Scottish Elises

I am looking to order up a few cables to run in the wall before the house gets plastered. I was looking to put around 3 HDMI's for the main living room TV, and for what will be the music room with a projector, a VGA and HDMI.

I have been researching the HDMIs and found QED cables. I am look around 7m length to be safe and found them for £35 each which I was willing to do however they are out of stock and alternatives are £60 plus each. Now I don't want to spend so much on cables however I dont want to install, plaster the walls and find they are not fit for purpose.

There is a lot of correspondance on sites explaining that there is no difference with the cables you use and they are all the same however in my experience we bought a cheap amazon cable for the apple TV and it kept crashing. After trying everything we changed the HDMI around and its worked fine ever since. I don't want to skimp on the cables obviously with these being in the wall and not been able to change them however I dont want to spend over the odds on cables for no benefit.

Can anyone offer any advise on what cables I should be looking at around 7m length that will give a good realiable cable at a reasonable price.

Look forward to your responses

At 7M, there will be a bit of sense in buying something decent. At the usual 1.5M interlink between stacked devices, there's no reason at all, but the longer runs will introduce more errors for the kit to correct, so likelihood of artefacts and issues is greater.

Sadly, on cables themselves, I've not got much experience. I've tended to the "short run, make them replaceable" mindset.

Shug thanks for the help. I was quite happy going £35 for a decent cable however I don't want to go £60 a cable if there is no need. I could probably manage with slightly shorter cable but only talking 1m or so shorter. I felt better be safe and order longer than shorter. The idea is to have the TV mounted on the center of the wall, and the DVD/X box/Apple TV over in the corner. When you add up its over a meter up the wall, a few meters to the corner, and then up to the socket, and a good bit of slack at each end it adds up and you don't get away with a short cable run. Also means the cables are nice a hidden and you get a nice clean wall.

For the music room, I want the entertainment stuff to be in the alcove at the corner but the projector will need to be in the centre, so just want to hide the cables to the alcove, again why I need to longer cables.

I have a single HDMi cable running under the floor and hidden behind the wall of my extension to our main TV. At the other end in a different room I have a Sony AMP which acts as an HDMi switch so connects my PS3, SKY HD etc then I just select which input I want to see on my TV. You dont need an AMP as you can buy simple HDMi switches so that might be a more cost effective route ?
http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sq=hdmi+sw ... bsearch=Go

Consider running CAT 5 too? It's cheap and unlike wifi it just works, everytime.

I'd be running cat5 too if you're going to that extent.

Remember though that they do sometimes update the HDMI standard (aren't we at HDMI v1.4 or something now, don't some include some sort of network interface too?)
I'd be considering how you can design an install where cable replacement would be possible, even if a little difficult...

With super cheap cables, the only issue I've had is the quality of the (though I've also only ever run short).
I'd be tempted to buy a cheap cable and test it. Surely if it works over 7m you're in. It's a digital cable, surely it'll either work perfectly, or it won't..

If you're still paranoid, why not run 1 expensive and 2 budget cables, allowing you to fall back on the AMP / switch idea if need be?

I have heard lots of people say this but not got a clue what it is and the benefits of it? Its it just like the old hardwired interenet? Where would I need to run it and what would I use it for?

Thanks for the link to the HDMI box, its certainly an option to look at reducing cable lengths, so something to consider.

http://www.futureshop.co.uk/audioquest- ... -5288.html

This one is a wee bit out my price range, is there really a market for this spec of cable?

Corranga wrote: It's a digital cable, surely it'll either work perfectly, or it won't..

Sadly, one of the things that gets trotted out a lot (by me as well, in the past, when I didn't have the full info) There's an expectation of bit-errors in any cable, so HDMI kit has error correction built in. However, with longer and longer runs of lower quality stuff, you can get to a stage where there's enough errors that the correction becomes noticeable - so it's not 'on' or 'off' but there is a degradation in image and sound quality.

Think MP3 compression and Youtube video compression - it's digital, but there are quality repercussions for lower bitrates.

So it's not a simple case of plugging it in and seeing if it works.

s29ttc wrote:I have heard lots of people say this but not got a clue what it is and the benefits of it? Its it just like the old hardwired interenet? Where would I need to run it and what would I use it for?

Yep - hardwired network points. Useful initially for hardwired internet (trust me, I live in an old house too and Wifi is a pain in the arse when you've got 2 foot thick walls) But looking to the future, a lot of connected home stuff runs really well over Cat5 (some will only run over Cat5) like media streaming, etc. Even if you've not got a plan for it now, if you've got the chance to do it, speccing Cat5 gives you so many more options in the long run for not massive outlay.

On the Cat 5 theme we have just had BT Infinity installed and because the new router has to connect to the fibre modem, which in turn has to sit by the BT master socket, our router in now in possibly the worst spot for WiFi reception. In order to connect my PC, the daughters computer updstairs plus my SKY HD box etc I invested in some Powerline Adaptors. Essentially these turn your ring mains circuit into a wired broadband network so anywhere you have a plug socket you can bet wired internet. Agree it's never going to be as good as a dedicated Cat5/6 cabled house but if you want a quick hassle free effective solution then I can recommend them. Speed tests I have run show very little loss.

If you can run at least cat5e cable and always run 1 more length than you need (if only to pull even more through) I have 6 ports next to the TV and they all run back to a switch in a cupboard.

Running additional cables through walls is a PITA so best do it now.

I think you can run HDMI thru Cat5/Cat6 too

I work from home and don't use wireless., its for ipads and mobiles...

Shug I appreciate your comment re long runs and cheap cables, using that argument would simply putting them in some form of shielded conduit help ? How about HDMI->CAT5 converters and using decent shielded CAT5 ?

S

Sanjoy wrote:I work from home and don't use wireless., its for ipads and mobiles...

Shug I appreciate your comment re long runs and cheap cables, using that argument would simply putting them in some form of shielded conduit help ? How about HDMI->CAT5 converters and using decent shielded CAT5 ?

S

Wish I had done that when doing up my flat, big old flat with thick walls are not great for wifi. If I were to do it again I would have cat5 cable running everywhere.

Sanjoy wrote:I work from home and don't use wireless., its for ipads and mobiles...

Shug I appreciate your comment re long runs and cheap cables, using that argument would simply putting them in some form of shielded conduit help ? How about HDMI->CAT5 converters and using decent shielded CAT5 ?

S

Sorry mate, not my area of expertise. From what I understand, it's a combination of external noise and signal dropoff from lower quality copper, so I'd suggest it may well help a little. No idea what the HDMI > Cat5 conversion is like though, so again, best to ask someone with more knowledge than I.

I'd echo the suggestion to have your input switching at the av unit/receiver end and run a single HDMI to the TV. Leave some string in there so you can pull a thunderbolt or whatever cable in a few years and you should be fine You might want to include a speaker cable in the run to the TV in case you want a centre speaker at some point - I didn't bother and just route dialogue to FL/FR but slightly regret not leaving the flexibility when I went to all the effort of running hdmi and separate runs for surround + kitchen (zone 2) speakers.