[alpha123]

Hi

Rightly or wrongly, the house I am having refurbished has been wired with a fair amount of CAT7 cable (from each room back to the AV cupboard). There are 4 runs of CAT7 to each TV point plus an additional 2 runs to each room. I am hoping to be able to distribute SKY HD, Freesat HD, DVD etc to the various TV's in the house using a video matrix.

The original installer's plan was to take the video signal from the video matrix in the AV cupboard, convert it via a balun to a signal that will travel down the CAT7 cables and then convert it back to HDMI at the TV end with another balun. This all seems fine, provided it works.

However, I still have time to put HDMI cable in the floor/walls from the AV cupboard to the two main TV watching rooms (and the distances are less than 15m). If I did this, I would, as I understand it, simply ignore the CAT7 cable and use the HDMI cable, which would connect directly into the video matrix at one end and the TV at the other end.

Both solutions seem to have costs associated. In the CAT7 solution, I have the cost of the baluns. In the HDMI cable solution, I have the cost of the cables and the laying of them.

I think, therefore, that I want to pick the most reliable solution (I am not obsessive about picture quality). Most of the information I can find makes me worry about both solutions.

Any views would be very welcome. Thanks in advance.