HD with analogue setup

[Jobworm]

I have had a quote for a new whole house AV installation in a newbuild house . the installer has convinced me of the logic of most of the elements of the setup (mainly opus500 for audio) including 2 direct HD Receiver and DVD feeds to 2 different screens. the bits i dont get are:
a) how i can get good quality HD video over a component feed,(ie Cat5 and coax) when most of you constantly refer to HDMI as the way to go
b) how good will my sound be if i dont run high quality speaker cable from the receiver - he thinks high quality cable is overrated and expects to go for somehting else much cheaper.(but good cable over 15m runs will be pricey).
c) am i future proofed?
many thanks for any help

[Joe Fernand]

Hello Jobworm

There is little if any quality difference between HD over Analogue (3RCA) and Digital (HDMI).

Digital (HDMI) is the Movie industries preferred connectivity standard as they can apply Digital encryption (HDCP) to the signal.

HDCP causes lots of Custom Installers to run a mile from HDMI for SD or HD Distribution as it can cause no end of problems.

If you want to future proof you may want to consider an Analogue set up for now plus the cable infrastructure to move over to Digital once it becomes more affordable/less erratic.

For Digital HD you can either install HDMI cables from your 'Home Run' AV Rack to each room or run two lengths of screened CAT5 cable and use HDMI over CAT5 once you go all Digital.

HDMI is designed to work through up to Seven layers of signal Distribution and Switching so one 'Digital' run to each room ought to be sufficient.

For Analogue HD you can either run an AV Multicore or again jump the Analogue Audio and Video onto CAT5.

Personally I've never been convinced by the Opus type multi room system - what are you trying to achieve?

For future proofing simply install lots of CAT5 cables as most signals/systems will use that as a connectivity standard for the foreseeable future.

Joe

[wywywywy]

1. Can I just mention that 4 runs of Cat5e will be needed when dual-link HDMI eventually comes.

2. Have a look on eBay for cheap and decent-quality speaker cables.

3. Nothing ever is real future proof... And the future is probably wireless anyway.

[Jezza_HR]

I know Joe has covered most of the questions here but I thought I might aswell add something to see if I can help a little.

a) how i can get good quality HD video over a component feed,(ie Cat5 and coax) when most of you constantly refer to HDMI as the way to go

Component is just as sufficient as HDMI for various sources, HDMI is particular useful for carrying sound in this case as most component baluns only carry a digital coax alongside. This can be quite frustrating when connecting it to most Televisions as they don't all have a Coax input on the back. The only way I know of round this is to convert it to Mono. This could very well be a moot point, if you're running multi room audio also

If you wish to take the HDMI route, expect it be riddled with issues and a great deal of expense if care isn't taken when running it through the house. As covered already though, the way round this is more runs of Cat5e

b) how good will my sound be if i dont run high quality speaker cable from the receiver - he thinks high quality cable is overrated and expects to go for somehting else much cheaper.(but good cable over 15m runs will be pricey).

If these are ceiling mounted speakers to go with the opus, then I would say that high end speaker cable such as QED wouldn't be worth it as it's costly and probably won't improve much on what you can hear. So long as it's not 13 strand 25p a metre jobby then you should be safe. I would go with lengths of 42 strand myself as it's not likely to be too thin or too thick to install within the walls.

c) am i future proofed?

It's hard to say. Component has been used by SkyHD since it launched last year and can supply a very good picture to whatever it is plugged into. In this case I would consider component to be the safer option with Cat5e runs throughout the house. It can also carry a 1080p signal, yet a lot of TV's don't support 1080p over component (although VGA is sometimes an exception)

However, although I think it's unlikely myself, HDCP could play a major role later in life once SkyHD really gets rolling.


As for the comments about the Opus 500. I would recommend taking a look at Speakercraft. The Opus 500 system has various teething problems with the text units that can connect to them. Have a look around, do a bit of research and make your own choice on this one IMO.

[Joe Fernand]

Hello all

Gefen now have YUV + Analogue or Digital Audio over CAT5 extenders - http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4141

Joe

[Jobworm]

sorry i didnt reply earlier but many thanks for your help.

It looks like analogue with several cat5s is the way to go.
Meanwhile i have been trialling a Sonos system and found that it is just as good as the original CD played in my arcam CD player, which is not something i would like to admit to, but is a revelation!
thanks to all
Jobworm

[rodster]

Hi Jobworm,
As mentioned in the earlier post, I would also suggest a look at the Speakercraft Mode system, its almost all we use now (Sonos for smaller systems as well).

It can connect to and control almost anything, and if you are to use an analogue HD matrix switcher it can control it seamlessly.

Component is still the way we go, HDMI still gives us problems when products are being video switched and just seems unreliable.

Good luck

Rod

[Tesla]

How is HDMI ran over 2 x cat5e? I thought HDMI was around 25pins and obviously 2 x Cat5e is only 16 cables.

Is there some sort of converter box used instead of connecting the cat5e to a hdmi connector or wall plate?

[Joe Fernand]

Hello Tesla

HDMI is 19 pins and yes you require active Transmit (Tx) and Receive (Rx) Baluns to run over CAT5 cable - lots of options; see http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=3872

Joe

[kryten]

I love my Sonos - I only wish they'd add a video option

Its fine as a source but trying to integrate it doing audio with a TV doing the picture is a real pain, as there's no IR control on the Sonos (so I can't use a pronto) and it can't control anything else.

Are the HDMI problems related to using several displays at the same time and the HDCP handshake? I was thinking of doing the same thing but would actually want HDMI to a couple of places (main TV, Projector and conservatory TV) but then could cope with lower quality to elsewhere in teh house...

[Liam @ Prog AV]

Honestly - forget HDMI. It's a pain even doing a simple point to point connection. And despite this it is also very, very expensive. If a client asked me to run HDMI all around his house, it would cost him about 4-8 times more than running component/component over CAT5, and I would still be running CAT5 backup wiring for when the HDMI refuses to work.

Dual Link HDMI would yes need 4 CAT5. But as a design decision, as you can see above, I highly doubt anyone would insist that every zone in his house is fully wired for HDMI 1.3b. More likely just the main cinema room(s) with component happilly feeding the rest of the home.