How-to Distribute Video

scgrg

New Member
There are probably numerous posts about this, but I haven't been able to find the right one. Quite simply I want to remove as many components from my television(s) as possible. Right now I have AT&T Uverse wired up to my central distribution system, coaxed throughout the house, and then have my UVerse receivers at each of my televisions. What I would really like is to move the receivers up to my central distribution system. I have coax and ethernet at each "TV" location. What is the easiest way to get the video and audio signals from the receiver(s) in my central closet to individual television(s)?

Is SageTV the best/only way to do this?

I have found component to ethernet (and then ethernet to component) converters, but what about the audio? Is there a way to use the coax?

Thanks
 
There are probably numerous posts about this, but I haven't been able to find the right one. Quite simply I want to remove as many components from my television(s) as possible. Right now I have AT&T Uverse wired up to my central distribution system, coaxed throughout the house, and then have my UVerse receivers at each of my televisions. What I would really like is to move the receivers up to my central distribution system. I have coax and ethernet at each "TV" location. What is the easiest way to get the video and audio signals from the receiver(s) in my central closet to individual television(s)?

Is SageTV the best/only way to do this?

I have found component to ethernet (and then ethernet to component) converters, but what about the audio? Is there a way to use the coax?

Thanks

I'm assuming that you only have a single coax and cat5 running to each location. Is it Cat5 or Cat5e?

Depending on your needs there are a number of products to choose from. You can find a wide range of Component Matrix Switchers that do component video over Cat5e. It really gets down to the number of source inputs you want and how you want to output the video (really only Component or HDMI if you want HiDef). Also, don't forget about control. Will you be controlling uVerse with RF or IR?

FYI... distributing HiDef can get costly.
 
I must have missed this. Thanks....also thanks for the tip on the IR control. That is another thing I need to add to the system.
 
How on god's green earth are they passively ramming 5 discrete signals down 4 pairs of wires? The only thing I can think of is that they're not balancing one or more of the video signals (ie, they're leaving the "ground" signal as "ground" for Pr, Pb, and/or Y, and not trying to balance it into two equal-but-opposite signals), then tying that/those signals' grounds to the audio grounds, so they can then use pair 4, wire 1 for left, and pair 4, wire 2 for right. Now, doing it ACTIVELY would be a piece of cake (throw in a cheap FM transmitter chip like the ones used to play Sirius/XM radios or an iPod over an unused FM frequency in the car), but the thought of rigging it to work passively just kind of gives me chills ;-)
 
How on god's green earth are they passively ramming 5 discrete signals down 4 pairs of wires? The only thing I can think of is that they're not balancing one or more of the video signals (ie, they're leaving the "ground" signal as "ground" for Pr, Pb, and/or Y, and not trying to balance it into two equal-but-opposite signals), then tying that/those signals' grounds to the audio grounds, so they can then use pair 4, wire 1 for left, and pair 4, wire 2 for right. Now, doing it ACTIVELY would be a piece of cake (throw in a cheap FM transmitter chip like the ones used to play Sirius/XM radios or an iPod over an unused FM frequency in the car), but the thought of rigging it to work passively just kind of gives me chills ;-)

I dunno, but I would love to hear from someone who has tried one of these out.

For that matter, I'd love to hear about these inexpensive passive baluns that do just component. . Quite a bit less expensive ($55 vs $110 for a pair)
 
I haven't tried those specific baluns but I've tested a wide range of Component, VGA, and HDMI over Cat5e/6 baluns with good success. Products from Russound, Atlona, and Gefen to name a few.
 
Well.. I just ordered one of these from that E-bay site so i'll post in a few days with the results.

I'd been looking for a component video plus stereo audio over single cat5/6 without much luck and one that i found by Muxlabds didnt seem to be available anywhere.

I'll be using this to connected a SageTV HD Extended in the basement to a small HD TV in the bathroom. Just need and IR solution to allow me to have control.
 
PI Manufacturing has some interesting-looking passive and active baluns:

NVA-904-AT_1.gif
NVA-904-AT.gif

the NVA-904AT active cat5 extender/balun (not yet released) has 8 RCA ports on one side, two sets of local outputs on top (one to feed the local TV, one to chain to additional baluns), and BOTH RJ-45 *and* screw terminals for the cables.

There's also a slightly cheaper version without the top outputs, and an even cheaper version that does only component+SPDIF (or if you ignore the colors, analog stereo + two composite or (with adapter cable) one s-video).

Its companion is the passive NVA-905 receiver.
So far, they're my favorite candidates for a couple of reasons:

* Two RCA outputs per RCA input (in addition to the cat5 outputs) means you can run the cables from the HD-DVR to the NVA-904AT, then run one output to the adjacent TV, and run the other output to transmitter #2. Or if the DVR has two sets of outputs, run one set straight to the TV, run #2 to transmitter #1, and use transmitter #1's pair of outputs to feed transmitters 2 and 3.

* You can terminate the cat5 wires directly to the transmitter and receiver. I'm really not fond of giving mother nature one or two extra opportunities to degrade the signal by adding more crimped connections and a pair of RJ-45 jacks to the signal path.

* You CAN use all 8 ports with two cat5 cables to send component, spdif, analog stereo, and either two composite or one s-video signal (s-video would require a cable with mini-din at one end, and a pair of RCA plugs at the other, like you'd use to connect s-video to an ancient Commodore 1702 monitor). But you don't HAVE to. If all you need is component+spdif, or s-video/composite + analog stereo, you can run a single cable.

* By extension, if you only need 4 of the signals, you can use the other four to feed a SECOND TV's balun (running cat5#2 to that TV instead). Or if you want to be really cheap & have spare 50' s-video cables to burn, use a single pair of baluns, and just connect TV#2 to TV#1's balun with a long "regular" set of cables.

For all I know, it might even be possible to ignore the colors entirely, and use the second set of 4 RCA ports to carry component+spdif, just like the first set.

I have no idea how good the picture quality might be, but IMHO they nailed the feature set for these almost *perfectly*. The only thing they could have done better is to have soldered a s-video port onto it as well (in parallel with the two composite RCA plugs). I'm not sure, but it might even be possible to use the active transmitter with their passive Decora-style baluns at the receiving end.

Opinions, anyone? In particular, any speculation about which of these two scenarios would likely have better video quality:

1) 75' RapidRun 5-coax cable from HD-DVR in living room to panel on second floor, then a 1 to 4 component video distribution amp, and roughly 35 feet of cable to two of the TVs, and roughly 75 feet to #3. The second leg would be either a 35' RapidRun cable, or maybe a pair of passive baluns (particularly for the 75' run, since it's to a TV that's not watched as often).

2) component-video distribution amp in living room (3 feet from HD-DVR), feeding a pair of active baluns with shielded cat5 running continuously between the living room and TV. More or less the same total distance, but in this case the signal chain is continuous from the living room all the way to the TV.

Put another way, I'm comparing a relatively high-end cable solution (with the distribution amp in a less than ideal position), to a balun solution that's mid-priced and just about ideal cable-wise.

My main constraint (besides cost) is the fact that I have exactly TWO half-inch EMT conduits running between the first and second floor (my second floor sits on a suspended concrete slab, so drilling between floors is a nontrivial undertaking that I've never successfully accomplished doing, but destroyed about $60 worth of very expensive concrete drill bits trying to do anyway). The only reason I have the conduit is because it was put there by the builder, then never got used by the electrician who wired the house afterward. I *do* technically have a third bundle of cat5 the diameter of my arm running along the living room's perimeter and up the stairs behind the baseboard, but I don't consider them to be video-quality, and I have a hunch that more than a few of the cables were accidentally damaged when I used my airgun to nail about 10 feet of new baseboard before remembering there was a cable bundle behind it. Oops... :)
 
MavRic

Please reply/respond once you get these in as to the quality you can get. I am very interested in your results.

Thanks
 
Just resurrecting a semi-old thread. It looks like I'll need to get at least 1 pair of component baluns for my parents system. We ran precision coaxial cable which works fine for all but one of the TV locations. That location gets some interference bars scrolling through the picture. I assume it is due to the wires getting run to close to some power lines (this was a remodel job). So I am looking for a decent (but inexpensive as possible) baluns. I'd prefer to use just 1 cat5e wire. Otherwise I would probably buy a set of the baluns that are for sale in the Classified section.

So I'd like to hear from people using component baluns to get their opinion on what they are currently using.

Thanks.
 
So I'd like to hear from people using component baluns to get their opinion on what they are currently using.

I tried some cheap passive baluns from Ebay (see item #370255515726) and they did not work well. At best, the interference I was getting from the 120v AC lights in the kitchen was no worse. At worst, the TV would sometimes completely lose lock on the signal. The run was 30-40 feet.

So I now have some active baluns (Audio Authority 9861 and 9868) that I have yet to try.
 
I use the MuxLab 500050 (http://www.muxlab.com/products/ve_vga_component_audio_balun.html) passive component-to-Cat5 baluns with great success. 720p/1081i picture quality is excellent over ~100 feet of Cat5E with no discernible difference to my eye as compared to a 6' direct component cable connection. The MuxLab 500016 S-Video-to-Cat5 baluns work equally as well. Worthington Distribution has a great price on MuxLab products.

Cheers,
-Bill
 
Bumping this to see if anything new has transpired. Miamicanes, did you ever end up buying one of those units? Wondering how it worked out?
 
I have centralized my video distribution and ran hdmi cable from the central location. If you can do it in 50 feet or less then for abou $30.00 on ebay you can buy hdmi cables to make the run. I was skeptical when I bought the first one, but it works perfectly. Since hdmi is all digital it pretty much either works or it doesn't. After success the first time i bought 3 more from the same guy and they all work perfectly. I did buy from another guy on ebay and his wire did not work, so be careful. This is the wire I found to work perfectly.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-50-ft-15m-INSTEN-P...=item5ad7fc4c9a

I have not tried putting two together for longer runs, but would be surprised if the signal didn't start dropping out.

Doing it this way gives you the best possible signal (1080p) without the risk of noise that you get on an analog wire.
 
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