New home wiring

[cupofjoe]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Cupofjoe, what potential complications are there with HDbaseT? I ask because I was looking at using it and read good reviews. Have you run into issues, such as input lag (gaming) or connectivity?

Sorry, I didn't word my previous post very well. HDbaseT is actually a very good product. Most of the time HDBaseT is plug and play and works perfectly.

I have had to fixed other peoples work (connectivity issues) twice. One was related to poorly installed cat connectors, the other was a damage cat 5e wire, which likely occurred in the prewire phase.

The other problems have been with defective product. I have had some issues with Key Digital baluns connectivity issues. I switch them out for Wyrestorm and it fixed the problem. I have also heard of people having issues with Monoprice. Personally, I find Wyrestorm rock solid, I am not sure if you can get it outside of a wholesale/distribution channel.

The point I was trying to make is that HDBaseT extenders add a layer of complexity over a using a HDMI cable. If it works out of the box, great, but in the odd scenario you will have to do some troubleshooting.

[Ryan Coke]

Thanks again for all the great info.

I'm running 2 RG6 and 4 cat6 to the bonus room, and 2 and 2 into the living room. Also running a conduit to the attic.

Here is another question, I want to be able to stream music into the home audio setup from iPads/iPhones. Right now I use an airport express, and while generally it is good, I do get some dropouts in certain parts of our current house. I know there are different modes it can be run in, such as a wireless access point or audio server, but it is around here that my limited networking knowledge starts becoming an issue.

So I guess I am wondering what wifi music streaming devices people would suggest, and how to get the best reliability out of whatever solution I go with as far as location, setup, and network.

[cupofjoe]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

Thanks again for all the great info.

I'm running 2 RG6 and 4 cat6 to the bonus room, and 2 and 2 into the living room. Also running a conduit to the attic.

Here is another question, I want to be able to stream music into the home audio setup from iPads/iPhones. Right now I use an airport express, and while generally it is good, I do get some dropouts in certain parts of our current house. I know there are different modes it can be run in, such as a wireless access point or audio server, but it is around here that my limited networking knowledge starts becoming an issue.

So I guess I am wondering what wifi music streaming devices people would suggest, and how to get the best reliability out of whatever solution I go with as far as location, setup, and network.

Sonos would be my recommendation. Specifically a connect hard wired into your network. Very good product, very little failure. If you can't hard wire it then get a Sonos bridge or boost. I don't recommend wifi connect option for these. What sonos does is sets up a separate wifi network so it doesn't rely on your wifi network.

Now if you have wifi issues, the sonos app might not work properly (app is for the control of the stream), but the actually sonos streaming is either hard-wired or running on its own wifi network (which is usually very robust).

[opendoor]

If the Airport Express is your main router, another cheaper option than a Sonos might be a second Airport Express to extend the network. Basically you just connect the two of them together by ethernet and set the secondary base station into bridge mode and you'll have a seamless extended network.

If you're using mostly Apple devices to stream from, Sonos seems like overkill given the cost and the need to switch to a new app vs. a cheap Airport Express and the built in Airplay. If you're using a bunch of devices, then Sonos could be a good option. But really, if you're worried about WiFi dropouts I'd consider multiple access points wired together regardless of what streaming technology you use.

[Jonrox]

I have a 4x4 HDMI matrix and it works flawlessly. 2 cable boxes, Xbox, and Playstation work on any and all TV's (and at the same time... from what I understand the matrix takes care of the handshake issues).

It's especially great for sporting events/PPV when I can turn the same thing on for every tv at the same time. People can go upstairs, downstairs, and to the theatre without missing anything.

Also not having to have separate gaming systems for every tv is great.

To run the system we have 2 remotes that operate by zone (when I pick up the remote, I choose what room I'm in) and they operate the cable boxes by RF.

[oilyfan]

I am curious - how do you manage the Xbox controllers in each room? How far are they from the system?

[Jonrox]

Maybe I'm lucky but with how my house is laid out (it's a rancher walkout), my upstairs TV's are essentially directly above my Xbox, one story up. The downstairs screen is right in front of it.