Home Wiring Help
- Thread starter jmouland
- Start date
As far as thermostat wiring, I think you are safe running a cat5e wire to the thermostat location. A regular thermostat may only need a few pairs of the wire, but you might need more if you change to a communicating thermostat. But it really depends on the manufacturer. I just switched my 30 yr old analog thermostat to a RCS TR-16 communicating thermostat and it was designed to only use the original 4 wires that all thermostats have. So I didn't have to run any more wires in order to hook my new thermostat up to the old HVAC unit.
DrunkenLizard
Active Member
I'm in the process of wiring up all my tv locations with mini prec. coax like sic suggested and using a matrix switcher to distribute the HD video to each room, though there are a few locations I'll probably end up using baluns. One thing you might consider is that they offer this type of cable in a bundled variety (five cables in a jacket) much easier to run that and terminate (there color coded). The only negative I've come across with this is the price of mini coax rca compression connectors, they can get a little pricy, I did find a few different bulk lots of them on ebay that probably saved me around 35%.
But when it comes to running cat5e or cat6, personally I don't think you can run to much, every time I go to add onto my system It seems like I need to run one or two more cat5e lines somewhere new.
But when it comes to running cat5e or cat6, personally I don't think you can run to much, every time I go to add onto my system It seems like I need to run one or two more cat5e lines somewhere new.
I'm pretty sure thermostat wire needs to be 18 gauge like doorbells. You can of course run Cat5 to it too.
Look into SageTV before you waste a bunch of cash.
Sage is great if you have all your media ripped. I have SageTV and a HD-100 HD extender. But if you want to be able to distribute other media (rental DVDs that are not ripped for example), then having a matrix switch and a house that is wired for component video is worth it IMHO.
I don't rip anything I just have DVD changer connected to the server. $150 for 400 disk capacity, no losing them, no backups, no power consumption when not in use.
I do wish I had gotten a unit with RS232 control capability as my units IR interface leaves much to be desired.
Also I just map them as channels in the guide so channel 10001 = changer 1 disk 1, so even favorite channels list plugin works for preventing kids from watching my pron. With these changers I can run up to 9 which is far more DVDs then I will most likely ever own although it is time for me to start looking at changer #2.
I do wish I had gotten a unit with RS232 control capability as my units IR interface leaves much to be desired.
Also I just map them as channels in the guide so channel 10001 = changer 1 disk 1, so even favorite channels list plugin works for preventing kids from watching my pron. With these changers I can run up to 9 which is far more DVDs then I will most likely ever own although it is time for me to start looking at changer #2.
How does sage handle multiple satellite recievers icentrally located? Does it distribute these to any room? does it handle multiple audio sources to multiple rooms like an audio matrix?
It depends on how you control the boxes, once you go past 3 it gets tough with IR assuming you cannot change the IR codes. If you have DirectTV RS232 serial control is available making control much easier.
You can play any source at any location or you can limit it through the interface, parental controls or the favorite channels plugin. You also have streaming media from youtube and google and soon Netflix and Hulu. Your MP3 library is also distributed as are your photos and damn near every video format you may have downloaded, ripped, transcoded or otherwise.
Everything is ethernet based so location is somewhat a non-issue. You can have a server at you primary home and extenders or PC clients at a vacation home.
You can almost look at SageTV as an infinity x infinty matrix however there are limits based on your network and fileserving capabilities.
You can play any source at any location or you can limit it through the interface, parental controls or the favorite channels plugin. You also have streaming media from youtube and google and soon Netflix and Hulu. Your MP3 library is also distributed as are your photos and damn near every video format you may have downloaded, ripped, transcoded or otherwise.
Everything is ethernet based so location is somewhat a non-issue. You can have a server at you primary home and extenders or PC clients at a vacation home.
You can almost look at SageTV as an infinity x infinty matrix however there are limits based on your network and fileserving capabilities.
Most people are going to want to capture the STB and be able to record it in SageTV. To do that with HD boxes, you need either a R5000 modified satellite box or a Hauppauge HD-PVR. Either system will allow you to record the HD signal in HD quality on your computer. Then you stream the video to computers or extenders to watch on TVs. So once the source (whether video or audio in nature) is captured on the computer hard drive, it's all the same to Sage.
But that also requires some sort of playback device for each TV. It doesn't neccessarily mean it has to sit out in the open, but if you have 4 TVs you want to view material on, you would have to have a total of 4 playback devices (either computers or extenders or a combination of the two). That is why I still use the "old fashion" matrix switch to distribute my source material throughout the house. I only have 1 Sage extender currently, but by routing it through the matrix switch, I can still watch that one extender at any of my TVs.
That's one reason why I still like using a matrix switch along with the Sage system. I know there are lots of people that want to do it all within Sage (IVB is dying to go all Sage extenders and be able to control CQC inside of Sage as an example). That is certainly a cheaper route to go, but is a little too limiting IMHO. I cannot distribute my gaming systems, or a local DVD player, or a guest iPod dock, etc throughout my home using only the Sage system.
Yes you cannot use console games as sources with much if any luck, there is a couple seconds delay between whats ~live~ and what can be displayed on an extender. It's not noticeable for TV but it's readily obivous on a game console.
The ipod example is jut because it's an ipod if t's a normal MP3 player you can plug it into the HD200 and play music/video from it in another room or country for that matter. This goes back to ipods being crippled by itunes to manipulate them, most MP3s just have a filesystem anything can navigate just like a USB thumb drive.
The ipod example is jut because it's an ipod if t's a normal MP3 player you can plug it into the HD200 and play music/video from it in another room or country for that matter. This goes back to ipods being crippled by itunes to manipulate them, most MP3s just have a filesystem anything can navigate just like a USB thumb drive.
I had forgotten that they enabled the USB port for some things on the new HD-200. Of course this doesn't help those of us that have the older HD-100
This is the exact thing I had in Mind. I have a Bell Expressvu HD reciever. i was planning on expanding and getting a regular Bell HD reciever as well. Am I able to run both of these through SAGETV and access either in any room?
I am renting my HDPVR is it better for me to return it and just buy to HD Recievers and use SageTV for my PVR? What kind of Video Cards would i need? If I have one sage extender in the AV Closet can this be accesses from multiple rooms simultaneously by using a matrix?
I am renting my HDPVR is it better for me to return it and just buy to HD Recievers and use SageTV for my PVR? What kind of Video Cards would i need? If I have one sage extender in the AV Closet can this be accesses from multiple rooms simultaneously by using a matrix?
To capture the component output from the HD STB, you would need to purchase a Hauppauge HD-PVR (one for each STB you want to record). The HD-PVR connects to the computer via a USB connection and SageTV "sees" the HD-PVR and controls it. It will automatically change the channel on the STB (using one of several IR solutions - one of which is included in the HD-PVR) whenever needed.
That gets the shows recorded and onto a HD in the computer. Then you have to worry about how to play that recording back. The HD-PVR recordings take a fairly new computer to process them if you want to use a computer for playback. Certainly it need to be some sort of dual core machine (but check the HD-PVR spcs for details). I know I could not get anything to play back using my older P4 3.0 GHz machine. But many people end up using the SageTV HD extender for playback. Either the HD-100 or the newer HD-200 HD Theater will work. These are nicer because it is basically a STB solution (ie no computer to tweak the settings on). The only drawback is the extenders run about $200 each.
I beleive the HD-PVRs are running about $200 each right now as well, so a complete solution with extender will easily run $400 or there about. Of course you'll be able to drop the DVR rental, but it will take time to recoup the cost of the new Sage equipment. Of course the added flexibility that the Sage solution offers should be factored in, but strickly from an economic standpoint, it can be expensive to go with Sage.
HOLD UP!!! This is a Canadian not bound by FCC! (fill in your profile!)
The FIRST thing you should play with is capturing via firewire if you can get a box that supports it.
The second thing is try capturing from a friends Shaw Cable box via firewire. It is my understanding that all Shaw cable boxes have firewire wide open for capture and channel changing. If this is true for you you could save a bunch. Either by switching back to cable and just buying a few firewire cables to connect it up ( < $10 ), or by making the majority of your lineup Shaw and just have Expressvu for extra stuffs so you can get by with 1-2 HD PVRs ( $200 ). I love the concept of the R5000HD ($ 400-800 ) but I don't ususally recomend it, high price and if they change hardware on you, you get screwed.
You would want something like the Vip211, which is a single tuner non DVR HD box which supports MPEG4.
You CANNOT use the second tuner in cable/sat DVR boxes so avoid those boxes at ALL costs.
The FIRST thing you should play with is capturing via firewire if you can get a box that supports it.
The second thing is try capturing from a friends Shaw Cable box via firewire. It is my understanding that all Shaw cable boxes have firewire wide open for capture and channel changing. If this is true for you you could save a bunch. Either by switching back to cable and just buying a few firewire cables to connect it up ( < $10 ), or by making the majority of your lineup Shaw and just have Expressvu for extra stuffs so you can get by with 1-2 HD PVRs ( $200 ). I love the concept of the R5000HD ($ 400-800 ) but I don't ususally recomend it, high price and if they change hardware on you, you get screwed.
You would want something like the Vip211, which is a single tuner non DVR HD box which supports MPEG4.
You CANNOT use the second tuner in cable/sat DVR boxes so avoid those boxes at ALL costs.
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