House 10 year Networking and Cable Update...

WonkyJim

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Ok, it’s time for my 10 yearly house Networking update which happily coincides with the Mrs requesting that we rip half the house down and bolt on a two storey extension.


Spent the past few hours browsing options and trying to get my head around what is a sensible set up to hit my requirements now and delvier some degree of future proofing. To be honest I’m struggling at little with all the different options and could do with a bit of advice.


Current Set up is...


o Main Room: with Fibre BB, Xbox One, Denon 2307 (I did say it’s been 10 years) with 5.1 , Samsung Smart TV, Sky + HD, Squeezebox Touch, Kids Wii.


o Study: Old Netgear router amended to act switch connected by Cat5 to router (in main room) with PC, NAS and a Xbox 360 with a Smart TV.


o 3 Other Rooms with Coax connections to a splitter/ signal booster in the loft which takes a feed from the Sky Box and controls viewing with magic Eyes.



What I need to achieve...


o TV feed (Sky and Freeview- ideally HD) to the 5 rooms plus the main room with the ability to control Sky box from each room if possible.


o Hard wired gigabit internet connection to support smart TV in each room and Xbox 360 in the kids room. Needs to support 4 wired devices in the study.



Thoughts/Questions...


· Best way to get data and Sat/FreeviewTV into each room? – had a brief look at HDBaseT but wasn’t 100% sure how it would all hang together.

· Worth looking at Sky Q?

· Assuming it’s best to ditch the coax?

· Being able to play the XBOX one on other TVs in the house would be a bonus and stop the kids taking over my sanctuary.


Budget meeah– depends... with it being a ‘Home Office’ project I can probably get the company to pay for half of it :)
 
Best way to get data and Sat/FreeviewTV into each room? – had a brief look at HDBaseT but wasn’t 100% sure how it would all hang together.

HDBaset for audio and video plus separate Cat6 for networking.
Keep existing coax for Freeview


· Worth looking at Sky Q?

That will depend what it turns out to actually be!!!


· Assuming it’s best to ditch the coax?

No keep it for FreeviewHD Aerial connection and as a backup


· Being able to play the XBOX one on other TVs in the house would be a bonus and stop the kids taking over my sanctuary.

XBox control over distance could be tricky so ensure the controller reach from other rooms, as they arent IR the hDBaseT wont help you.


Budget meeah– depends... with it being a ‘Home Office’ project I can probably get the company to pay for half of it :)

For the HDBaseT if only one source (SKY) then use a 4 way HDBaseT Splitter (with local HDMI out)

HDBaseT 4 Way HDMI Splitter Over SIngle Cat5 6

Gigabit Network Switch 16 Port (?)

Gigabit Network Switches

 
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Many thanks for the feedback. Couple of questions (sorry if any of these are stupid Qs) ...
1) I’m assuming it’s best to co-locate the HDBaseT Transmitter next to the source (Sky Box) in the living room. The down side of this is I’d need to route the 4 x Cat 6 lines out from the same spot in the living room. I’d envisage having one line into the loft where I’d have the network switch and HDBaseT kit. Suppose there’s an option to put the HDBaseT transmitter in the loft but I’d need to run a HDMI cable from Sky box to the loft (about 10m) – guess the IR would not work if the Transmitter and the sky box are not co-located.
2) How’s HDBaseT Transmitter normally work with an existing local Receiver & TV in the living room. Does the TV in the living room take up one of the 4 x CAT6 outputs or can you put an HDMI splitter in before you connect to the HDBASET transmitter and run the 2nd feed to the local receiver or TV?
3) I’m assuming the 4 CAT 6 lines need HDBASET receivers at the other end? How much are these or do they come bundled with the transmitter?
 
1) I’m assuming it’s best to co-locate the HDBaseT Transmitter next to the source (Sky Box) in the living room. The down side of this is I’d need to route the 4 x Cat 6 lines out from the same spot in the living room. I’d envisage having one line into the loft where I’d have the network switch and HDBaseT kit. Suppose there’s an option to put the HDBaseT transmitter in the loft but I’d need to run a HDMI cable from Sky box to the loft (about 10m) – guess the IR would not work if the Transmitter and the sky box are not co-located.

You could run a HDBaset Extender (TX and RX) from the sky box to the loft over a single Cat6 cable, then you could still use the IR as the extender would carry this as well.


2) How’s HDBaseT Transmitter normally work with an existing local Receiver & TV in the living room. Does the TV in the living room take up one of the 4 x CAT6 outputs or can you put an HDMI splitter
in before you connect to the HDBASET transmitter and run the 2nd feed to the local receiver or TV?

The splitter I linked to has a local HDMI output as well as the 4 HDBaseT Outputs


3) I’m assuming the 4 CAT 6 lines need HDBASET receivers at the other end? How much are these or do they come bundled with the transmitter?

They come bundled with the unit, you can choose how many receivers you want bundling with it
 
Many thanks again... I think I'm more or less there.

Assume the HDBaset Extender (TX and RX) you mention also has local hdmi output as well?
 
We do have a unit with a local HDMI output but may be more cost effective to use a splitter

Seb
 
Xbox One - keep in mind it's not using IR for the controllers, you also have to consider the different audio requirements if one Zone is 5.1 and the rest are 'stereo only' TV's!

SKY Q - I haven't seen any update on pricing as yet.

Coax - keep in place as a backup.

Freeview - do all of the TV's have onboard Freeview tuners?

Joe
 

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