Hi all,
having been somewhat disappointed at the cost of the retail Mk2 units I decided to experiment with just connecting up the s-video and audio outputs of my Media Centre PC to the Cat 5 cables in my house and thence to my TV S-video and audio inputs (length of cable approx 25-30m). I butchered some poor quality S-video and phono leads bought from B&Q for the job and soldered them to a Cat5 lead with RJ45 plug which connected to patch panel/socket one at each end.
Result? Gobsmackingly good. Bright, clear pictures on 2 out of 3 sets (20" and 26" LCD for reference). The third set (42" plasma) suffered from what appears to be mains RFI banding at a couple of points on the screen - most annoying, though worthy of note is that the picture is otherwise excellent. In all cases it's a huge improvement over the RF distribution I have been using.
My solution was therefore much cheaper than anticipated in the end. I bought an S-video splitter amp from Maplins for 73 quid and fed it to the 2 lcds and as my system is MCE based, I'll use my X-box as an extender connected the Plasma to overcome the interference there.
A bit of a ramble, but I hope this will encourage others to experiment before forking out tons of cash needlessly.
Mutley
having been somewhat disappointed at the cost of the retail Mk2 units I decided to experiment with just connecting up the s-video and audio outputs of my Media Centre PC to the Cat 5 cables in my house and thence to my TV S-video and audio inputs (length of cable approx 25-30m). I butchered some poor quality S-video and phono leads bought from B&Q for the job and soldered them to a Cat5 lead with RJ45 plug which connected to patch panel/socket one at each end.
Result? Gobsmackingly good. Bright, clear pictures on 2 out of 3 sets (20" and 26" LCD for reference). The third set (42" plasma) suffered from what appears to be mains RFI banding at a couple of points on the screen - most annoying, though worthy of note is that the picture is otherwise excellent. In all cases it's a huge improvement over the RF distribution I have been using.
My solution was therefore much cheaper than anticipated in the end. I bought an S-video splitter amp from Maplins for 73 quid and fed it to the 2 lcds and as my system is MCE based, I'll use my X-box as an extender connected the Plasma to overcome the interference there.
A bit of a ramble, but I hope this will encourage others to experiment before forking out tons of cash needlessly.
Mutley
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