Cat5 Distribution

[Skid Solo]

Hi sorry another post about distributing Video and Audio over Cat5, but I have read through many posts and I am confused, here’s what I want to do :

Distribute video and audio from a single room
Inputs will be, SKY+, Freesat and PS3
To distribute to 8 rooms
Ability to control input sources from any room
Picture Quality RGB
Potential to upgrade to HD at some point, but I currently only have 1 HD ready TV on the Network (and I will probably connect this using Baluns direct from source to receiving TV), potentially a max of 4 and which point I will need some form of hub

So my problem is that I was just about to go down the Bluedelta Milestone route, and just about to push the button when I did some research on customer opinion and found out that it is only composite quality, I do not want this level of quality two of the receiving TV’s are 32” so its at least RGB

Milestone would give me the control, hub etc I need but not the picture quality are there any equivalent products out there ? that will give me RGB quality ?

It would also be great if any kit was upgradeable to allow HDMI distribution over Cat5 as well (I will be installing an additional 2 CAT5e cables to accept HD even though they will not be connected to anything at this moment.

[hornydragon]

smart-e does what milestone does but at S-video, RGB, VGA and HD component formats upto 1080p.

Gives you IR control, Stero audio and more Smart-e (UK) excuse the lack of images they arent very exciting but here you go Manufacturers of Video Switches, Routers and Extenders. the SNX8x8 can be ordered as a 4x8 unit as required oh and you can send mixed signals ie component to HD screens and RGB scart to others over the same matrix also send RGBscart VGA and component etc so unlike most systems your not limited to just one video format.

[Skid Solo]

The Smart-e looks good, but I assume from looking at the detaisl the price might be out of my budget. Also it appears to only do component out, not HDMI and I think one of my HD ready TV's only recived HDMI not component.

[Markie Boy]

I use CAT5 - HDMI adaptors to feed all audio/video from my Theatre Room to my Living Room. I use a wireless RF-IR sender/receiver for control in the Living Room. Works flawlessly. I have a 2 way ditribution amp in the roof above the Theatre which splits the HDMi out of my amp to the PJ and to the CAT5 adaptor. Should I require more rooms, just use a bigger distro amp. Of course the limitation here is that you cant be watching different sources that are coming from the Theatre Room at the same time.

[Skid Solo]

I have been researching further and the cost just keeps going up, however I have had a thought and any opinions on this would be gratefully received.

If I used a system from Keene electronics (or any other system) to distribute S Video around the house and provide the IR control, could I create a HDMI Network thus

HDMI Out of source ---- Balun ----2* Cat5 to loft---- Balun ---HDMI ----HDMI AMP (Split HDMI to 3 outputs) --- HDMI---- Balun ---2*cat5 to each room ---- Balun---HDMI----Monitor

Might look complicated, but what I am basically saying is can I convert and HDMI output to Cat5, using Balun, then convert back to HDMI, put through HDMI AMP to give multiple outputs, covert back to Cat5 via Balun feed to individual rooms and covert back to HDMI thus the each feed would have 2 sets of Balun’s.

It would of course be a lot easier if I could find a amplifier or hub that could take the 2 cat5 cables from the Balun and produce 3 paired cat5 outputs, but I haven’t found that anywhere.

[Skid Solo]

Has no body tried connecting 2 pairs of Balun HDMI source and HDMI Monitor ?
I think my circuit would look like the attached

Your opinions appreciated

[Markie Boy]

Originally Posted by Skid Solo

Has no body tried connecting 2 pairs of Balun HDMI source and HDMI Monitor ?
I think my circuit would look like the attached

Your opinions appreciated

Your circuit looks OK except I would assume you need to change the HDMI switch to another HDMI distribution amp. Also you would need to be careful not to go over the max recommended total distance for this setup. Run CAT6 to increase distance.

[colin148]

Guys, sorry to jump on your thread but hoped you might solve my issues too.
I have just started creating a Cinema Room, and from that room the house already has a star wired distribution in Cat 5e and Co-Ax to 6 other locations where TV / audio might be installed.
In other rooms ( kitchen , bedrooms etc) we are happy to have the audio from the TV as opposed to a high spec room system. All we want to do is access the SKy system, the HDD recorder ( for music etc) even by magic eye, and get some simple entertainment to those rooms without adding equipment all over the place. In other words, we are after simplicity over Top End performance in all rooms bar the Cinema Room.
What can be done to make this work?

PS : Cinema Room will have a Panasonic 50", Onkyo or similar AV, Keff speaker system, The Sky box ( boxes maybe), HDD Recorder & DVD player,