HD into my other rooms over 1 Cat5 cable, dilemma.

jamie1977

Standard Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
52
Reaction score
2
Points
41
Hello there, i'd be very happy if someone could put my mind at rest and advise me on my best option for getting HD into my other rooms over one single Cat 5 (unsheilded UTP) cable. The cabling was installed when my flat was built. There are 4 sockets around the flat which all lead off to a central hub. The sockets are in close proximety to the electricity meter and circuit breaker box.

I did read up on this issue on the F.A.Q but i still have a problem. Basically, i'm not prepared to run in any extra cabling, and my LCD TV in the bedroom doesn't have a digital audio connection. This rules out the Baluns option. It also rules out the Gefen HDMI extender option that requires 2 Cat 5 cables.

The product that may solve my problem is the Gefen Component extender which uses only 1 Cat5 cable. These units send and recieve Stereo audio using a digital connection using the Cat5 cable which is perfect.

However, it appears that they require Cat5e (shielded i think ?) cable.
Obviously i don't have this and the pack costs over 300 quid :confused:

1. Is it possible for me to use this product with Cat5 (unshielded UTP) cable ?

2. Does a cheaper option exist that would suit my set up ?


Any advice on this would be really appreciated.



Cheers,

Jamie.
 
:lease:



Maybe i'll just give up on this altogether. I'm really dissapointed at the lack of a reasonably priced solution for extending HDTV around the house.

It surprises me that more electronics companies haven't seen this coming. I can't even give my money away to solve this little problem.

I sometimes feel that i've maybe jumped on the HD bandwagon a tad too soon.

Anyway i'm off to watch a crap documentary about insects on Discovery, simply to justify my HD box's existence. When the extra channels ?
 
I used the Component and Digital Audio Balun Kit 500050B and the HI FI Stereo Audio Balun Kit 500025B from http://www.madnat.com with excellent results over 30M of cat5e (this is unshielded).

Although i do not have a definitive answer i don't see why cat5e cabling could not produce HD pictures in conjunction with http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4141 especially when cat5e (unshielded) works for my solution.

Good luck
 
I used the Component and Digital Audio Balun Kit 500050B and the HI FI Stereo Audio Balun Kit 500025B from http://www.madnat.com with excellent results over 30M of cat5e (this is unshielded).

Although i do not have a definitive answer i don't see why cat5e cabling could not produce HD pictures in conjunction with http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4141 especially when cat5e (unshielded) works for my solution.

Good luck

Cheers for that borofoga, i was under the impression that Cat5e was shielded and that Cat5 wasn't. I'll go away and do some research on that. ;)

This may work for me but the price tag is a joke. I'm not paying over 300 quid for that.

I did look at the baluns approach, but it requires 2 cables. I'm only prepared to use the existing cabling wired throughout my flat.


Hopefully a cheaper kit will become available as HD gets more popular. :smashin:


Cheers,

Jamie.
 
Jamie, you might get some further answers in the "cables and interconnects" forum. I got great help there with a similar question a while back! :)
 
Jamie, you might get some further answers in the "cables and interconnects" forum. I got great help there with a similar question a while back! :)

Cheers mate, i'll have a look there.


Blue is the colour ! :smashin:
 
Hi Jamie

I did a lot of research on this running up to and over Christmas. I almost went down the cat5 route but as I was cabling I decided to use multi-core coax and distribute component video to 5 rooms using a matrix switch. It took a lot or research and buying bits and pieces from various suppliers. (And yes - a lot of bucks)

When I was looking at cat5 I came across this:

http://www.svideo.com/500051.html

There are a few options here that might sort you out for under £100. You would be sending component video + digital audio to your remote location, so your remote TV will have to accept these inputs. If you are using component at your main TV you will obviously have to split it. If you are using HDMI then check to ensure that the box also outputs component and digital audio at the same time.

A good guy to check with on these forums is Joe Fernand.

BTW - no cat5 cable is shielded. You have basically 8 wires grouped or twisted into 4 pairs - known as UTP (unshielded twisted pair).
 
BTW - no cat5 cable is shielded. You have basically 8 wires grouped or twisted into 4 pairs - known as UTP (unshielded twisted pair).

Erm so what is Cat5 FTP all about? it depends on the system is UTP is suitable or not but FTPis rarely used these these days however some systems do require FTP. i think perhaps your seriously underestimating the real cost of doing HD distribution to to it over 1 cat5 its baluns or IP video (mega bucks) but is it really necassary to have have HD distributed as HD?
 
Thanks for the advice on this.

I've decided to give up on the idea altogether, for now anyway.

I draw the line at paying 300 quid just to watch HD in my scratcher.


I wonder how many Sky links have been sold around the world ?

Someone's going to make a lot of money when they drop the price for a solution on this. ;)

:hiya:
 
Just for the record:

UTP = Unshielded Twisted Pair - used for computer cabling

FTP = Foil-shielded Twisted Pair - used for computer cabling in areas of high interference. Possibly part of the Gigabit Ethernet standard but I'm not sure on this...

STP = Shielded Twisted Pair - this time using a wire braid shield which makes the cable more flexible, otherwise ditto for FTP.

Cat5e uses a minimum of UTP. part of the Cat5e spec is the RJ45 sockets/connectors on the ends.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom