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Coaxial cable


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I'm just installing the coaxial cable for the TV points which type is the most up to date

ive some light brown at home and dark. brown also 

I will be running five coax cables into the loft Can anyone recommend a booster box to connect them to in the loft

 

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Coax is pretty cheap now, so go for the best double screened "satellite" cable you can find.  Also, forget the grim old "UHF" connectors used on old TVs, and use F type connectors - they are easier to fit, more reliable and have lower losses.

 

Boosters/splitters low down in the cable are a pain, as they introduce noise.  Best bet is to fit a higher gain antenna and then use low-loss splitters.  If you can avoid amplification in the line then the signal quality qill be better, as a general rule.  If you really do need to increase the signal strength, in order to over come the losses at each split, then fit a decent head amplifier at the antenna.  Adding gain right at the antenna is far better, if gain is needed, than adding gain lower down the cable, because it doesn't increase the noise floor as much.

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Use 75 owm satellite coax, something like RG6. But be warned it comes in many variants. The best being copper foil and copper braid. the cheaper ones are aluminium foil.

 

You don't want a "booster" you want a "distribution amplifier" that adds very little gain, other than to ensure the signal does not get weaker by being split several times

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Thank you for your replies

Its frustrating to go into the wholesalers an be told

'I only sell the stuff '

Great advise on here

 

ive just purchased the loft box

Top tip

 

im also putting a cat 5?or 6? next to each TV point 

Is it worth putting several in ?

i intend running each of the data wires back to the office 

is there a box or unit to connect these together?

 

lots of questions

ive got a feeling I already know the reply I would recieve from the wholesaler 

 

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If you are planning for Sky as well as terrestrial TV you will need multiple cables. The new Sky Q requires only 2 cables to the box and this permits simultaneous recording and viewing of up to six (if memory serves right) channels. For terrestrial 1 cable will be enough connected to an aerial / booster as above, though of course if you have Sky you will not need an aerial as terrestrial channels are also available on satellite.

 

+1 to Satcure - excellent advise on the site (though takes some working out), I purchased my hi-gain aerial with aerial mast booster and satellite dish plus cables and connectors from there, great prices too.

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For Cat 5/6, go for descent Cat 6, with a solid copper core.  Plan on more than you think, at least one to each TV point and put one to each room (not wet rooms).  No matter what people say about Wi-Fi, it gets overloaded and subject to interference and if you can physically connect then it is better.  To connect all the Cat 5/6 together you will need to terminate them all in a patch panel in you central location (office) and then you will need a switch to connect hem all together.  Depending on you requirements your ISP router may suffice (4 connections) at the other end of the spectrum (my house has 72 data points for 1 x 48 port and 1 x 24 port (PoE) managed switch).

 

Sky Q is non standard Satellite signals, it uses 2 cables with non standard signals to the box (let Sky install) or very specialised distribution equipment Sky specific dSCR multiswitch, which can run over a single coax from the correct multiswitch and a quatro lnb, however if you don't fully understand it you will get burnt. (See the Triax TMDS 5x C Digital Multiswitch  for Sky Q)

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I thought SkyQ and the SkyQ mini boxes worked over WiFi ..?!

 

after seeing what a Sky “engineer” can do to a door frame (yep, drilled uPVC as it was “easier” than brick...) then there is no way I will let them install anything in a new house other than in a comms room that already has ducting in place ..!!! 

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As an additional reason for using Cat 6 over Cat 5e, the cable is a fair bit stiffer and less liable to kink when being installed.  The cable is cheap, so put loads in, anywhere that you can possibly imagine you might want connectivity, like TV/entertainment points, places where any fixed bit of kit like a printer, router, desktop etc, anywhere you might want to fit a security camera, anywhere you might possibly ever want a phone point (you can run phones over network cable).  Also have a think about whether you may want WiFi repeaters around the house - we have two WiFi networks, both run from cabled points.

 

When it comes to where all these network cables meet, then decide where you are going to have your incoming line, be it phone/ADSL/VDSL or fibre/cable, and try to locate the main network patch panel in the same place.  That way you can have one area where your incoming data is routed/switched to each of the network sockets from one out of view area.  I have a cupboard in my study that has all this stuff in, along with some power over Ethernet (PoE) stuff so that some of the remote network sockets can power the equipment that's plugged into them (handy for things like CCTV and remote WiFi access points).  PoE is a really good way to get rid of all the small plug in power supplies that seem to accumulate and make things untidy.

 

I didn't plan where our incoming phone line was located well - I just brought it in via a duct through the slab where everything else was coming in, in the corner of the utility room.  This meant that the master socket is on the wall there.  This then created a problem, as the modem (or modem/router in some cases) needs to be as close as possible to the master socket.  This meant fitting it to the wall in the utility wall, which also meant having another untidy small power supply plugged in there.  I got around this by sending power to the modem via the network, using PoE, so the modem is powered by the network cable:

 

30348282033_8855fb2219_b.jpg

Edited by JSHarris
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Re: satellite cable choice, have a read here (same site mentioned above): http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/cable.htm

 

I bought from them and all was good.

 

10 hours ago, le-cerveau said:

Plan on more than you think, at least one to each TV point and put one to each room (not wet rooms). 

 

For data, I'd say at least two to each TV point, and at least four to your main TV point. Every device (DVR, games console, Now TV, edited to add: Sky, etc) seems to have its own internet connection, and it's always better having these wired if possible. Longer term, you may want HDMI over ethernet, which from memory requires two cables per link.

 

I'd also consider a duct from any central data point to your main TV point to allow for future developments.

 

It's all overkill, I know, but it's so ridiculously cheap and easy to do now that I personally think you'd be crazy not to do it.

 

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9 hours ago, PeterW said:

I thought SkyQ and the SkyQ mini boxes worked over WiFi ..?!

 

after seeing what a Sky “engineer” can do to a door frame (yep, drilled uPVC as it was “easier” than brick...) then there is no way I will let them install anything in a new house other than in a comms room that already has ducting in place ..!!! 

Sky Q still needs satellite cable x 2 to the primary box. Their wi-fi is unreliable in my experience.

 

In theory, the wi-fi for the main Sky box can connect to your wi-fi router. This acts as the primary route for on-demand video, validation, firmware upgrades, TV guide etc. The wi-fi router needs to be quite close to the Sky box to work properly, else it keeps dropping.

 

If you have a SkyQ mini box then the mini box needs to speak to the main box which it does by creating a "private" network. If using wi-fi, this requires both boxes to speak direct to each other and not via the router (I am told that if you have a Sky router this can be part of this private network, not possible with 3rd party routers like our BT router). So now both Sky boxes need to be within wi-fi range of each other and the main box needs to be within wi-fi range of your router. It is flaky, to say the least. Ethernet cable to both Sky boxes solves all issues with this.

 

I pre-installed all Sky cabling and satellite dish and transponder as I did not want Sky to do any drilling - all they did was connect up the boxes. I got them to knock off the installation service charge as they did nothing. Satcure supplied all equipment except for the Sky LNB, which is proprietary to Sky but I manged to source from eBay. As per @le-cerveau this is specialised.

 

I personally think 2 x ethernet to every room is overkill. I went with certain rooms having 2 or 3 ethernet points and rely on wi-fi for the rest. For me the key aspect is to position your wi-fi router as centrally in the house as possible so that you can avoid dead spots - our wi-fi for TV, xbox, printer etc is very reliable and can handle streaming of HD video. I use ethernet for specific requirements e.g. to distribute media from my server, for certain desktop computers, for our alarm system and for monitoring of immersun and PV. We have a 24-port switch which serves us well and is not full - 5 bedroom house.

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I agree that having multiple Ethernet points next to each other doesn't make a lot of sense.  If you need more ports, then a simple unmanaged switch connected to the port to give extra connections will work fine, as it's very unlikely that any device is going to need more than a fraction of the data throughput that a single Ethernet port can give, especially given that very few people have anywhere near even 10/100 speeds on their broadband connection, and even Cat 5e will easily handle 1000 Mb/s if need be, let alone Cat 6, which can run 5 times faster than this.

 

WiFi can be a pain in houses with a lot of insulation I've found.  Our house, despite being all timber, with no foil faced insulation anywhere, very effectively blocks WiFi, so there is no usable signal at all outside.  I ended up having to fit an external access point, just to get WiFi to the garden and down to the garage.  The garage has its own small sub-net, and I had to use a flat panel directional WiFi antenna in order to be able to get a decent signal from the omnidirectional antenna on the house external access point, despite it only being a few tens of metres away.

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35 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

If you need more ports, then a simple unmanaged switch connected to the port to give extra connections will work fine, as it's very unlikely that any device is going to need more than a fraction of the data throughput that a single Ethernet port can give, especially given that very few people have anywhere near even 10/100 speeds on their broadband connection, and even Cat 5e will easily handle 1000 Mb/s if need be, let alone Cat 6, which can run 5 times faster than this.


Perhaps I've been unlucky (and I certainly lack detailed knowledge), but I had trouble with an unmanaged switch when I last tried to use one. Admittedly that was probably 15-20 years ago. On that basis, and for the sake of a few metres of extra cable, I'll take separate outlets on the wall in preference to yet another device to keep plugged in and to go wrong!

 

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Nice to know that SkyQ only needs to be the wired one - Ethernet goes to both the bedroom and kitchen where the Q-Mini boxes will reside. 

 

Anyone know of a decent sky repeater as there is no way that lump is going in the lounge...!! 

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21 hours ago, PeterW said:

Anyone know of a decent sky repeater as there is no way that lump is going in the lounge...!! 

My satellite tv box will live in my media cupboard under the stairs and will connect to the tv with a 10 metre long hdmi cable, and a wireless IR remote control extender so all the stuff in the cupboard can be controlled from both living rooms.

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9 hours ago, PeterW said:

 

Sorry - I meant the wireless IR repeater that @ProDave has mentioned ..!

In the old days, it was a function built into a sky box. the later versions of the sky HD box dropped it, but it was still available as a plug in option. It would not surprise me to find  it's gone completely from the Sky Q box.

 

I use a Powermid. I bought it many year ago from CPC. years ago but it does not seem to be available any more.  All they have is this one http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/psg03706/infrared-extender/dp/AV21827?ost=remote+control+extender&iscrfnonsku=false&ddkey=http%3Aen-CPC%2FCPC_United_Kingdom%2Fsearch

 

The great thing about the powermid is you can have any number f transmitters and one receiver. The receiver sat in the room with all the AV kit and I had 3 transmitters in 3 different rooms.

 

Some Powermid's still available on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xpowermid.TRS0&_nkw=powermid&_sacat=0

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  • 2 months later...

Hi all,

 

Just about to purchase suitable cable for satellite connections - think I need some wf100 - happy to order on line - does anyone have a recommended supplied.  Also after some cat6 cable - anyone know who supplies a quality product?

 

Thanks

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TLC have some deals on network cable at the mo. Just make sure you use solid copper rather than copper clad aluminium.

 

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Index/Computer/index.html

 

They also do co-ax. I'm running a 50m length from there strung between trees for about 10 years now for the terrestrial aerial and it hasn't crapped out yet.

Edited by Onoff
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