Question for BIG Installation

[SoonerDoc]

Hey everyone. I am in the process of building a pretty good sized home and the time for prewiring is coming up. I am trying to figure out exactly how many coaxs I need to be running. I am going to have 12-14 rooms wired for directv with HD DVRs. Now I am not going to have all tvs set up initially but over the course of a couple of years that is the plan and to have HD DVRs in all the rooms. I want to get the wiring done before walls and drywall go up. How many coax lines do I need to each tv site? Two to each site? Will I need 24-28 total lines run? What kind of multiswitch? Are the single wire multiswitches feasible and are they a special kind of wire (not regular rg6)? THANKS !!

[qubit]

You can run one rg6 to every HD dvr you have/want. With the SWMs that you'll be able to get probably by January that is all you'll need to have both tuners in an HR20 working. There will be no reason to run a second line for almost any scenario. So you would want (4) 8 channel SWMs and ideally have them split off the dish with 4-way splitters though I don't have that working yet.

[SoonerDoc]

is the single wire multiswitch a special kind of cable? the problem is the pre wiring is this month then the walls go up. it is going to be a nightmare to have to rerun cables in january after the walls are up. are the SWM cables available now? or do you use standard rg6 cable with a special type of multiswitch?

the four 8-channel SWMs will allow me to run a single cable to how many different sites total?

[Earl Bonovich]

No.. the SWM is special type of multiswitch.

If you are building from scratch (which it sounds like you are)..

I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend...

2 or 3 RG6 runs to each room.
2 CAT5e or higher runs...

With everything going to one central point.

The increased cost at this time, will be minimal... "in the big picture of things".

While the SWM technology is great... and works really well.
If you have the opportunity now to wire... you don't necessarily need to use it...

2 RUNS for SAT signals
3rd RUN for OTA or some other type of connection

1 CAT5e for phone line
1 CAT5e for networking

For 28 total lines... two 16 Port: WB616's , with 4 splitters will setup perfectly.

[RobertE]

Here's how I would wire up a house that I would have built

4 or 6 coax from the media rack to each room. What I would do then is have all those coax terminate in an access panel in each room, say in a closet. Then depending on the size of the room, I'd have multiple outlets on the walls. This will give flexibilty on where you want to put your TVs/cable modems/security monitor/whatever. All you would need to do is move things around on the rooms patch panel.

Ditto for cat5/6/x, can't have enough.

Smurf tube is a godsend.

If it's a multi story house, having a nice size conduit going from attic to basement would be a plus. Even better to have multiples depending on size/layout. Access panels earn extra points.

Thing is who knows what we may need running in our walls 5/10/15 years from now. Just do the best you can to be prepaired.

The additional cost will be peanuts compaired to what it will cost later.

[rdiedrich]

Here's how I would wire up a house that I would have built

4 or 6 coax from the media rack to each room. What I would do then is have all those coax terminate in an access panel in each room, say in a closet. Then depending on the size of the room, I'd have multiple outlets on the walls. This will give flexibilty on where you want to put your TVs/cable modems/security monitor/whatever. All you would need to do is move things around on the rooms patch panel.

Ditto for cat5/6/x, can't have enough.

Smurf tube is a godsend.

If it's a multi story house, having a nice size conduit going from attic to basement would be a plus. Even better to have multiples depending on size/layout. Access panels earn extra points.

Thing is who knows what we may need running in our walls 5/10/15 years from now. Just do the best you can to be prepaired.

The additional cost will be peanuts compaired to what it will cost later.

yes conduits are a god send for an installer!! Also think ahead of where you may want to place tv's or computers and run conduits for those items too if you plan ahead for things like HDMI cables and such. It will make snaking any kind of cableing to where you want it easier. Also , think about what rooms you may want surround sound in as well and prewire that for later use!

Randy

[SoonerDoc]

thanks for the advice.

i think i am going to run 2 sets of dual rg6 quad shield to each tv site....2 for dvr, 1 for OTA and one for cable tv (our cable system has a cheap $6 a month package for like 20 channels). i am putting in a cat2 ethernet cable at most of the tv sites and phone lines nearby.

i am still not sure how to get that many lines (24-28) from the dish. how many multiswitches can you set up in a row? maybe the SWM will be out by then (finishing next june-july).


dish has four lines ----> into multiswitch ---> 8 lines. can i take those 8 lines and feed them into two multiswitches and get 16? am I going to need a second satellite (i hope not !!)

[BK EH]

Regarding the RG6 -- there is no reason to have quad shield in a home unless you are under high voltage transmission lines or your home is a machine shop! Dual shield is more than enough.

Make sure it is solid copper core.

Run cat-6, not cat-5e. Cat-6 has way more bandwidth capacity than cat-5e, and is not that much more money. Bandwidth is where it's at. In future, with a baluns or similar, you may find yourself streaming HD over this network, for example.

We finished building a home last year. Every TV location got 2 dual-shield solid copper core RG6 and a cat 6 port. The tubing from the basement (if you have one) is a great idea, too. Additionally, wherever you have the cable from a dish coming into the house or attic, make sure an electrical outlet is there. Again, future proofing. Yoiu can also have the electricians install a direct grounding point right there too -- that's what we did.

Have fun! :)

[Xing]

You would need 2 6*16 multiswitches for that size job. The 4 cables from dish to one 6*16 and then 4 cables from that 6*16 to the other 6*16. All the other ports, totaling 28, would go to the rooms.

[Hansen]

I think Earl hit it right on the head with his recommendation. Have lots of extra in there now so you can avoid retro-fits later and any future purchaser will have options in the event of new technology or a different provider.

Since you're building now, think also about the location of the dish, conduit and access to the RG6 runs for the dish to the head location for the mult-switches, etc., proper grounding being available and how you are going to mount that dish to your nice new roof. You might look at this or similar products for mounting to the roof and getting the cables to the dish without it looking like it was done after-the-fact. http://www.rstcenterprises.com/

[BK EH]

You should also look at the side and soffit mounts here while you are planning: http://www.dishmountproducts.com/slimline.html

That way, no messing up on the roof at all. We have the soffit mount mounted (sideways, not underneath) at 40 ft on a gable-end and it works great.

Interestingly enough, my local Mastec installer told me they have these in their warehouse, but they aren't yet allowed to requisition them for an install. Seems pretty silly to me!