Browse Forums Home Theatre & Automation 1 Jun 13, 2011 11:28 am Hi, We have had 2 quotes on data cabling for our new build but we are still confused. I've read a few threads in here too and it's making me more confused. We use wireless for our laptop, pc, iPads at hone at the moment. We have tv, foxtel, ps3, wii, amp, DVD. One cable guy quoted $2500 for a hills home hub where we get 8x coax antenna/pay tv points, 8 data (Internet points), 8 telephone points, 8 way powered splitter, 8 way data switch, 8 way telephone module and installation. $2500 seems a premium to have it come back to this 1 box, especially if we don't need all these points. Is there a Benefit having it all in this one box? Where would it otherwise go? My confusion is- why do we need 8 telephone points? We only have 1 phone which we barely use as we have mobiles. Is there another use for phone points? Are the coax antenna/pay tv points used for both tv & pay tv? And are the 8 data points just used for Internet? Do they serve any other purpose? If we use wireless for everything now, why would we plug into wired when the house is built or in the future? Is it just the cable guys trying to sell their stuff as to why we need these things? We don't want to exclude this home hub thing if it's essential for future, especially as we are building a 2 story house, but we don't want to waste our money if it's going to be sitting their on the wall doing nothing. And, he suggested an infra red system where we can store our DVD player, foxtel box, amp etc.. In a cupboard in another room, but use the remote in the tv room and it works a treat. This sounds fantastic as we don't like clutter - anyone have experience with this? I guess our foxtel point would then go in the cupboard where we would store the DVD player, amp etc? Would we need any other cable etc points in this cupboard? Thanks so much to anyone who may be able to offer advice, expertise etc... It just seems so confusing. Thanks! Re: Data cabling for new build 2Jun 13, 2011 5:39 pm We're getting this type of system but from Clipsal. The 8 phone points appear to be overkill for most - since we've all got wireless phones anyways. However it means you have a phone outlet to 8 places. Likewise with the 8 data points and 8 TV points. For your TV; your antenna and pay TV / satellite TV will connect to the hub, and it will be broadcasted to all 8 TV's; meaning you can access every channel on any TV you have in the home. For now, data cabling is primarily used for internet connections (your double storey home would struggle if you only had one wifi point - you'd be better off running at least a few data cables, it not all , but who knows what the future may bring... The infrared option; pretty much the same as what I said about the TV's all connecting to the hub - essentially you can put a DVD in your family room DVD player, go to your bedroom with your DVD remote and press play, and it'll play it in your bedroom TV. My opinion is to have it if you can afford it - structured cabling is going to be v. expensive (if it's even possible with a double storey house) if you put it in anytime after. Re: Data cabling for new build 3Jun 13, 2011 6:07 pm We have one data point and run everything off of it, desktop, laptops, ipod's, ipads. I spoke to the Telstra guy that installed our smart meter, he lives in the estate. I said "we may need more at the new house", he said why? He said he only has one at his house, he runs everything off of it. We will stick with one and see how it goes. We have 5 tv points a six splitter box, 2 phone points. Vista runs slower on Velocity, our desktop it Vista, the laptop runs faster, although the desktop still gets good speeds, Telstra have confirmed that Vista for some reason gets a slower speed, they can't tell me why. Re: Data cabling for new build 4Jun 14, 2011 7:46 am Hi If it is done correctly, the 8 phone points and 8 data points will actually be 16 data points. It is how you connect them at the hub that determines their purpose (At the hub you have been quoted on an 8 way data switch and an 8 outlet telephone module. You can then connect (or patch) from these devices to an outlet to determine what service is available) As irkj said, the cos of doing this now is much lower than later. However, I am not such a fan of the home hub/starserve approaches. They aren't really moving with the times on video distribution, and this is partially because the industry as a whole is still working this out. The traditional way of distributing video is to use a modulator that puts your Foxtel or DVD onto the antenna cable so you can watch it in another room, but this doesn't even do standard definition video, let alone DVD or Blu-ray quality. So you have a situation where people are buying hi-definition TVs, Blu-Ray players and getting Foxtel HD but the systems they are being sold can't cope with these. There is a new standard emerging called HDBaseT, which puts high definition video onto structured cabling (the cables that will be installed for your phone and data ports). Hopefully we will HDBase-T products widely available in 2012. Some of the installers like the home-hub because it makes installation and supply a bit simpler, but you end up paying a premium for things you don't need (8 telephone ports and an 8 port data switch when your DSL router probably already has a 4 port switch, for example). See if you can get a quote from someone to run data cable back to a 24 port patch panel located in the garage (if you have an attached garage) or other convenient point. You can then get your phone socket installed next to the patch panel, put your ADSL modem there too and connect it to the data cables where you do have fixed items (for example, Foxtel IQ can now be connected to the Internet but doesn't have wireless). Wireless is OK for data, but due to the bandwidth required for HD, the future of home entertainment connectivity is still wired and the future (and present) of wiring is Cat-6 structured cabling due to its ubiquity and flexibility. As for the IR receivers for your cupboard they work really well. Paul Scientists have used random matrix theory to demonstrate theoretically that the neutrino mass hierarchy can be explained mathematically. When a substance is fragmented… 21 20618 If you're referring to Eufy homebase, then just put a switch between a datapoint and put the homebase elsewhere near another device in your home unless you want teh… 9 13825 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 8 17190 |