1GB Networking cable?

Yeh - I've done loads of networking before when I first started out... but this was a challenge and a half.

Once had to drag STP cable around a casino roof... not fun at all.

Just hope I can get the damn cable running properly :( Scared it might of gotten damaged somewhere along the way... I'm really glad I bought the tester, because it was all running - but only copying at 6Mb/s - and the streaming video was constantly buffering.

I've decided to run a power lead into the roof, and run a switch in each section of the houses roof - saving me running cables all over again.
 
CAT5e will be fine and be able to handle 1Gb/s fine. CAT6 is only need between a Switch with MULTIPLE Gigabit clients and another Switch with MULTIPLE Gigabit clients.
 
Time will tell :) I know the cable from my Media Center to the switch highlights as gigabit - but the one between the two switches doesn't (its the one with the cable problem)- hopefully I can fix it tonight.
 
ponder said:
Why? Please elaborate.
Click to expand...

Because it's the backbone and should have as little interference as possible - it doesn't merely connect 1 pc to another pc, but more like 32 pc's to another 32 pc's
 
SoftDux said:
welcome to the world of networking :) If you think you'll do network installations in future then go and get yourself a "fish tape", but get the metal one, it works better than the plastic (if it's actuall plastic) one and a 1m, 2m & 3m PVC pipe - which would have helped you push the cable through those narrow spaces much easier :) You basically attach the cable to the end of the fish tape (use masking / insulation tape for this), the push it through the pipe from one end, and push the pipe in the small hole. Now push the cable out on the other side and pull it through :)
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+1 for "fish tape". Awesome stuff!
 
Quick question - I bought 15mm x 15mm ducting for going up the walls - how do you attach it, with screws, or glue?
 
I attached mine with a hot-glue gun - much easier to remove without leaving holes... and it's usually straighter than drilling! :p
 
I was hoping someone would say that :) I love my el-cheapo glue-gun... and my drill sucks (r1,000 wasted) - it drills skew no matter what I try...
 
Keeper said:
Because it's the backbone and should have as little interference as possible - it doesn't merely connect 1 pc to another pc, but more like 32 pc's to another 32 pc's
Click to expand...

Interference from what? If there is no interference issues Cat5e will be just fine. Never had an issue with Cat5e to link switches and this was in a buildings with lots of electronic equipment that could possibly cause interference. Ran at full speed and error free.

32 pc's is not the issue, whether you have 1 pc or 32 saturating the interswitch link it's still just data and the switch/cable does not differentiate between it.
 
Ok - this is annoying - re-terminated the ends with RJ45 connectors, and I'm only getting 18MB/s - the tester confirms all 8 pins are working from one end to the other, the switches on each side also confirm they are connected at 1GB - so from my laptop to the media center is 1Gb - cept its damn slow :(
 
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At least I know its not the cable - if I use two patch cables and connect the media center and laptop directly at the switch - I'm getting the same speeds - both are gigabit...

Any ideas on resolving this? :(

BTW - what are reasonable speeds to expect - 1 to 1.
 
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Finally got the video streaming to the bedroom - it rocks! Can watch anything on my media center in the bedroom, DVDs, TV, Divx, etc... so cool!

Problem turned out to me Windows Media Library sharing - I installed TVersity and everything worked instantly - now its time to get a nice 32" LCD for the bedroom (instead of the old CRT) and put all the wires back in the roof.
 
Xrapidx, sounds awsume man.
Just a couple of questions:
Why you using HDMI to ethernet to HDMI for your HD? Why not just put a media player in each room where you need it?
If you using a central "server" for your content, please make sure your hard drives is correctly configured and not on the default IDE mode. This can cause buffering when streaming multiple media from one server.

I am only using a 100MB network at home, but can stream 1080HD and ripped DVD at the same time. More than that and I start getting jitter.
Also all my media is sorted on diffrent physical hard drives. Streaming that off the same drive creates problems.

P.S. Cat5e, the sielded one, is the best to use. CAT6 and CAT7 is propably the worst cable to use and terminate and the connectors cost about 100x that of normal CAT5.
 
Thats only one stream that I want to do HDMI > Ethernet > HDMI - purely because I don't want the added bulk of accessories (media player), the LCD will be mounted close to the roof of the bedroom (at an angle), busy looking at either a 26" (Hisense LED LCD) or 32" standard LCD, it'll receive power and one HDMI cable through a small hole in the roof - its purely a convenience thing, the roof has minimal crawl space, and its quite a distance to get to the media player if there is a problem.

The rest of the house, dining room, kitchen, etc - will be wired over ethernet and library sharing :)

The harddrives are all moving to hardware raid soon, but they're all SATA II, and are distributed quite evenly, Recorded TV on one, DVDs on another and music on another.

BTW - prices I had were:
RJ45 Cat5e Shielded Modular Plug R1.95
RJ45-CAT6 R1.25
RJ45 Cat5e Modular Plug R0.95
 
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Here's an interesting one - My Media Center has four 1GB Ethernet ports - would it be worth while running each one to the switch, or wouldn't there be any benefit?
 
Another question.

In the media center - I have wireless for internet, and wired for Ethernet. Its not possible to get a network cable to the ADSL router purely because its an an awkward space.

How can I share the wireless connection in the media center with the Ethernet connection - so basically - all the LAN devices will get routed to the internet via the wireless card - it obviously has to have a low impact on the media center as possible, so I don't want any major routing software installed.
 
Internet Connection Sharing in windows should do this. Then you have to point all the other devices to the IP of the wireless as it will now act as a gateway/router.
 
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