coax cable is it still needed?

[mistercheeks]

 Hi ,im beginning the  wiring my on house and everybody talks about having coax drops at the tv. I'm just missing the advantage of doing this ,i've ran coax runs to my satellites back to a/v room . So i guess im just curious on the advantage and if i should be running coax. Thanks

 

[Del91574]

Yes...because there was an agreement a few years back between the manufacturers of STB's to maintain a cabling standard.

If you look at some of the newer STB's they support both coax or UTP.
 
Even if you don't use coax for it's intended purpose in say 5 years (doubtful) it can be used for other purposes.

 

[Frunple]

Not needed.
You can still run it but you won't use it.
Just run HDMI cables, at least 2, and you'll be set.
I would also run 2 - 4 cat5's to each tv from the a/v room. Used for ethernet and a possible added HD run. You can get 1080p over 2 cats.

 

[Del91574]

How about if the OP want to do get OTA broadcasting without having a pair of rabbit ears at the TV?
 
How about FM radio? Even satellite radio for that matter...?
 
While in an ideal world, a lot can be gotten over the internet, some items simply cannot....or then there's bandwidth issues, which I think are going to become more prevalent as more and more devices are put on a residential network and internet service.....

 

[az1324]

How about if the OP want to do get OTA broadcasting without having a pair of rabbit ears at the TV?
 
How about FM radio? Even satellite radio for that matter...?
 
While in an ideal world, a lot can be gotten over the internet, some items simply cannot....or then there's bandwidth issues, which I think are going to become more prevalent as more and more devices are put on a residential network and internet service.....

 
HDHomerun?  Aereo?  But he did mention satellite specifically.
 
A/V Receiver (which usually has apps now for pandora, spotify, airplay, DLNA, etc)
 
Personally I would be on the lookout for HDBaseT 2.0 if I was in planning phase. 
 
I believe both DISH and DirecTV's hopper/genie remote boxes can use ethernet instead of MoCA?
 
So the answer is cat5e/6 will be the most valuable.  RG6 is not that expensive so pull some if you want. 

 

[tmbrown97]

I'd still run Coax - today it may seem pointless, but who knows what'll come up in the future - and while there may be baluns of different types to go over Cat5, more and more is being crammed onto Coax in different frequency ranges so why limit yourself?
 
It's also the far more traditional way of hooking up STBs.

 

[drvnbysound]

I will 'soon' (relative term) be using my coax as a composite video input from my CCTV DVR.
 
Everything is really already in place, it's just a matter of getting my wife to completely trust recordings on SageTV; we've had a few missed recordings due to IR issues. Once that happens, I'll be removing the STB from our living room when is when I will be able to begin using that coax for the CCTV DVR.

 

[Neurorad]

In 5-10 years your STBs may migrate back to the TV (client box is/will be the size of a deck of cards, hanging on the back), when you don't want to upgrade your HDMI cable$/extender$.

 

[pete_c]

Here I still use multiple runs of coax cable everywhere and catXX. 
 
I have though configured a sort of patch panel for just coaxial cable with connections to antennas (OTA ). 
 
I take the HD OTA stuff today and inject a couple of SD channels to it.  Works fine with LCD TV's I have today.  (with with combo NTSC and ASTC tuners).  Comcast just sent a "note" with their monthly invoice that they are going to encrypt all of the channels now that they provide.  Means you will need a cable card or rent one of their boxes.  I am seeing now a few OTA encrypted OTA stuff here close to Chicago.  Satellite is a hodgepodge. 
 
I don't watch regular TV but did build a MythTV box and it does utilize some 5 + 1 tuners today (one is a satellite tuner) such that I can stream and record "live" TV.  This said I also utilize now XBMC boxes on anything to watch the streaming TV stuff.  But there is nothing to watch personally.  (wife does though watch only mostly recorded events now and no real live TV these days).  I am also playing with (still) playing with my online TV service which now offers recording and storage of recorded stuff on line; kind of a neat concept.
 
Here in my midwest little neighborhood Comcast has a monopoly on their internet access.  Verizon and AT&T are in the area but do not offer internet (very antiquated 10 year old infrastructure in our little neighborhood of 100 homes).  In Florida in an even smaller neighborhood of 50 homes we have the choice of Comcast, Verizon or AT&T.  I switched there from the antiquated Comcast cable lines to DBS some 15 years ago and DSL from Verizon to Verizon FIOS for everything about 5 years ago.  Funny though that Comcast left its antiquated lines in; so bad though that they were selling HD but you couldn't even get it because of the poor signals on the old antiquated cable runs.
 
My preference is fiber to the home (via Verizon FIOS) over AT&T hybrid mix of fiber and category XX or antiquated comcast coaxial lines.  But that is me and my preferences.
 
I have not so good memories of interconnecting floors of networks using coaxial cable and playing with Twinax cables in the 90's. 
 
Actually got so tired of using Twinax that I went to Twinax baluns to CatXX for playing with my almost "personal" AS-400; it was in my office at the time...1995...
 
A quickie overview found:
 

NTSC - This is your analog TV tuner that is built into every VCR and Television in America. Basically its purpose is to bring in ANALOG broadcasts. Will receive Cable or Antenna Broadcasts. It will be in every TV that you buy.

ATSC - This is the Hight Definition Tuner that by this time next year is required to be in every new television 20" and larger. Its purpose is to receive OVER THE AIR (OTA) broadcasts from local channels via an Antenna, not cable. To utilize this you will need to connect an Antenna, whether a roof top or attic mount and depending on your situation even a table top antenna will work to receive the local HD broadcasts. So when you see the icon in the bottom of your screen now that says available in HD/5.1 this is where you would need an ATSC tuner with an Antenna to receive them that way (or through HD Cable, or Satellite in some cases).

QAM - is a High Definition Cable tuner. Used to receive HD Cable broadcasts without a box, just connect your coax directly to the Television. You will need to pay for the programming from your cable provider. However, maybe 2% of the cable companies in the US have this as an option currently (they want you to rent their boxes instead).

There's also Cable Card - which works with the QAM tuner to receive HD Cable without a Box. Basically you pay your cable company for the card (rent monthly like a box), but instead of having a box on top of your TV and wires to mess with, you put it into the back of your Television like a disc (similar to a PC slot on a laptop if you are familiar). This works like a box, and the QAM tuner on your TV does the tuning.

It all comes down to your source. If you're going to do HD Satellite, then it really doesn't matter what connections your TV offers, because it will connect via Component Video or HDMI and will bypass the tuner inside the TV. For local HD Channels most are available in big cities through DirecTV HD and their new equipment, but if you don't want to mess with the upgrades, all you need is an Antenna for all your local broadcasts (through the ATSC tuner) and use standard DirecTV for everything else.

If you're doing Cable, the same thing applies as listed with Satellite, unless you are going to use the Cable Card, then you must have a QAM tuner in your set, and Cable Card Capability.

 
Latest is this antenna for fun (attached pic).  Mesmerized by it as more of an art object to put in the living room; but due to WAF and reception it has to go in the attic....

 

[sic0048]

Yes.  You still need to run coax.  Standard wiring practices for satellite and cable companies is to run coaxial cable to each TV location.  Until this changes, you need to make sure you run the wire.  Currently you put your cable/satellite boxes in a central location, but you cannot predict the future.  Perhaps your needs will change, or you will need to sell your house in the future, etc, etc, and it will be much easier if you already have the standard wiring already in place.

 

[IVB]

Either a pair of RG6 or CAT5e/6 is also useful for sending local audio sources back to a centralized audio source. 4 RG6 can be used for audio from local->centralized, plus centralized->local stereo.
 
IE, what if you put a stereo & speakers at that TV, but you want to listen to synchronized audio throughout the house? With 4 RG6 you can both have a local iPod/etc that gets broadcast, as well as receive line-level audio and play through your stereo speakers.
 
And for those who think they'd never need it, just wait until you finish stages 1->n of your home theater/automation and you want to do the next thing. Having the wire already there makes this a very cheap thing to do. 

 

[IVB]

oh, and run at least 3 CAT5e/6:
1) Connect your TV to your router, either control via an HA system or SmartTV
2) Ditto for a/v receiver 
3) DVR
 
And,
4) Audio out & back (if you didn't put in RG6)

 

[Del91574]

In 5-10 years your STBs may migrate back to the TV (client box is/will be the size of a deck of cards, hanging on the back), when you don't want to upgrade your HDMI cable$/extender$.

In my area, they already have....so much so that they have units that match up to VESA mounting patterns and can be mounted behind the flat screens.
 
I don't think there's many applications that can't be handled by the equivalent of a composite (banana or smurf) cable out there on the market...and in the case of a specific monitor, I'd run a different cable over a pile of CatX  to the location, but that's me and what I typically do.

 

[narih1]

I agree with running the coax.  I have a media closet with a gefen 8x8 hdmi matrix, and I then send out the signals to my tv's with hdbaseT extenders over the cat 5 so I don't really have use for coax.  However, if I ever sell my home and someone is not willing to make either the time committment to maintain such a system or the financial committment to hire a professional, I have the option of returning it to a standard state so as not to cause any red flags.

 

[Remote32]

I have two cat5e and 2 coax in each room.  My main tv room has 5 coax and 4 cat5e.  I built 6 years ago.  I use the coax for sending my apple extenders stereo to my central NuVo as a source.  I have three of these so each person in my house has one.  I have used the cat 5 for the old two wire hdmi.  I now have an HdBaseT using one cat5.  
I would not hard wire HDMI as the standards will change.  I would use cat6, but when I built the standard was not set for cat6.  Coax can be use for ir commands through Xantech devices. 
Also you can use standard cable.  
I would be put at least 2 of each in each room.  It makes ethernet much faster.  Also many audio/video sources are using ethernet connect.  
My only issue is my wife likes to change room orientation, so you may want to consider running a jump from one wall to another so you can jump the connection to a different wall if you like or run a full length if cost isn't an issue.
I made a cable patch panel by drilling out a 1 unit Middle Atlantic mounted on wall with 1 unit shield.  Cost was about $30 plus $1.50 per pair of coax patch connectors and coax to RCA to send some to a NuVo from the Apple expresses used for extension of WiFi and iTunes connection with use Remote app from a Windows Home server with all iTunes (others use a NAS enclosure).
Sorry to be verbose, but I thought I would give you what I have and what I miss (only having one wall to work off of).