HDMI or cat5e cable

[CharlieB1981]

while i have the walls and floors up i want to lay cable to be able to connect various rooms for AV.

the longest connection would be about 20-25m via 2 cables and a connector to allow configuration as to what signal goes to which room.ie i want to be able to connect my PC hdmi output to another room.

what i dont know is what the limitations are for HDMI and ethernet, whats the longest you can run a HDMI cable without loss of signal?

also planning on each room (bedrooms, living,dining) to have tv cable, telephone, network, HDMI capabiltiy, in a blue sky world any other cables people can think of that i may as well install while at it, empty conduit to fit later would be a nightmare in this house.

cheers

 

[ChrisFrost]

HDMI over CAT cable depends on....

• the resolution of the signal
  the quality of the Baluns doing the conversion
  the type of cable (dual CAT6 is the best option)
  the quality of the cable (solid copper is better than copper-clad aluminium)
  the distance involved

25m isn't that long a distance. Go for dual CAT6 and decent Baluns and you'll be fine for 1080p 3D.

Personally though, it would have to take something quite special to persuade me to port the PC signal that kind of distance. A streaming media player (WDTV Live) would cost less and solve the issue of control too.

 

[SimonH2]

Best advice is to see if it's possible to make it so you can run new cables later - install conduit rather than burying cables, and make it so you can lift floorboards etc. It's not always possible, but if it is then it future proofs your setup.

Ethernet will go 100m according to the spec - which allows 90m for the fixed link and another 10m for the patch cables at each end. In practice it will go longer distances but you are eating into the margins.

If you need to fit cable now and won't be able to replace/add to it later then I'd suggest :
Allow two off coax cables from loft or common point to each place you might want TV, Sky, Freesat, etc. Sky+ and Freesat+ both need two feeds for full functionality.
Allow a network cable (Cat5e or Cat6) for ethernet.
Consider 2x cables (Cat 5e or Cat6) for HDMI over Cat cable - but think about what combinations you might need and whether one link will suffice.
And phone.

Personally I'd run 2xnetwork cables and use adapters if I want to use one for phone.