[martinnv]

A friend of mine is building a new house and asked me about how to best wire it for Telus TV. I told him that I would research it. I have read a few messages in the forum, but I wasn't quite sure on a couple of things:

There will be a wiring room in the basement where the routers and ADSL modem will be. Should there be several cable runs from the wiring room to each TV room (star topology), or can you make one giant cable run that includes each TV room?

Is it best to use coaxial cable or network cable?

In addition, there will be network cable running to a wireless router on each floor, inside the firewall, but Telus TV will not use these cables.

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks,
Martin

 

[ae_collector]

A home run CAT5 cable to each possible room where a TV might be used. For the cost of cable I would run two CAT5's to each loaction. That way he can easily have Telus TV on one and any wired network device on the other. Also protects against the slight possibity of a cable being damaged during construction and very difficult to replace by the time the damage is discovered.

Use CAT5 rather than coax for Telus TV although I would run a coax to each possible TV location as well to keep it flexible for the future (even though I am a Telus Employee).

 

[random2k]

http://about.telus.com/publicpolicy/bics_bc/TELUS-SFD-Wiring-Guidelines-Warmhome.pdf

http://about.telus.com/publicpolicy/guides.html

And i think shaw has a section like this also to cover coax stuff

This might help...

 

[jfroot]

A home run CAT5 cable to each possible room where a TV might be used. For the cost of cable I would run two CAT5's to each loaction. That way he can easily have Telus TV on one and any wired network device on the other. Also protects against the slight possibity of a cable being damaged during construction and very difficult to replace by the time the damage is discovered.

Use CAT5 rather than coax for Telus TV although I would run a coax to each possible TV location as well to keep it flexible for the future (even though I am a Telus Employee).

You don't need two runs. Telus TV is happy to share a single cable with any other devices you want by installing a small switch near the STB and splitting. Everyone in the past who has said it needs a dedicated link is incorrect. The IP traffic for TV can go to and from any port on the switch.

 

[hpin]

You don't need two runs. Telus TV is happy to share a single cable with any other devices you want by installing a small switch near the STB and splitting. Everyone in the past who has said it needs a dedicated link is incorrect. The IP traffic for TV can go to and from any port on the switch.

That is true, however I would advise two runs. I only have one run and my challenge right now is segmenting the network between the telustv domain and my home network domain. I like to keep my desktop, servers and media center pc in a separate domain behind a separate router. The reason is that the telustv punches a hole through the telus router, thereby allowing third party access into that network domain. This is all speculation on my end but it seems sound to me.

 

[martinnv]

Thanks guys, good info. 2 cable runs to each TV room sounds like the way to go.

 

[ae_collector]

Thanks guys, good info. 2 cable runs to each TV room sounds like the way to go.

Plus one Coax. ANd if the owner ever wanted Satellite PVR's you need two coax to each PVR location at this time in history at least.

 

[ctown6412]

If he is just starting, I would suggest going with cat6 now instead of cat5 as its really only a few $ more and you get future proofing. as others suggested 2 network runs and two rg6 jsut to be safe. I wired every room in my house this way and it gives you maximum flexibility. and if he has a main tv room/theater room run two more cat6 lines for backfeeding sources to other rooms via network or hdmi over cat6.

Doing it right the first time saves $ in the long run. Nothing worse than having a new house built and realizing you forgot to run enough wires or ommitting one all together( I did this with my subwoofer )

 

[Vyr1s]

If he is just starting, I would suggest going with cat6 now instead of cat5 as its really only a few $ more and you get future proofing. as others suggested 2 network runs and two rg6 jsut to be safe. I wired every room in my house this way and it gives you maximum flexibility. and if he has a main tv room/theater room run two more cat6 lines for backfeeding sources to other rooms via network or hdmi over cat6.

Doing it right the first time saves $ in the long run. Nothing worse than having a new house built and realizing you forgot to run enough wires or ommitting one all together( I did this with my subwoofer )

As Cat6 only gives you GB speeds and Cat5E is capable of the same speeds, I would recommend going with Cat5e.
Simply put Cat6 usually is more finicky, with thicker cladding and wire dividers. This in turn can give you grief when trying to terminate.

I would agree with the rest that if the house is not built yet, slap in at least two network runs. While two devices can be run on a same run, then you are limiting your available total throughput, as both devices are competing with the line. Also if the devices don't play well with networks it could cause the line to drop down to 100MB/10MB instead of 1GB. With some dumb switches I have even seen a single 10MB device drop the backplane down to 10MB.

For my new home we ran 3 runs of Cat5E to each room as well as coax.
We terminated two of the Cat5E and left the third hanging in the wall, just in case one run became degraded or if in the future we decide to use it for something else(ex home automation).

With the cost of cable from any proper supplier as well as the ease of installation when the drywall isn't up yet, I would say go nuts.

If you are really looking to future proof the house I would say drop in some fiber lines as well and just don't terminate them. ^.<

 

[Costa]

I'd recommend running 4 rg6 lines to a dish location, leave like 6 feet of cable outside too. Make sure you know where the dish is going to be aiming. The dish can be anywhere you want, pick a location thats low enough to reach with a ladder, and high enough so that it's out of the way.

 

[Tunksy31]

Like most people have stated run at lest 2 cat5/cat6 and 2 coax to each tv location. As well, like Costa has suggested run 4 coax to the attic and leave enough to get outside to a dish location (south west corner of the house in Ontario anyways) I would also run 1 or 2 extra coax in case if Sat radio (xm/sirius). Depending on the house design (2 story) I would run a couple more coax and cat's to the attic just to fp (future proof) or in case a line in the wall gets pinched or doesn't work.

When running for a wireless access point I would say just run two lines to above the kitchen cabinets, I have found that the kitchen is a very central part of a house and above the cabinets will give you maximum range for the house (just don't forget power to the same location, unless you get an access point that uses POE (power over ethernet)).

Since there is no drywall up I would also suggest running speaker (min 16/2) and control wires (20/4) to each room. even if he doesn't use them they are there for future if he wants to sell. Along with the speaker wire I would run a cat5/cat6 as well as a 20/4 or 18/4 to a "volume control" location. This will allow for maximum expandability for whatever system he may/may not choose but the next owner may.

Also for TV locations run at least 4 cat5/cat6 and at least 5 coax. this will allow for full HDMI over cat5/6 as well as running component with audio for some older devices that are located in the "rack location". This will also allow for ethernet to TV's/blu-ray players and a control line if needed in the future.

From my experience wiring a house you can never have too many wires.

I understand that the cost of the wire may become very high but once the drywall gets installed the cost of the wire at least doubles to get someone in to run it after the fact.

Also if there is a common wall within the house try to make as many holes as possible between the floors and run pull lines or install a 4" conduit between them, this will allow for future proofing to the second floor (if there is one). One better would be to get the contractor to create a void that runs from the utility room all the way to the attic. This is the best option and will allow for maximum expandability.

I am working on a house now where the home owner is running all his own wires and isn't leave any room for future expandability and I am foreseeing future problems when the install comes and we are missing a wire at a crucial location.

Hope your friend has some extra time to run some wires

Cheers,

Tunksy

 

[Carlos J]

Most of our customers usually ask us to run CAT6, until they find out how much it costs,we usually end up running 2 cat5e, and 1 RG6 cable to every TV location while we wire the house for electricity,we also wire the surround sound for our clients.Some of them ask for 2 RG6 runs instead of 1.I personally have 3 CAT 5e cables from my computer room to home theater room, 4 RG6 cables,and one HDMI .I currently only use 1 of the RG6 cables but the HDMI, and the CAT5e are all in use!

 

[high_octane]

Most of our customers usually ask us to run CAT6, until they find out how much it costs,we usually end up running 2 cat5e

Why do you charge so much more? It's about the same price if you know where to shop

 

[das75]

Don't forget speaker wire runs as well and not just in the HT room but throughout the house, out to the back of the house for outside speakers. Cat5 to the front door, corners of the house back to a central point if ever decide a camera system.

Go crazy, it's a lot easier to run cable a never use it then a year later kicking yourself.

 

[Carlos J]

We only use Belden and there is a big difference!