Newbie, new house, new everything

[chris_j_hunter]

to answer my own question, the Wiki entry (Cables para') seems to highlight the key issues :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

also :

http://www.1394ta.org/products/whyfirewire.html

[aledkthomas]

Thanks toscal,
I have run speaker cables and put in conduit ready for cat5 but i still dont understand how the cat 5 outlet can switch a appliance on/off?
I understand the module having a supply and when it recieves a signal it changes it to a output which turns on/off the appliance.
I'm still trying to visualise how a socket outlet (with say a tv plugged in) and a cat 5 outlet tie in together.
I'm pressuming the control signal is sent down the cat 5 but how does this turn on/off the power to the appliance.
Do you have a picture of a cat 5 outlet and mains electric socket together showing how the cat 5 can controll the mains?

TimH,
the HDMI cables you attached the link for look OK.
roughly measuring i can use the 10m length for most of my runs but i need to run a couple of 15 runs and a 20m run.
i'm pressuming that the quality will be the same.
do you think i should do this or run cat5 and use adapters?

While i'm on here i've attached a couple of rough plans of my home that i've drawn up showing where and what i want to install.
please forgive the child like drawing but i needed something to help me visualise what i wanted.
feel freet to add suggestions and advice.

[TimH]

TimH,
the HDMI cables you attached the link for look OK.
roughly measuring i can use the 10m length for most of my runs but i need to run a couple of 15 runs and a 20m run.
i'm pressuming that the quality will be the same.
do you think i should do this or run cat5 and use adapters?

With the cables, remember to add a bit of slack at each end for connecting up the equipment and (for example) pulling the digibox forward to be able to connect it up.

I've not used the longer cables so can't comment from experience. When I installed mine I also put in enough Cat5 to allow me to use adaptors if the cables weren't good enough. I was happy with this as the cables were only £10-15. I couldn't stomach doing the same thing with £100 cables, that was too much to potentially lose!

If you can, I'd recommend trying the cable without installing it in the wall/under the floors. If it doesn't work then you can take it back to the seller as "not fit for purpose / not as advertised". I had no HDMI kit when I installed mine so that wasn't an option.

Part of me says that if they make a 20m cable then it must work, however I've had a bad experience with a 2m cable (different brand) that was just rubbish

If you can test it before installing then great, otherwise allow extra cat5 as an insurance so you can run adaptors instead.

HTH,

Tim.

p.s. I had a quick squiz at the sketches, great idea to plan it out on a drawing - wish I'd done that!
Just an initial comment but could you use different shapes as well as colours to differentiate between items? The red and maroon(?) look quite similar on the uploaded pics.

[aledkthomas]

I've already allowed for extra CAT5 for just such a situation.
What did you use at the wall (behind tv) to make the HDMI cable look neat when coming out of the wall?
is there a plate you can buy or did you just use a blank plate with a cable outlet?

[toscal]

Thanks toscal,
I have run speaker cables and put in conduit ready for cat5 but i still dont understand how the cat 5 outlet can switch a appliance on/off?
I understand the module having a supply and when it recieves a signal it changes it to a output which turns on/off the appliance.
I'm still trying to visualise how a socket outlet (with say a tv plugged in) and a cat 5 outlet tie in together.
I'm pressuming the control signal is sent down the cat 5 but how does this turn on/off the power to the appliance.
Do you have a picture of a cat 5 outlet and mains electric socket together showing how the cat 5 can controll the mains?

The Cat5 doesn't control anything.
What you have is a module possibly in your consumer unit that has mains coming in and a switched mains out this mains out goes to your socket.
Now the module needs to know when to switch on or off. This is where the cat5 cable comes in. The module is connected to a controller using cat5 cable. The controller tells the module what to do. It may be possible to sometimes fit the module behind the mains socket, in which case you need the cat5 cable at the mains socket. This cable will need to have mains rated insulation.
Here are a few links to various bus type home automation systems.
C-BUS
Idratek
Domintell
There are others, and many don't actually need CAT5 cable, but do require a twisted pairs for comms. And cat5 is an easy way to achieve this. And gives some flexibility as regards module connection and range of signals that can be sent back.

[chris_j_hunter]

quite a few to choose-from, indeed, with new ones appearing every now & then ... might be worth a look at these, too, they're also bus-type, modern & robust, were also on our short-list & might help to get a feel for what's available & what's needed :

http://www.dupline.com/scheletro.asp?Language=UK&page=1

http://www.niko.be/en/professional/Products/productengroups/home-automation

http://www.knx.org/

http://www.enocean.com/en/home/

it would be easy to add several more !

[TimH]

What did you use at the wall (behind tv) to make the HDMI cable look neat when coming out of the wall?
is there a plate you can buy or did you just use a blank plate with a cable outlet?

There are faceplates but I didn't use any.
The outlet is behind a wall-mounted TV so can't be seen. All I have is a single length of cable from my source devices directly into the back of the tv. HDMI is not (overly) tolerant of joins in cables, even with "couplers", and especially at the longer lengths, so my cables run direct. This was my earlier point re: two 5m cables being joined together is not the same as a single 10m cable.

I have a couple of pics somewhere, I'll upload them so you can see what I did.

Cheers,

Tim.