Cat cable for audio/video distribution

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marmel

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#64695 20-Jul-2010 17:48

I am shortly going to be building a house (or paying someone to build it anyway).

I am thinking I should use Cat 5e to distribute video signals to various points around the house and use baluns for hdmi connections.

I am wondering if I should just run 2 equal lengths of cat 5e or should I buy pre-terminated cables of about the right length and use those.

I have installed a home network before and it all worked but I have heard with hdmi over cat cable the lengths have to be exact?

I will run a couple of extra lengths for ethernet etc.

I was going to run hdmi cables but with Sony now talking about video distribution over data cable it seems the right way to go.

illicit

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#354388 21-Jul-2010 10:31

Use Cat6 its a similar cost, google for info on benefits if you want.

Search on here for info, there is a stickied topic regarding wiring houses, uneven length is fine.

basically;

4x coax & 4x cat6 to main tv
2x coax & 2x cat6 to others

all wired to a central point

marmel

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#354392 21-Jul-2010 10:36

Thanks for the reply.

I had decided last night to use Cat 6 as there was only $50 difference for a 305m drum. I was mainly wondering though about how accurate you have to be terminating the ends. When setting up a cat5e network I ended up using the edge of a stanley knife blade to push the wires into the patch panel.

Could I do something similar with hdmi distribution or has it got to be more exact to stop interference etc.

CYaBro

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#354427 21-Jul-2010 11:43

marmel: When setting up a cat5e network I ended up using the edge of a stanley knife blade to push the wires into the patch panel.

Could I do something similar with hdmi distribution or has it got to be more exact to stop interference etc.

NOOOO!!!!!
Just buy a proper punch down tool as they don't cost a lot.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

trig42

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#354516 21-Jul-2010 15:52

And just keep the pairs twisted as far as you can up to the patch panel, the twists are important.

Jaxson

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#354798 22-Jul-2010 10:50

As per the other posts on house wiring etc. You can RG6 coax for TV aerial and Satellite signal distribution.

You may want to look at some shielded cables if you are doing any analogue video signal distribution. CAT cable is not really ideal for analogue video and audio distribution, but is fine for networking and hdmi type work if baluns are used etc.

webwat

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#355640 24-Jul-2010 01:06

CYaBro:
marmel: When setting up a cat5e network I ended up using the edge of a stanley knife blade to push the wires into the patch panel.

Could I do something similar with hdmi distribution or has it got to be more exact to stop interference etc.

NOOOO!!!!!
Just buy a proper punch down tool as they don't cost a lot.

You can even get a $2 punchdown tool that might wear out by the end of the job, but it beats damaging the IDCs on your patch panel. Cat6 is probably as good as HDMI cable if you use the right adapter and compatible with the new Samsung connectors too.

Theres an audio distribution system called A-bus that might be interesting if you want audio around the house. Sounds really interesting.

http://www.a-bus.com/about/whatisABUS.html

Time to find a new industry!