Data/TV/Telephone Points for a New Build

[BMD]

Hi,

I want to enquire what would be considered necessary with respect to data points and tv points in a new build?

My current spec is for cat 5 cabling from all bedrooms and living areas back to a central hub in the utility room.

Regarding tv points, I also have spec'd for coax cables from all these rooms to an antenna on the roof

The master bedroom, the living area's will also be hard wired for telephone connections.

I want to make sure my points are sufficient should I need to install Sky in the future, use internet tv or network to a central printer etc.

I am not very technical in this respect therefore I would appreciate any advice as I am sure there are other things that I haven't though of.

 

[bluemac]

Cat 5 will do your hard wire phone, you will need 2 points in each room I would put them by the TV position as TV will become more and more internet based..

Put in 2 coax points to every tv position, 4 in the main sitting room
this covers you for a damaged cable, sky, normal TV and a route back for sky to another room.

Cat 5 may be over kill although I am doing it, wireless will cover most of a house and most printing needs now.. but as you do I want to be sure I am future proof.

bring all wires back to a central point in the house, then up to the roof.. again put 4 up to the roof to cover anything..

 

[onq]

I suppose its a stupid question, but why do you want TV in every room?

I realise that not everyone will share taste, but one TV for the family and one TV for friends seems more than enough to me.

We "get by" with one TV and one family PC and there is seldom a problem.

I accept that at some point we may need another TV.

Do you not see this individual pursuit of online R&R leading to degree of isolationism within a household?

Perhaps I'm just being old fashioned.

Quite apart from the fact that pretty soon everyone will have an iPad and will be able to watch TV and surf the net from anywhere without wires or cables...

ONQ.

 

[sse]

Hi,

I want to enquire what would be considered necessary with respect to data points and tv points in a new build?

My current spec is for cat 5 cabling from all bedrooms and living areas back to a central hub in the utility room.

Regarding tv points, I also have spec'd for coax cables from all these rooms to an antenna on the roof

The master bedroom, the living area's will also be hard wired for telephone connections.

I want to make sure my points are sufficient should I need to install Sky in the future, use internet tv or network to a central printer etc.

I am not very technical in this respect therefore I would appreciate any advice as I am sure there are other things that I haven't though of.

There are loads of threads on here and other boards - try search terms "structured cabling" - basically the idea is you put in multiple runs of cat5e to multiple points in each room and bring them back to a central point so your plan is sound - my only recommendation is to put in double the amount of cable you think you will need even if you leave it unterminated for a while. An extra 300m reel is 50 quid and effectively free to install at build time. We have 2 or 4 points to every room and stream movies, music, photos around the house. We've installed a data cabinet, gigabit switch and 4TB of RAID (backup) storage so far.

If you're building new or heavy renovating a house you'd be mad IMHO not to put in a structured cabling solution. Foil-backed insulation and rebar play havoc with wireless and mobile signals so a single wireless router won't cut it (and that's before you even try running multiple high bitrate streams wirelessly), and if you want to use wireless devices you're far better off installing cabling and plugging in a couple of £20 wireless access points.

As for TV, make sure the installer uses decent co-ax cable - ct100 - and lots of it. TV-over-ethernet solutions do exist but they are expensive.

There's no need to run "phone" cable - you can use cat5e cable and the phone just uses the central two wires. The RJ11 (phone) connector should fit in the RJ45 (ethernet) socket, sometimes an adapter is needed.

One final point, if the installer starts talking about "Cat6" cabling make sure they are fully qualified to install it. Cat5e is capable of gigabit ethernet if installed and terminated properly, Cat6 is easy to damage and put in cack-handed and it will often perform worse than Cat5e. You may want to use Cat6 patch cables from your storage to your switch, however, but the extra cost of running bulk Cat6 is not really worth it in a domestic setting.

Hope this helps!

SSE

 

[Trilogy 1982]

I have 2 ct100 co-ax cables running from every tv point to a central location in the attic. The exception to this is in the rooms where the skyboxes are located where there is 4 at each point. This allows 2 separate sky signals along with terrestrial and/or freeview to be sent to any room in the house with the aid of a loftbox and switch.

On the data side I have 2 shielded cat 6e cables running to each data point from the patch panel in the utility room. I reckon one is actually plenty but I had the cable, so I threw an extra one in. I also have one going to tv in living room but I dont use it...yet.

I use my home network for streaming movies, tv shows and music from a central server around the house. Data cable isn't expensive in the overall scheme of things but isnt easy to get in afterwards so put plenty in now.

 

[BMD]

Thanks for all the advice...I hope you may be able to answer my questions below based on your replies

Am I correct in thinking that all the cat 5e data cables will run back to a utility hub in the utility room and this hub effectively works as a home server. Are these hubs widely available or do you have to go down the smart homes route??

Am I also correct in thinking that for any room where I want a tv that I should install two co-ax cables and if I want to add sky at this point that I should have four co-ax points? Will all these co-ax cables be routed to a central point in the attic space?

Regarding phone lines, I can either use the cat5e cables or alternatively run phone wire from each point to another central location in the attic?

Finally, if I want to install a sky dish at some stage what do I need? A dish outside with a co-ax cable running to the central location in the attic. Is there a requirement for a phone point or data point for sky? What provisions do I need to make regarding a hole to take the wire into the attic?

Is a sky box located in one room and is multi room viewing a possibility?

Is it possible to play a DVD in the main living room and watch it in the master bedroom? If so, then what do I need to do?

Also what is the story with digital tv, will my antenna become redundant soon?

Should I run my coax cables back to the utility room also or just leave them in the attic?

Finally, if I wanted to put in a central music system, what type of cabling would I need to run to the speakers and should I also channel it back to the utility room?

 

[Trilogy 1982]

Am I correct in thinking that all the cat 5e data cables will run back to a utility hub in the utility room and this hub effectively works as a home server. Are these hubs widely available or do you have to go down the smart homes route??

Kind of. They run back to a central switch or patch panel. The home server is another bit of kit that you need if you intend on streaming music and videos around the house. It stores your streamable content i.e. music video, photos. Here's an example [broken link removed]
You'll also need a networked media player of some sort at the other end to play the data being sent from the server. An xbox 360 or ps3 or laptop will do or you could get a dedicated media player like a Tvix to do the job.

You do NOT need to go down the smart home company route for streaming data. All the necessary information on how to do this is on the net and the equipment is readily available. You'll find a schematic to suit you needs online.

Am I also correct in thinking that for any room where I want a tv that I should install two co-ax cables and if I want to add sky at this point that I should have four co-ax points? Will all these co-ax cables be routed to a central point in the attic space??

Pretty much. Have a look at the various schematics below. This should clear things up. http://www.cyberselect.co.uk/range/1693

Finally, if I want to install a sky dish at some stage what do I need? A dish outside with a co-ax cable running to the central location in the attic. Is there a requirement for a phone point or data point for sky? What provisions do I need to make regarding a hole to take the wire into the attic?

Run 4 co-ax from proposed dish location to central location in attic where all other cables are running from.

You'll need a phone line wherever you plan on putting in a sky box. Absolutely necessary for sky multiroom to prove you haven't sold on second card and box to someone else. Otherwise just required for pay per view.

Is it possible to play a DVD in the main living room and watch it in the master bedroom? If so, then what do I need to do??

Simple video sender for about €20 will do the trick. Otherwise see the above schematic for a more structured solution.

Should I run my coax cables back to the utility room also or just leave them in the attic??

Doesn't really matter. May be easier from a wiring point of view to run everthing to attic. Personal preference.

Finally, if I wanted to put in a central music system, what type of cabling would I need to run to the speakers and should I also channel it back to the utility room?

Music on home server. Laptop/ media player in Living room/kitchen/ bedroom pulling music off this server. Connect laptop/ media player to amp or AV receiver. Speakers are connected to amp. You can get decent 1.5mm.sq speaker cable on ebay for abour €40 per 100m.

Alternatively, look at a Sonos system. Expensive but wireless and easily expandable.

Best of luck.