HDMI over Cat6 home network

[marcam]

I'm sure this has been asked 100's of times already but I can't seem to find an exact match anywhere. I'm also barely proficient technically so bear with me...

I have a simple Cat6 home network wired through a Netgear 1GB switch. I would like to house all my HDMI gadgets in the same place and distribute over the network. Is it possible to output from a 4x4 HDMI switch to the network switch for onward distribution to the network points around the house?

Or

Is my only option to run a second set of Cat6 cabling and have what is effectively a 2nd network for the TV's?

Thanks - appreciate the help.

 

[Member 581642]

Hi

The key thing is that Cat6 used for networking through a Gigabit switch isnt compatible with using Cat6 for HDMI distribution.

Cat6 is just the cable that is used for both systems.

Dont think of the HDMI Over Cat6 as a network, it is just, in simple terms, converting from one cable type (HDMI) to another (Cat6) and back again.

So in answer to your question yes you would require seperate Cat6 runs to each TV Location.

 

[Joe Fernand]

It can be confusing as there are numerous options which all appear very similar.

As A-Class says CAT6 is simply the conduit used to carry the HDMI signal.

HDMI over Dual CAT and HDMI over HDBaseT (single wire) are the preferred option for Residential systems as there is no image compression on either system - neither of which are compatible with your IP network.

HD over LAN is another single wire solution which utilises a managed or non- managed Gigabit switch when used as a Matrix or Distribution Amp - the system does utilise compression so is more commonly used for Commercial applications, some variants will claim compatibility with IP traffic on the same wire though that then requires heavier compression.

Time to plan out a new wiring scheme!

Joe

 

[marcam]

Thanks to you both. Back to the drawing board!

 

[Paul New Home]

Hi Nick,

I'm looking to wire up our new house. The plan is to take 6 x Cat6 cables and 1x RF to each room. Simply put:

2 x for HDMI
4 x for network
1 x RF

(All the above to faceplate)

My current budget doesn't cover the HDMI Matrix (yet), but making sure I cover myself.

Two questions:

1. Dual Cat and Single Cat are confusing ! I'm putting 2x in each room just in case, but is that over kill ? All the faceplates I have seen require 2x Cat6.... Yet all the matrix units I have seen only require 1x.

2. Assuming the current faceplates will be replaced when I pick the matrix, is there anyother feed I should consider ? Particularly thinking about controlling the devices ?

Thanks
Paul

 

[Member 581642]

Not sure who Nick is!!!

HdBaseT Single HDMi Over Cat6 is now the recommended option for distributing HDMI around teh house. This uses just one Cat6 cable. Though running a spare isnt a bad idea.

I am not sure what you mean when you say Faceplate, are you referring to a standard cat6 outlet or HDMI over Cat6 receiver built into a faceplate ?

It is recommended for HDMI over Cat6 (single or dual) not to use a faceplate but instead use a brush plate see picture below as this decreases the chances of problems on the signal due to bad connections.

You wouldnt change the faceplate when you get the matrix as it isnt an active part, this is done by the HDMI over Cat6 Receiver.


HDBaseT doesnt need anything extra for control as they also carry the ir signal back to the matrix and the connected sources.

We have a range of HDBaseT Matrixes all including receivers

HDBaseT

 

[Joe Fernand]

HDMI over CAT comes in a few variations.

Initially HDMI over CAT utilised 2x CAT cables to allow full uncompressed HDMI - ideal on new installs but not so good on retrofit jobs where you only had a single CAT cable.

Along came the option of single CAT - initially you had either compressed video or some other messing about with the signal to cram it onto a single CAT cable, which meant single CAT was unreliable at best.

Then a bunch of industry heavyweights threw money at the problem and HDBT arrived - full uncompressed HDMI down a single CAT cable out to 100m or 70m (two versions of the chip set) and very reliable - though costly to license and implement.

Where possible avoid terminated Faceplates and use ' Brush' style plates instead.

Joe