May I pick the brains of some of you young fellas. I intend to cable a new domestic property for re-sale. I am not an avid TV fan, but I would like a little advice on cabling for TV systems with as much future proof built in as possible.The dwelling is not exactly at the luxury end of the market but I would like to provide as much flexibility as possible. Your ideas would be much appreciated.

http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles.html

Some of the articles on that page may be of use to you.

I recommend Mutiple Outlet Plates and Domestic Multi-Channel TV Distribution Systems.

Might be a little bit over the top, mind you.

Hi Lyle,
What sort of building construction are we talking about here? (Timber framed or Brick)
At the very least, I'd install a good quality RG-6 coaxial cable and a Cat-5e or 6 cable to every point in the house where TV is most likely to be viewed.
Running these from a central point, say the attic, gives you a place to install any splitters, amplifiers and other equipment necessary to distribute the required signals.
Also, what type of services (eg.Terrestrial TV, Satellite, security cameras) will you be sending around the house?.
A big selling point here at least is pre-installed audio cabling for Home theatre.
But in any case, Lyle, I'd provide a few draw-wires in the walls, for future expansion later on, near the Main TV in the Lounge.
I've installed a lot of Home theatre wiring in existing houses over here and what I wouldn't have done for a draw-wire, considering that the top plate that you have to get to, is right over in the corner of the roof space.
Hope that this is of help.

Cheers Ryan! What an interesting site!

Check out the collapsed Peterborough mast pics...how do you sort a mess like that out??

I'd certainly go with the centralized distribution approach. Places wired point-to-point end up with such a mess of splitters, diplexers, and connectors that the resulting mess can be a nightmare to sort out.

Re the Peterborough transmitter, service is now up and running from a temporary mast apparently.

Also Lyle,
Never fail to use good quality connectors at all connections, namely F-connectors of the crimp type, Belling-Lee connectors just don't cut it these days, although there will need to be fly-leads made up for TV's and VCR's.
I'd like to pick the brains of Paul and others as to which is the better crimp (Hex or Radial), but Doug Wells was saying that he always uses the Radial type.
Personally, I use the PPC Hex Crimp type, mainly because they are loaded with water-proofing sealant and they have the rubber sealing ring in the front of the connector.
Oh, and it is always important to use the correct tool to crimp these connectors, I've seen guys try and use a pair of Klein pliers to crimp them.
Ahh Nope!.
Just a small question guys, have your VCR's and the like got F-connector inputs on them?.

{Edited to add last question}

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 12-02-2004).]

If you sell the place to someone like my wife you would have to put a jack in every place it is conceivable that a TV could possibly be in. Because at one time or another the furniture in every room will be rotated so that they all get a turn in every corner and along every wall.

At least she does the moving by herself! Once I came home and there she was, eight and a half months pregnant, moving the couch.

I have rarely known a woman who will be satisfied with keeping the furniture in one setup for too long.

I've used both types of crimp, and found good and bad both, but a good quality crimp tool of the correct type and size is the key.

Trumpy,
As far as regular domestic equipment is concerned, F-type is found mostly just on satellite receivers for the LNB input.

RF connectors on VCRs are the old Belling-Lee standard, in use for decades. For those outside the areas of British influence, they look like this:





I'm digressing a little, but many of the cheap VCRs sold in Britain now fail miserably when it comes to audio and baseband video inputs and output, because they have only SCART connectors.

Some units still have RCA jacks for video/audio inputs on the front panel, but often no outputs. This compares very unfavorably with older VCRs when RCA audio and BNC video in/out were the norm.

Personally, I hate the SCART (Peritel) system with a passion. The plugs never stay put properly, and for a system which supposedly makes interconnections easier for the average user, the ridiculous variation in configurations along with auto AV-input selection makes them a nightmare.

That sounds just like a nearby friend of mine. Every few months I get called in to help reconnect everything.




[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 12-02-2004).]

paul,
what function does the scart have as I see the back of my own system which has freeview,vcr, dvd etc are all interconnected by scarts but also with co-axials? Are you saying that the scarts can be dispensed with?

If you use just the RF coax interconnects (with presets on the TV tuned to VCR, DVD etc.) then you lose quality due to the video signal being modulated onto an RF carrier and then demodulated again in the TV. The little modulators included in VCRs etc. are nowhere near broadcast quality, for obvious reasons, and in many cases do not provide stereo audio on the carrier either, so for best quality you want direct audio/video connections.

The SCART leads provide direct baseband video and audio links between the various pieces of equipment, which gives better quality than relying on the RF connections. SCART was designed to allow composite video, separate chroma and luminance signals, or separate RGB video signals.

The problem is that not all SCART sockets on every piece of equipment support every configuration. You can also find two SCART sockets on the same piece of equipment which offer different options on each: Some provide only signal inputs, some provide only outputs, some provide both, for example.

There is also a switching line, intended to have a TV automatically switch over to the SCART input when a signal is present (e.g. selects VCR input every time the VCR is fired up).

This range of possibilities on SCART connections makes the system far from the simple "Just plug the two together" idea which is promoted to the non-technical user. With "old fashioned" separate input/output jacks, it's much easier to figure out what's going on.

Here are a couple of links to the SCART connection arrangement:

The Peritel SCART Connector

SCART Connectors

We went for total over kill and drove the contractors mad. Decided to future proof the entire house.

Wired 2 of the living rooms for sorround sound using flush plates with phono sockets.

RJ 11 phone sockets, UHF/VHF BL and F-Connectors for satellite / cable. in all of the rooms where there's likely to be a TV.

Couple of scart wall plates went in too ...


We also installed plenty of lighting sockets, for lamps etc.

No point in skimping when you're ripping holes in the walls and have a professional plasterer on hand!

We also made sure that good quality round duct was used for the communications stuff.. and that it comes up into the attic.. That way, we can easily push any other cables we need back down years later without having to damage plaster work.


[This message has been edited by djk (edited 12-17-2004).]

What, no ethernet?

Did anyone happen to read this story ine the site that Ryan posted above?.
It's a shocker!.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 02-09-2005).]

Well, if it's true, he was an idiot.

I feel sorry for the poor cat.

Nice one ! !
Any story that starts with "I got home from the pub and decided to do a little DIY", and involves a can of BUILDING FOAM , has got to be funny.