More cat5e runs, or a switch?

[wkearney99]

There's a lot to be said for having the option to segregate traffic on separate wires.  Being able to isolate the freight train of bulk traffic for media copying and streaming is a good idea.  So separating your control systems from the media systems is probably worth considering.  It's not like a couple of IP-serial devices is going to overwhelm a 100mb connection's ability to respond quickly.  But stuffing that along with media traffic and you do run the potential of latency problems.  Which can be a subtle hassle to find.  Separating them out ahead of time heads that off at the central switch.
 
Which is where you do want to spend your money.  It's far better to have a gigE capable switch even with only 10/100 devices.  It's the speed of the fabric within the switch that becomes an issue as traffic demands increase.  
 
Likewise bear in mind that cascading switches introduces potential for latency problems.  It's not a big deal if the stuff out on cascaded switches it either talking to other stuff on the same switch, or just back to centrally-connected resources.  But if you've got a lot of traffic going to/fro across the whole tree then you can start to run into latency problems.  Again, it's a subtle kind of problem to debug and one potentially avoidable by just not cascading more than absolutely necessary.  
 
Don't be penny wise/pound foolish doing things like hanging a four port off another 4 port (leaving only 5 usable!) when 8 port units can be had for a LOT LESS THAN YOUR TIME TO DEBUG PROBLEMS and getting 7 usable ports.  

 

[pete_c]

Here I have been happy with the managed TP-Link 24 port model number:
 
TP-Link TL-SG1024DE
 
That said they do have an 8/5 port Gb switches on sale today for $17 / $15.  I do have a couple of these cascaded off of the above mentioned switch.
 
I personally like the tiny footprint of the TL-SG1024DE and its really quiet and best of all was the price at some $170 or lower; don't recall.  This is the first Gb managed switch that I have utilized upgrading now twice the 24 port Gb unmanaged switches.
 
You are not going to find a managed Gb switch at that price today unless you buy refurbished or used.
 
I see a new model; not sure if its been released yet.  It is model number TL-SG2424P that is a 24-Port Gb managed Smart PoE switch with 4 combo SFP slots.

 

[EyeofSauron]

If you're going to spend some coin on a decent managed switch, you might consider making it a PoE/gigabit switch.
 
Your non-PoE devices will benefit from gigE speed if they don't require power from the switch, and you can plug in phones, wireless APs, Cameras, PoE-powered switches, etc.  You can also power that central switch from a UPS, and keep your entire network up-and-running if the power goes out. 
 
A good PoE/GigE switch will make your network much more versatile. 

 

[PeteCress]

... only have 1 device (SageTV) that needs the BluRay streaming, the others are a Samsung BluRay player (streams NF/Hulu/Amazon), receiver, GC100, none of which need high bandwidth. I could have SageTV go direct, use a switch with the other current one, and re-use the 2 newly freed up runs for the serial devices.

 
I have 2 SageTV HD200 media extenders being fed by switches.  Three if you count the one hooked up to my SlingBox that I seldom use.
 
No problems here, and the switches are plain old NetGear gigabit GS108 switches feeding cat5E that is has been run/terminated with no particular skill.
 
And I *think* I had no problems when I was running a NetGear 10/100 switches.... Wouldn't stake my life on it, but I watch almost everything through my Sage boxes and I think problems would have stood out for me.
 
Don't know from BluRay, but I record/watch a good bit of HD TV and aren't they about the same bandwidth-wise?

 

[SkyBolt]

I use a http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?gclid=CLHYt8rMtbwCFS7xOgodQFgASw&Item=9B-33-127-491&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleBiz&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleBiz-_-pla-_-Switches-_-9B-33-127-491&ef_id=UulsqgAABPCk4TF7:20140205181840:s] D-Link[/url] for my main switch off of my router, then smaller switches at the end of a long Cat6 run. Works real well for 7MC (and Sage) with 3 primes and five 360's. Very little "Network Issues" if any.