[mythtv-users] New house - any advise?

Bill Bill at explosivo.com
Tue Jan 16 17:11:21 UTC 2007


On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:09:30 -0800
Brad Fuller <bradallenfuller at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> matthew.garman at gmail.com wrote:
> > Hopefully, someday I'll build my house from scratch.  When I do, I'm
> > going to run a ton of Cat 6 (or whatever the latest generation of
> > network cable is).  But, I'm going to put it all in *conduit*.  The
> > intent is to make it easy if I ever need to pull more wire.
> >   
> >
> When I remodeled, I ran more cat5/coax than I thought I'd need. But, I 
> also installed 2 PVC conduits between the attic and crawl space. Just in 
> case I needed to run anything else from the server upstairs. Today, one 
> PVC conduit is full. I'm glad I placed those two conduits in so that I 
> could run more wires easily. It'd been a pain if I didn't.
> 
> brad

I did the same thing, but ran 3x 1 1/2" condiuts from basement to cieling.  Don't forget to cap off the ununsed and fireplug around the opening on both ends.  Same thing with any wiring between levels... firecaulk the holes.  

We did a coax and 2x cat-6 to each room, then the same to the exact opposite of the room (cause you know thats where it will really end up).

As for buying at Home depot, I would avoid it if possible.  If you can find an electrical supply warehouse that will sell to the public, try there.  I was able to get riser quality cat6 for less than what cat 5 cost at home depot.  YMMV.  If they ask for a business name be creative. Unless you ask for credit, they don't really care.

Quad shield coax is good, but is much a pain in the ass to run, harder to bend, and unless you have lots of interference, its probably not going to benefit you at all.  Dual shield is fine IMO.

For Coax - don't get a bunch of splitters and hook everything up at once.  Hook up what you need and no more.  The more wire you have, the bigger the signal loss.  If you get a CATV guy out there, have him check your signal level - you don't want it to be too high or too low.  

For the CAT-6 I got a 48 amd 24 port patch panel.  The upstairs is wired to the top row of the 48, the downstairs to the bottom on the 48.  The 24 has the incoming POTS lines strung across it (halfway).  When I want a phone, I jumper the panels together with a bunch of 3' patch cords.  Works great.

When you secure down the cat-6 in the wall, if you use staples, leave them a bit loose.  Don't crush the wire.

I plan on installing mini hubs if an area needs more than 2 network connects.  

Later!



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