Tricky Q: Audio/Video over Cat 5?

[Magicthyse]

Is there a multiplexer that allows 5.1 audio and video to be squeezed into a single Cat5/Cat5e cable? Or maybe at the worst, 5.1 audio into one cable and video over the other? I'm rewiring my house in the next 4 months and am looking into options at the moment...

 

[StattlichPassat]

I dunno about 5.1 and video, but you CAN make great speaker wire from Cat5.

 

[chiwawa626]

How great is "great speaker wire"?

 

[ScottMac]

UTP sucks as speaker wire. It's only 26ga .. roughly the size of three or four strands of a standard 12ga speaker cable.

There are adapters for A/V over utp. The typical unit has baseband video (composite) and two audio channels. The cost each is ~US$39.00 up to ~US$75.00, depending on the manufacturer.

Avaya/Lucent's model number is "380A." They also have a unit that is for RGB (should work OK for YPrPb component).

So, for about ~US$100.00 per end, you can use the 380A to pass your audio, and the RGB adapter to transmit the video.

I use the 380A to distribute A/V from a central satellite receiver. It works pretty well.

Good Luck

Scott

 

[geekender]

Does converting it to digital......streaming....then reconverting count? You have enough bandwidth with Cat5e.

 

[rbhawcroft]

there are no good solutions currently. my start-up company is in the process of designing a home optical network with the first product being a pc to tv/hifi setup. however I have run into problems with the component availability and it will be a while before a product is out. The other solution is an xbox with a linux hack when it comes available and a wifi or ethernet link to your main rig, or a old pc by your tv and a mpeg over ethernet solution or wifi, or just an AV amplifier and two wires, but this is a bad solution. If you want more info on my company's forthcoming product then post here or PM me please.

 

[43st]

Try Kramer and Magenta Research. We're currently using both products to create a RJ45 patchable solutions for boardrooms and such. If you want Magenta Research should be able to actually make the parts for you (maybe? They offered that service for my company)