Rewiring media wires

DodgyTech

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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.
 
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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 :)

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?

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?

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.

^^^ This. Face plates are easy to install as long as you get the cables in the right order. Crimping can be a pain and takes practice. Probably 90% of network problems I see in people homes are due to bad crimping in jacks. Easier to pay a few quid and get ready made patch cables.
 
Thanks guys, given me a little confidence back there!! =D

I'm thinking I'll just get the 305M cables in both, and then any excess I can sell on ebay. I'd rather have more than less and I could probably use the exces cables for cctv wiring ;)
 
Just takes a bit of practice M8 - recommend when you do the face plates you make sure the tie-wrap is tight enough to hold the cable firmly and get the twists as close to the connector as possible to minimise cross-talk.

On the patch leads, strip back a bit over length, dress into shape between finger and thumb then trim off square. Wiggle the RJ45 into position - the crimp tool forces down the forks AND presses the sheath clamp into place at the same time. Fiddly, but they last longer if you take your time :)
 
I bought all the required cabling.

Am I right in thinking that I can do without a switch and wire all boxes straight to a quad lnb?
 
I bought all the required cabling.

Am I right in thinking that I can do without a switch and wire all boxes straight to a quad lnb?

Yes m8 providing of course you only have 4 boxes ;)
 
Thanks wiz569. Just realised I will need to also split the aerial feed, so perhaps that chess multiswitch may be a good option after all!

I've finally started the project. I've laid out wiring to two rooms. Taking up floorboard is hard as they aren't cut in places where I need access. But I've done good so far and got plenty more to go. The WF100 order was a fail, as they can't process until 2nd May, so ordered elsewhere.

Quite excited as I practically got a clean slate, but will never match Bally's project :( lol
 
Take loads of pics m8 for future reference :)

Sent from my Xperia X10 using Tapatalk
 
I would not recommend a multi switch for a domestic, its just another fault potential.

Also, you can keep it simple with a 8 opti LNB (that can run 4 SKYHD boxes)

I would also for what its worth run all cables into a single location, then distribute everything from there.

If it was me and I had the chance to wire the house I would:

run 2 or 3 cat6 to every point (hdmi baluns etc), and 2 x coax.

10 x coax to the roof and 1 cat6 (cat6 for motor controls if ever needed) 8 coax for the LNB, 1 for freeview, 1 for dab.

Even if you only use one skybox you have just future proofed your house.

Speaker cables to every room, wall plates, floor standing speakers, ceiling speakers, in wall speakers - dont forget RCA where necessary (sub woofers).

for speaker cable I would recommend 4 core to wall plates/ceiling speakers so you only need to run one cable and loop them. (QED losmh is nice or InvisionUK do an ICE cable but you will need to be trade).

Regards
Mick
 
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