Are we past distributed video in houses?

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MikeAqua

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#2054118 11-Jul-2018 09:41

elpenguino:

MikeAqua:

Is it realistic to think that large appliances will be able to receive signals for off-peak power pricing or similar. If yes, is this likely to be over cables or wireless?

it would be impractical to send signals like this to many appliances using cables, especially when you have many un-cabled homes.

The bandwidth for this isn't high so it wouldn't even have to be WiFi.

Thanks, that simplifies things significantly.

elpenguino:

Personally, I've just installed coax cables as well as data. My conceivable uses are FTA Tvs as well as FM tuners and who knows what any future owner might want to do.

I'm in two minds about this.

We have Coax to every bedroom in our house but broadcast signals are only used in the lounge and our room. Even in those locations FTA use is minimal now. Music is Spotify or internet radio. Only one of the the kids wanted a bedroom TV and it isn't connected to coax, just chrome cast. So coax to kids/guest rooms seems a waste of time and money.

But .... the people who built our current house didn't bother with data cabling and that was a major inconvenience for me. So running (but not terminating) a coax to every bedroom would seem a reasonably inexpensive courtesy. Will just be satellite, no UHF at ours.

Mike

antoniosk

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#2054147 11-Jul-2018 10:03

MikeAqua:

We have Coax to every bedroom in our house but broadcast signals are only used in the lounge and our room. Even in those locations FTA use is minimal now. Music is Spotify or internet radio. Only one of the the kids wanted a bedroom TV and it isn't connected to coax, just chrome cast. So coax to kids/guest rooms seems a waste of time and money.

But .... the people who built our current house didn't bother with data cabling and that was a major inconvenience for me. So running (but not terminating) a coax to every bedroom would seem a reasonably inexpensive courtesy. Will just be satellite, no UHF at ours.

This is a good conversation you've got going here. For me content over IP is still quite a clunky proposition compared to the appliance model we've gotten used to - sky into coax into your tv with a remote, a radio you just turn on etc - and there is a long way to go for such actively managed content to be so far in the background as a simple remote. What IP does offer which is a godsend is the absence of fade, ghosts and other gremlins that plague high power broadcast... hissing radio, freeview that corrupts when the wind and rain are going etc

If you're budget constrained, then cat6a all the way is a good primary. It doesnt hurt to run coax if you can afford it, but consider if you can run ethernet over coax as a backup without the nasty powered boxes etc... seems more hassle than it's worth.

I put in coax for voda and freeview as well as modest cat6 for trunking back to the switch - the thought of having 4 unsightly ethernet cables to a visible wall socket is just yuk compared to one leading a small switch that can be hidden in a cabinet.

________

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chevrolux

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#2054183 11-Jul-2018 10:53

Be brave!! Ditch coax... Cat 6 all the way =)

In saying that, I just ran Cat 6 for literally everything because its dam versatile...

- Ethernet (obviously)
- PoE for cameras, AP's etc
- USB power extensions - I got some chinese adapters that go from RJ45 to USB, nice big USB power hub in comms cabinet patched out to outlets where I can charge phones/tablets/etc FAST.
- Speakers - twist up the pairs for each speaker terminal for ceiling mount speakers (I'm going to try wiring to a patch panel just for fun to see if there is any difference in audio quality)
- Alarm PIR/ESP8266 Multisensors - powered with USB extensions, or just using pairs like you would for normal alarms.
- Irrigation relay control
- Electric Gate control (just to a switch in the kitchen to close the relay)
- Power for Door bell for by the gate (and could then move to a fancy IP based bell in the future with camera etc)
- Garage door relay

Think the cable count was about 50-odd cables for a normal 3-bedroom house. But there are a couple of speaker and sensor locations I've missed so will need to add (easily done in roof space of course).

In saying that, about to add a bunch of ESP8266 (probably Wemos mini I think) with relays to do all the relay switching around the place, so the Cat6 will just be repurposed to provide USB power - again, versatility of it showing through.

MikeAqua

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#2054214 11-Jul-2018 12:08

chevrolux:

Be brave!! Ditch coax... Cat 6 all the way =)

In saying that, I just ran Cat 6 for literally everything because its dam versatile...

- Ethernet (obviously)
- PoE for cameras, AP's etc
- USB power extensions - I got some chinese adapters that go from RJ45 to USB, nice big USB power hub in comms cabinet patched out to outlets where I can charge phones/tablets/etc FAST.
- Speakers - twist up the pairs for each speaker terminal for ceiling mount speakers (I'm going to try wiring to a patch panel just for fun to see if there is any difference in audio quality)
- Alarm PIR/ESP8266 Multisensors - powered with USB extensions, or just using pairs like you would for normal alarms.
- Irrigation relay control
- Electric Gate control (just to a switch in the kitchen to close the relay)
- Power for Door bell for by the gate (and could then move to a fancy IP based bell in the future with camera etc)
- Garage door relay

Thanks for you post. A few things I hadn't thought of in your list.

I'll definitely be running coax to the lounge and Master Bed - as we use FTA there in morning and early evenings.

PoE for cameras and APs - tick I'll be getting a POE switch.

USB power extension - the power outlets we are getting will have USB built in

Speakers - will be using dedicated speaker cables. Only having two speaker zones, lounge (close enough for dining) and BBQ area. Anywhere else we'll use streaming devices for music/radio

Irrigation - tick - will be connected to ethernet and possibly powered by PoE

Gate/door bell etc - food for thought

Garage door - will function via security system

Mike

UHD

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#2054354 11-Jul-2018 14:10

I have a quad DVB tuner in my media PC so I can distribute the channels that do not already have IPTV distribution to devices within the house using Plex. I won't ever give a dime to Sky so my new build won't have video distribution, just CAT6. :)

richms

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#2054501 11-Jul-2018 18:54

I use my old coax for 3g_sgi to distribute the output of my NVR to a couple of other TVs. Seems fine over the legacy rg6 mostly. Otherwise it would be idle. Dvb is receivable with any bit of wire in the antenna socket if I really miss it. FM has nothing worth while and the roof antenna broke anyway.

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Dunnersfella

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#2054528 11-Jul-2018 19:45

Wire, wire, wire.

Then make sure you have conduit in place to pull more wire if required.

You can never have enough Category cable...

While I have smart devices everywhere that are seemingly reliable... when do they breakdown? When I'm out of town and my significant other wants to watch something. The option of backup FTA broadcasts and everything else being hard wired means there's always something available if it's wanted. Plus the cable is so cheap it's not funny.

mattwnz

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#2054590 11-Jul-2018 21:00

I'm installing a lot of cat 6 in a new build, but also some coax where the main tvs are for freeview. That way there is some backwards compatibility too. If the internet goes down you also end up with no tv if you don't have coax with an aerial.

mattwnz

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#2054591 11-Jul-2018 21:02

Dunnersfella:

You can never have enough Category cable...

Except when you have so much coming into the main board that it doesn't fit in the wall or ceiling!

wazzageek

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#2054627 11-Jul-2018 22:01

chevrolux:

- Speakers - twist up the pairs for each speaker terminal for ceiling mount speakers (I'm going to try wiring to a patch panel just for fun to see if there is any difference in audio quality)

I suspect that you'll definitely notice the difference in audio quality. We've got 2mm speaker cable for our speakers (vs 24AWG, or ~ 0.5mm cable in the Cat6)

dimsim

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#2085007 6-Sep-2018 13:07

Hope this isnt too old to dig up... but does anyone have any recommendations for HDMI over CAT5/6 gear?

Just wanting to extend MySky down to a bedroom prob 30-40m away.

I assume I need some sort of HDMI (1 in 2out) splitter at the MySkyBox then HDMI->CAT6 sender and receiver that also does IR.

Does this sound right?

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wratterus

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#2085015 6-Sep-2018 13:24

dimsim:

Hope this isnt too old to dig up... but does anyone have any recommendations for HDMI over CAT5/6 gear?

Just wanting to extend MySky down to a bedroom prob 30-40m away.

I assume I need some sort of HDMI (1 in 2out) splitter at the MySkyBox then HDMI->CAT6 sender and receiver that also does IR.

Does this sound right?

Have a look at the Lenkeng LK372 Pro and a Digitus DS-46304

Actually that Lenkeng has a loop out HDMI on the sender unit, so you wouldn't even need the splitter. Unsure about the HDCP situation with that - no doubt someone else will know more about that than me...

dimsim

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#2085061 6-Sep-2018 14:01

wratterus:

dimsim:

Hope this isnt too old to dig up... but does anyone have any recommendations for HDMI over CAT5/6 gear?

Just wanting to extend MySky down to a bedroom prob 30-40m away.

I assume I need some sort of HDMI (1 in 2out) splitter at the MySkyBox then HDMI->CAT6 sender and receiver that also does IR.

Does this sound right?

Have a look at the Lenkeng LK372 Pro and a Digitus DS-46304

Actually that Lenkeng has a loop out HDMI on the sender unit, so you wouldn't even need the splitter. Unsure about the HDCP situation with that - no doubt someone else will know more about that than me...

thanks for that - available at CDL too which is a bonus... looks like the LENKENG spec sheet says Compatible with HDCP also - nice tidy little unit... I wonder if its worth the extra dollars to go to the LKV672PRO? The HDMI loop out is a must have feature. Is it possible to add another receiver for an additional tv at some stage or ds they only work in pairs?

Also the spec says **Does NOT work on Cat5 Cable** - do you know if this is purely for the auto adjustment feature (it much measure the circuit somehow) or does it have something to do with the twisted and isolated CAT6 cable spec in terms of interference/crosstalk reduction?

wratterus

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#2085064 6-Sep-2018 14:10

I don't know sorry - I'd expect it's just to do with the cable spec. The better isolation between the pairs and the extra bandwidth (100MHz vs 250MHz) on the Cat6 probably makes it possible over 1 cable.

You can add as many as you want as far as I know - each just needs it's own Cat6 cable.

Only reason I can see to go for the 672 would be 4k compatibility.

Masterpiece

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#2087197 10-Sep-2018 23:19

A lot of HDMI over Cat devices are limited to 10.2Gbps data rates despite them selling 4k ready. Watch out for the small print with these devices, they can conveniently leave out the detail about what they can't do.

However there are new devices coming out now that in theory can do 40m 18Gbps over a single Cat6.
There will be a cost to this, and you might notice the advertisement promoting "18Gbps" type jargon.

I'd even note that most of the tech works best without interference, this is nearly impossible to avoid in house hold installs when the electricians run you cables inline with power. The point is you need head room in data transmission.

Read all the documentation.

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