax, is that if one day in the distant future a GPON (FTTH) should roll down your street then along with one cat5 for phones from the ONT (Optical Network Termination) you will also need one for an ethernet port and possibly cable TV on the coax. GPON networks not only deliver Gigbit data they also can deliver cableTV on the same fibre, so worth planning for.

This is the basics for broadband, and TV requirements, other things you will need to concider is distrubted sound and video, but my personal view is that media servers/clients (using the ethernet) are the only real solution, some of that is still a little immiture, but give it a couple of years and your LAN will be ready for it.

I dont know anyone in the Tauranga area that does this work. Most Sparkies will happly pull the cable for you when wiring the mains, but only sparkies with training and who specialise in data work will happily terminate it off in a satisfactory manner.

Edit, and then there are the HT requirements, obviously the cat5e and coax is dealt with as an entertainment area above, but there are the speaker cables, if you cannot decide if you want 5.1 or 7.1 then place wiring for both sets of rears, costs only a few bucks but gives you options in future, means you can readily experiment with side or rear wall mounted rears. Also dont forget a RG59 feed for the sub, and supply both component video and HDMI to PJs. Along with cat5e to the rear of the gear, place one in the floor near the seating position (along with a power point) never no what the future may bring.

Cyril

Great post...never trust a sparky . Our one fed the component cable but did not feed audio .

Can we send an stereo audio signal from the av receiver in room 1, to an av receiver in room 2 via cat-6? I read about these baluns and things but not sure.

cyril7

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#106523 24-Jan-2008 14:52

You sure can, here is a link to some baluns, for that purpose, if you are wanting to pass just analog L&R audio then purhaps the S-Video+audio one will do the job, just dont use the S-Video, or you could just transfer the spdif signal using either the Component/digital audio version or just go for a plain 75ohm video balun pair for the spdif.

Personally I would go for the spdif path especially if you are just transporting AC3 or DTS.

How far is the run, if its just a 3-4 feet up a wall and you want just L&R analog audio then I would just run without baluns, chances are you wont pickup any interference in a short run, same applies to spdif.

Edit: here is another link with more options, bit dearer though.

Cyril

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