Hi folks,

I'm about to embark upon a small(ish) task to wire up my whole house with Aerial Wire, Satellite Wire and Network Cabling.

I need advice on a couple of things:

1. I have a roof aerial which has one wire coming to my house and one going to the neighbours (think there's 2 aerial's up there). If I split the wire, how many times could I split it and keep a strong enough signal for freeview and would I need to use any boosters? If not, what would be the best thing to do?

2. I have a sky minidish with a single lnb. I'm planning to wire up 4 rooms with satellite wires. Would a quad lnb be the best thing to use or install another satellite dish so that both dishes have dual lnb's? Is there any performance issues if I have all boxes connected to a quad lnb?

3. In the house, would I need to use Shielded Cat6 or could I get away with using Unshielded Solid copper core Cat6 cabling?

4. Is there any type of Coax cable I should consider using for the aerial and satellite?

I'm planning to run all of this under floorboards if that helps your answers.

Thanks

Hi, when i read this. i would suggest to install a multiswitch together with a GSO quattro LNB.

Like this it will be very easy. Most Multiswitches come with 4/6/8/16 outputs.
So in yr setup
Astra 28.2 E Quattro LNB for GSO setup
Simple multiswitch for a single Satellite(GSO=4 connections High Hor/Ver and Low Hor/Ver) + 1 input Aerial with output to 4 rooms(4 tuners)
in the room you can connect to freeview or satellite (not both at the same time), if you want both you need a multiswitch with more output.

For the cabling You must use 75 Ohm Satellite Cable everywhere.
beware the multiswitch need to be powered !

I have been googling a bit : This model would be something CHESS Multiswitch CMS 5/4 NT(GSO 1 satellite, 1 aeriel / output 4 tuners) or 9/6 , Cabling & Satellite come over the same wire.

With regard to Ethernet cabling. Cat 5e will work up to gigabit. You can use cat6 but be aware that terminators, faceplates, crimpers, etc are different.

There shouldn't be any need for shielded stuff for inside a house.

I would go with quattro lnb and get a multiswitch. I have a triax multiswitch and works perfectly for my needs, they normally come with 5 in and 4, 8, 16 or 32 out. Cable wise I think I am right with saying go with WF100 throughout. 2 cables to each room then either put a triplex for quad faceplate.

Network cabling cat5e will do but to be honest I went with all cat6 lszh cabling and followed wiring diagram b to terminate. Something like this Cat6 UTP Cable which is perfect for running in walls and behind plaster board etc.

Also remember you can run hdmi over cat6 so bare this in mind if you want to stick hdmi baluns on the ends. Think you need 2 cat6 cables for 1 hdmi balun.

Hope this helps and enjoy

Thanks for the quick reply guys. I really needed this advice as I'm going to have to do this in the next few weeks

Originally Posted by wolftje

Hi, when i read this. i would suggest to install a multiswitch together with a GSO quattro LNB.

Like this it will be very easy. Most Multiswitches come with 4/6/8/16 outputs.
So in yr setup
Astra 28.2 E Quattro LNB for GSO setup
Simple multiswitch for a single Satellite(GSO=4 connections High Hor/Ver and Low Hor/Ver) + 1 input Aerial with output to 4 rooms(4 tuners)
in the room you can connect to freeview or satellite (not both at the same time), if you want both you need a multiswitch with more output.

For the cabling You must use 75 Ohm Satellite Cable everywhere.
beware the multiswitch need to be powered !

I have been googling a bit : This model would be something CHESS Multiswitch CMS 5/4 NT(GSO 1 satellite, 1 aeriel / output 4 tuners) or 9/6 , Cabling & Satellite come over the same wire.

Thanks mate. That makes a lot of sense. So will that work the same as having 4 separate satellites and 4 roof aerials or is there a slight or noticeable loss in quality?

Also, you said that I cannot connect sat and freeview at the same time. Surely that must be possible if I had 2 leads coming off the switch into the same room? If not, I may just consider getting one for sat and one for freeview.

Also, I know you said it must be powered; would you think it's a good idea to leave it hidden under floorboards? I'm worried it may be a fire risk if I leave the plug and the switch both under the floorboards. Alternative would be to have all the leads coming into my main room, then have them all connected to the switch there.

Finally, will the minidish be good enough? So I should get a QUAD LNB and then run all 4 wires to the switch. Also at the same time, connect the outdoor aerial to the same switch. Then I just run wires from the switch to each room. So if I got 4 rooms, I get a switch with 8 output so that each room can get a sat and freeview signal. Is that right?

Originally Posted by oneman

With regard to Ethernet cabling. Cat 5e will work up to gigabit. You can use cat6 but be aware that terminators, faceplates, crimpers, etc are different.

There shouldn't be any need for shielded stuff for inside a house.

Thanks, that's reassuring to know about Cat5. But I think I'll take up the benefits of Cat6 while I've got the chance to install and do it once and for all. How different are crimpers? I know that I would need to get a different faceplace and connectors, but I thought that the wiring order is the same as Cat5?

Originally Posted by Bally12345

I would go with quattro lnb and get a multiswitch. I have a triax multiswitch and works perfectly for my needs, they normally come with 5 in and 4, 8, 16 or 32 out. Cable wise I think I am right with saying go with WF100 throughout. 2 cables to each room then either put a triplex for quad faceplate.

Network cabling cat5e will do but to be honest I went with all cat6 lszh cabling and followed wiring diagram b to terminate. Something like this Cat6 UTP Cable which is
perfect for running in walls and behind plaster board etc.

Also remember you can run hdmi over cat6 so bare this in mind if you want to stick hdmi baluns on the ends. Think you need 2 cat6 cables for 1 hdmi balun.

Hope this helps and enjoy

Good advice there Bally. I just took a quick look at that WF100 cable and it's deffo the right way to go! Especially as we're in the digital age.

How can I put a triplex or quad faceplate for 2 cables? Isn't that just making 3/4 out of 2 cables, so in essence splitting the signal? All I need is 2 cables to each room as I want freeview and Sat in each room. That HDMI balun thing is a good idea, but it's bloody expensive and I am getting SOLID cable so it would be hard to crimp the ends with RJ45 connectors without using a faceplate right? Besides, I just want each room to have its own independent control rather than pass video signals from one room to another. It would be good to make my own HDMI cables as I'm planning to move my AV equipment away from the TV in my main room so it will be on its own; but I'd rather just get long HDMI cabling as I need no more than 5-10m of cable lol.

I'm going to get this cabling: eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace seems about right for internal use.

With regards to the WF100 cable, is there an outdoor and indoor version or can I use one cable for both internal and external? As I have to run cables from the dish.

Any help guys?

I was thinking of hooking up surround sound. I would like to have whatever is showing on the TV come out through the speakers when we switch the surrond sound system on.

Is the only way to achieve that through having multiple (HDMI) inputs on the system?

What do you think of this system? Can I get anything cheaper with the same result? Play.com - Buy Samsung HW-C560S 5.1 Channel Surround Sound Home Cinema System online at Play.com and read reviews. Free delivery to UK and Europe!

I'm just gonna hook up the wires for the speakers so that I can hook them up whenever I settle on a system.

Hey guys,

Just to confirm, will these two be what I need?

Cat 6 Solid Cable (second one): Cat6 UTP Cable

WF100 Coax Cable: Webro WF100 Coax Double Screened Cable 250m Drum - Black

Will I ever need Shotgun Wf100 cable if I'm using a DM sat box? I've got no plans for Sky+

Thanks

Originally Posted by Pimped

Will I ever need Shotgun Wf100 cable if I'm using a DM sat box? I've got no plans for Sky+
Thanks

You can run two separate single cables if you want to future proof.

You don't crimp solid network cable - it's intended to be kroned. Only crimp multi-strand.

Solid to face-plates, stranded from face-plate to device.