Wiring up for gadgets :D
12 January 2004, 12:40 PM
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Am just about to move to a 3 story house. Would like to take the opportunity to wire it up for gadgets 
I currently have a couple of PCs, wireless LAN, wireless iPAQ, a SliMP3, PS2 and TiVo all on the home network, so would like WLAN and possibly wired lan throughout the house.
However, I'd also like to be able to pipe the output of the DVD/TiVo/VCR etc i.e. video around the house, and the output of my hifi i.e. audio.
What's the best way to do all of this?
Anyone got any experience of doing it, or links to good websites etc?
Ta
Alex
I currently have a couple of PCs, wireless LAN, wireless iPAQ, a SliMP3, PS2 and TiVo all on the home network, so would like WLAN and possibly wired lan throughout the house.
However, I'd also like to be able to pipe the output of the DVD/TiVo/VCR etc i.e. video around the house, and the output of my hifi i.e. audio.
What's the best way to do all of this?
Anyone got any experience of doing it, or links to good websites etc?
Ta
Alex
12 January 2004, 01:21 PM
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12 January 2004, 02:14 PM
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Have done this. Have 2x video, 3x stereo audio, 3x extension speakers, 2x phone, 2x LAN (done before wireless was a cheap option) and TV/FM aerial wired to every room in the house. Plus wireless infra-red remote control repeaters for most room.
You need to be a good DIYer to do it this way though, as you will need to make the A/V socket plates yourself (you can buy them, but they are poor quality and there are not enough connectors on each plate) and solder all the connections too.
Easy option is to use wireless A/V repeaters with multiple receivers.
Ming.
You need to be a good DIYer to do it this way though, as you will need to make the A/V socket plates yourself (you can buy them, but they are poor quality and there are not enough connectors on each plate) and solder all the connections too.
Easy option is to use wireless A/V repeaters with multiple receivers.
Ming.
12 January 2004, 02:30 PM
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No probs I can do that. By wireless A/V repeaters, do you mean like video senders? I have one of those, but the quality is not great and they don't work for LAN?
How do you make the plates yourself?
Any links/band names for these repeaters?
Ta
How do you make the plates yourself?
Any links/band names for these repeaters?
Ta
12 January 2004, 02:40 PM
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You can buy plain faceplates for single and double gang sockets. You then have to cut/drill to retro fit the connectors you want (e.g. RJ45, Coax, Phono, etc..)
I've seen this on some home automation sites.
Stefan
I've seen this on some home automation sites.
Stefan
12 January 2004, 03:03 PM
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Yes, I did mean video repeaters and IMHO they are not good quality (and don't do LAN), which is why I went the hard-wired route. I wired the house for CAT5 networking, but now mainly use wireless LAN.
As Ozzy said, you buy blank plates and drill them (carefully - they're brittle, and always crack on the last hole, never the first
).
Some things to bear in mind:
Video (composite, S-Video, RGB, makes no difference) is a 'single point drop', and as such has to have a single 75 ohm termination at either end of the cable, i.e. you cannot have two TVs connected to the same cable! Although in reality, the terminations do not have to be at the ends, the reflections cased by teh cable 'stubs' do not appear to be visible on the TV. If you want to use multiple TVs from one source, you need a distribution amplifier (at the source end), and separate cable runs to each room. You can use conventional TV coax for this, but is it large diameter, and difficult to work with. I used micro RG-59 75 ohm coax from RS. a 100m reel cost about £60 IIRC.
Audio can be 'multiple point drop' (one source - many loads) provided that the impedance of the source is low compared to the loads. Another reason that the source must have a low impedance is because of the capacitance of the cable used. There will be a point at which this capacitance causes high frequencies to be attenuated, given by f = 1/(2*pi*source impedance*cable capacitance). By way of an example, My Yamaha AV amp has a line-out impedance of 600 Ohms. It drives around 100 metres of shielded cable (to every room in the house), which has a total capacitance of around 10nF. Therefore the cut-off frequency (3dB point - from the formula above) is 26kHz, so no problem. Make sure you buy low capacitance cable (less than 100pF/metre is good). 100m reel of low capacitance figure-8 screened cable from Maplin was about £32.
Extension speakers should be 'single point drop' because you will risk overloading the amplifier otherwise. I used 79 strand 2.5mm^2 cable for mine, but in reality this is overkill (and a pain to work with). IMHO 42 stand (1.5mm^2) is probably fine. Cost is about £20/100m for 42 strand and twice that for 79 strand.
For the faceplates, I used phono connectors for all line level audio and video (Maplin ~70p each for single, nickel plated ones. About twice that for gold plated). For the speakers, I used 4mm 'banana' sockets. If you want, I can post a picture of one of the connection plates. I fitted 12x 4mm socket plus 8x phono socket on a single gang plate.
Hope this helps, Ming.
[Edited by dr_ming - 1/12/2004 3:04:33 PM]
As Ozzy said, you buy blank plates and drill them (carefully - they're brittle, and always crack on the last hole, never the first
).Some things to bear in mind:
Video (composite, S-Video, RGB, makes no difference) is a 'single point drop', and as such has to have a single 75 ohm termination at either end of the cable, i.e. you cannot have two TVs connected to the same cable! Although in reality, the terminations do not have to be at the ends, the reflections cased by teh cable 'stubs' do not appear to be visible on the TV. If you want to use multiple TVs from one source, you need a distribution amplifier (at the source end), and separate cable runs to each room. You can use conventional TV coax for this, but is it large diameter, and difficult to work with. I used micro RG-59 75 ohm coax from RS. a 100m reel cost about £60 IIRC.
Audio can be 'multiple point drop' (one source - many loads) provided that the impedance of the source is low compared to the loads. Another reason that the source must have a low impedance is because of the capacitance of the cable used. There will be a point at which this capacitance causes high frequencies to be attenuated, given by f = 1/(2*pi*source impedance*cable capacitance). By way of an example, My Yamaha AV amp has a line-out impedance of 600 Ohms. It drives around 100 metres of shielded cable (to every room in the house), which has a total capacitance of around 10nF. Therefore the cut-off frequency (3dB point - from the formula above) is 26kHz, so no problem. Make sure you buy low capacitance cable (less than 100pF/metre is good). 100m reel of low capacitance figure-8 screened cable from Maplin was about £32.
Extension speakers should be 'single point drop' because you will risk overloading the amplifier otherwise. I used 79 strand 2.5mm^2 cable for mine, but in reality this is overkill (and a pain to work with). IMHO 42 stand (1.5mm^2) is probably fine. Cost is about £20/100m for 42 strand and twice that for 79 strand.
For the faceplates, I used phono connectors for all line level audio and video (Maplin ~70p each for single, nickel plated ones. About twice that for gold plated). For the speakers, I used 4mm 'banana' sockets. If you want, I can post a picture of one of the connection plates. I fitted 12x 4mm socket plus 8x phono socket on a single gang plate.
Hope this helps, Ming.
[Edited by dr_ming - 1/12/2004 3:04:33 PM]
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