Ethernet cable

I would use Cat5e, its fully capable of running at Gigabit speeds which should be ample for the home user. If you want to be absolutely future proofed with regards to twisted pair cabling then use Cat6. It's more expensive and possibly over the top depending on your needs.

Yes you can wire to a socket and then have a patch cable connect from the socket to the Music Server, that is the norm.

Not sure about HDMI. Might be worth investigating if you can run HDMI over Cat5e? I don't know if this is possible, may need expensive converters.

Jack

A German hifi-magazine has tested ethernet wires depending how they "sound"
The results:
the 3 best have been: Oehlbach Network Pro Cat7,
then Sommercable Mercator Pur Cat 6 and Monster Adv. High Speed Cat 6.
They write the sound difference has been big to the bad ones like z.B. Hama Cat5e or Sommercabel Mercator Pur cat 5b

That german magazine is therefore run by complete muppets.

All I can suggest is do not settle for one run, put four runs in there. It sounds over the top but wire is very very cheap and sockets are very very cheap and in the future when you wish you have put another run in you will hit yourself!


I have 7 runs downstairs and 4 runs upstairs with a few spare sockets in the switch in the loft just in case.

Here most stores have stopped selling the cat5e and are selling cat6. The prices have dropped significantly over the past year and this is the way I would go.

Make sure whatever you do you have your installer leave a chase back to your main location that way you can always change or add as necessary.

Another vote for Cat6. Use regular wall cable, buy good termination, and don't worry. Also, stop reading idiotic magazines: ethernet cables don't have a sound. What you need is a good, solid-core copper wall cable trough the wall, very good Mini-Com jack modules (the most critical part, don't save here), and then you can use patch cords from the wall jack to the device.

If you want to make a "real", or a "pro" network, dedicate a central point, and run all cables to a patch panel there. If going trough a wall use a plastic tube for cables, and leave a chase back wire, that's a must. Properly set up that kind of network will beat any "audiophile" cable in all possible uses.

quote:

Originally posted by Jack:


Not sure about HDMI. Might be worth investigating if you can run HDMI over Cat5e? I don't know if this is possible, may need expensive converters.

Jack

This is one example:
Gefen EXT-HDMI1.3-1CAT6

Now using shielded Cat7 myself-but let's not go there.

I didn't even know there was an official Cat7..!

And I use to think the Cat6 I have all round my office was slightly over the top for a relatively simple Giga network...!

I recently installed a wired network using CAT6 solid core cable to two computers, NAS & wireless router via a gigabit hub.

Most of it works OK but the longest (and by far the most difficult) run I put in, about 10 Metres from the hub out to my BluRay player, is very iffy. For some reason it'll only transmit at the lowest speed according to the test thingy in the player - 10 something-or-other.

I've changed the blasted fiddly little plugs a couple of times but to no avail. Surely the distance shouldn't make that much difference? I even stripped out the run & put a new one in, thinking it must be the cable at fault. I tested it. It wasn't. How I laughed! I'd assumed the thing should either work fine or not at all?

Another question - why use the solid core cable? The flexible stuff's the same price & is less liable to fracture if you happen to bend it around a bit.

Tony - perhaps the ethernet port/sortware on the BDP is only 10/100, hence the lower speed and under use of the Cat 6 performance ?

It certainly won't be the length of run, which in the grand scheme of ethernet networks, is nothing....

I know nothing about the solid core stuff I'm afraid...

Steve.

You shouldn't use solid-core cable anywhere other then in-wall or in the raceways. Also, you should never terminate it with a RJ-45 connector, only with a Mini-Com, then run a separate fly cable ("flexible stuff", "litz"), from the jack to the device. The reasons is, of course, the fracture risk Tony mentioned.

In general, solid-core is used for greater length, due to it's superior signal transfer. For up to say 10 or 15m, you can use fly cable without worries. If you do decide to use CAT 6 in the house, and the cable is shielded (as CAT 6 should be), don't forget to get shielded Mini-Com's, at least on the router/switch side, and then to ground the patch panel. OTOH make sure that the RJ-45 connectors that go in the device (computer,player, whatever...) and the hub (router, switch...) are unshielded, so that you avoid a ground loop throughout the entire length of the cable.

Finally, there is no way that 10m of CAT 6 can be a problem for 1Gbit or anything less. If terminated properly (best to use TIA 586B on both ends as a pinout, since it minimizes crosstalk), you should check for problems on the devices... Maybe one of them has port speed settings, and it's software limited to 10Mbit/s ?

I have run hundreds of metres around the house and did have two runs that sinmply would not play. Talking to some network boys at work they gave me some great advice.

Basically the twisting is important of the wires so when terminating allow as much twist until the plug. Make sure the plug has terminated well using a decent set of crimps. And check the cable carefully. One of mine had failed because I had accidently stapled it.

OK, thanks guys. I'll check everything out again.