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Cat 5 vs. Cat 5e

U

ualdriver

Member
Hello-

I ran Cat 5 wire from my home network's Linksys router (54Mbs) to my new Tivo HD. I just noticed, of course after routing the cable, that the wire is Cat 5 wire (from 1997) and not Cat 5e.

For home network usage (basically transferring video files between my computer and the Tivo through the router), will using Cat 5 vs. Cat 5e really matter as far as data transmission speed? I don't want the wire to be the limiting factor with the speed of file transfers between the Tivo and the computer.

Thanks!
 
Cat 5 will be limited to 100mbps. It is able to handle up to 100mhz and can do 155mbps (ATM) over short lengths. All of my Tivos running standard def are on a 100mbps network and the show never "catches" the download.
 
jlazzaro said:
cabling categories don't "limit" anything...like most things ymmv. homemade patch cables with self terminated ends will probably be more of an issue than cabling itself.
Click to expand...

Would you prefer I say: "The cable is only recommended to 100Mbps using ethernet"?

I can run 3 kilometers of Multimode fiber @ 10gig and it "might work." However I would rather follow the standard and use single mode.

Cat 5 is rated for 100mhz at the 328 foot limit. Trying to run it at gigabit speeds *might* work, however since some of the pairs (such as brown) have a different twist rate, 4 pair gig is highly unlikely to work over any significant distance.

However answer the OP's question = he would be fine at 100mbps in most cases. Only HD might have issues.
 
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i think you will be fine unless you stream HD

cat5e isnt expensive IMO
 
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The OP doesn't state which Linksys router he has and whether or not it supports GbE. I presume it's the WRT54G and if it is, it won't matter Cat5 or Cat5e since the WRT54G is 10/100 capable only and Cat 5 is suitable for this.

I've seen some HD content at 8 to 9 MB per second which would put the 100Mbps network near the limit.

So even with the Cat5 in place, the limitation may be the router not the cables in this situation.
 
100Mbps is fine for HD content. With my HDHomeRun tuner I can stream two shows at the same time, with dolby 5.1 audio, and it hits around 35-40Mbps. I can then stream a third, recorded, show over the same wire without issue.

Blu-ray's max video bit rate is 40Mbps, still way within 100Mbps.
 
When it comes to TiVO your transfer speed rarely exceeds 100 mbits (thats 10 megabytes a second) anyways. It encodes on the fly and with an HD version it runs just about realtime to transfer. Series 2 SD version transfers at almost exactly 13 mbits, or DVD speed.

Since the TiVO shows and transfers HD compressed, your wire is just fine at 100mbits. You don't need gbit to make it work.

from tivocommunity.com:

Note TiVo significantly improved MRV performance on the TivoHD with the 11.0 software.

* Series3->Series3

MRV throughput (i.e. transfer speed) between two TiVo Series3 DVRs is up to s ~45Mbps (20Gb/hour) under ideal conditions. Under more typical viewing conditions, throughput is 25-35Mbps.

At 25-35Mbps on a 100Mbps network, there are no viewing delays and all high-definition recordings transfer fast enough to skip commercials.

* TiVoHD->TiVoHD

The TiVoHD can currently transfer recordings about 2/3 as fast as the Series3. MRV throughput (i.e. transfer speed) between two TivoHDs is ~31Mbps under ideal conditions. Under more typical viewing conditions, throughput is 22-24Mbps.

At 22-24Mbps on a 100Mbps network, there are no viewing delays and most high-definition recordings transfer fast enough to skip commercials.

* Series3->TiVoHD

Throughput from a Series3 to a TiVoHD falls somewhere between Series3->Series3 and TiVoHD->TiVoHD transfers. Users have reported 35Mbps under ideal conditions and 25-30Mbps under typical viewing conditions.

At 25-30Mbps on a 100Mbps network, there are no viewing delays and most high-definition recordings transfer fast enough to skip commercials.
Click to expand...

Only if the wire run was near 100 feet long will the gbit performance start to suffer.

Plus the Tivo's network port is 100mbits.
Oh yeah and I just noticed you are using a linksys - so the 4 port switch on that thing is 10/100. So you have nothing at all to worry about.
 
bobdole369 said:
When it comes to TiVO your transfer speed rarely exceeds 100 mbits (thats 10 megabytes a second) anyways. It encodes on the fly and with an HD version it runs just about realtime to transfer. Series 2 SD version transfers at almost exactly 13 mbits, or DVD speed.

Since the TiVO shows and transfers HD compressed, your wire is just fine at 100mbits. You don't need gbit to make it work.

from tivocommunity.com:



Only if the wire run was near 100 feet long will the gbit performance start to suffer.

Plus the Tivo's network port is 100mbits.
Oh yeah and I just noticed you are using a linksys - so the 4 port switch on that thing is 10/100. So you have nothing at all to worry about.
Click to expand...

All through BobDole........Thanks a lot for the information. That saves me from having to rerun 5e!
 
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