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Wiring up entertainment center. Splitter?

Atty

Atty

Golden Member
My router is about 15 feet away from my entertainment center. At the moment I run a very long and soon to be very well hidden CAT5 from the back of the router (Linksys E3000) to the Xbox 360 in the center. I want to wire up the rest of the devices in it (AppleTV and maybe some other devices at a later date).

Would the best idea be to purchase a splitter and run the long ethernet to that splitter then have smaller cables to each device?

If so, would I lose any signal strength/speed? What to look for in a splitter?

Thanks.
 
Unless you're not conveying what you want to do well, can't be done.

You need a switch local to your devices, run individual cables to each or use wireless on the devices you can and only wire those that can't.
 
Run a cable from the router to a switch then all the devices wired to the switch.

I'd also get a cat6 cable. Check out monoprice for the cheapest prices.
 
So router -> long cable to entertainment center -> Splitter in entertainment center -> cables to devices.

Won't work?

E: Strangebrew, that is what I meant. Sorry, I've been painting all day, might still be out of it. D:

What do I need to look for or worry about when using the splitter?
 
Atty said:
So router -> long cable to entertainment center -> Splitter in entertainment center -> cables to devices.

Won't work?

E: Strangebrew, that is what I meant. Sorry, I've been painting all day, might still be out of it. D:

What do I need to look for or worry about when using the splitter?
Click to expand...

Not a splitter, a switch: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833166058

Something like that above. Not sure how many devices you need but I have an 8port switch from monoprice that's 10/100/1000Mbps

But yes, that's how I'd wire it up. You don't need to really worry about anything. Just plug it in and go.
 
You need to buy a switch...there is no "splitter" to do this. Most likely, any SOHO gigabit switch will suit your needs.

How long is your run from the Router to your entertainment center where you will be putting the switch? If it exceeds 10 meters, then you *should* run solid-core CAT6 between the router and the switch (inside the walls) and punch it down it keystone jacks on each end, and then use patch cables to connect the keystone jacks to the router on one end and switch on the other. Will a longer than 10 meter patch cable work? Maybe...but you should be aware that it is out of spec, and could cause network problems.
 
seepy83 said:
You need to buy a switch...there is no "splitter" to do this. Most likely, any SOHO gigabit switch will suit your needs.

How long is your run from the Router to your entertainment center where you will be putting the switch? If it exceeds 10 meters, then you *should* run solid-core CAT6 between the router and the switch (inside the walls) and punch it down it keystone jacks on each end, and then use patch cables to connect the keystone jacks to the router on one end and switch on the other. Will a longer than 10 meter patch cable work? Maybe...but you should be aware that it is out of spec, and could cause network problems.
Click to expand...

OP stated only 15' but yea I'd still go with cat6 for any hd contect etc.
 
thestrangebrew1 said:
OP stated only 15' but yea I'd still go with cat6 for any hd contect etc.
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Ya, but he also said he's going to run a "very long and soon to be very well hidden" cable. I was just thinking that it's a 15-foot direct shot, and he might be using something much longer in order to keep it hidden. I don't consider 15-feet to be a "very long" cable.
 
Railgun said:
Unless you're not conveying what you want to do well, can't be done.

You need a switch local to your devices, run individual cables to each or use wireless on the devices you can and only wire those that can't.
Click to expand...


Nailed it.

Just curious, why not WiFi to your devices?
 
CAT5e will do 1gb hd streaming with no problem. I don't see the big push right now for cat6, especially if in his place it's easily replacable. Use your existing cable if it's atleast cat5e and then just get a switch. Use cat6 if your existing cable is only cat5 as it more than likely will not do gigabit.
 
sactwnguy said:
1000base-t runs fine over normal cat 5. People really dont get much out of higher rated cables, I just dont see 10g getting pushed down to user any time soon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable
Click to expand...

Yeah, I really don't understand this drive towards CAT6 - you won't need it. Plus if you want to properly install CAT6 it's much more specific if you want it to spec to hit those 10G speeds. CAT5E is very forgiving and will even do 10G up to 55m - improperly installed CAT6 will give you errors involving NEXT, etc. and although you won't notice it, you also won't get any benefit over CAT5E in that case.

On the pragmatic side of things, 10G switches and are still ridiculously expensive and most are moving towards optical instead of copper (except in certain SAN environments where Brocade and others use FCoE over copper). Even if prices do come down, it will take a loooong time to make it worthwhile to the average user.

To each their own I guess. Just don't expect any benefit from it in 99% of situations.
 
brshoemak said:
Yeah, I really don't understand this drive towards CAT6 - you won't need it. Plus if you want to properly install CAT6 it's much more specific if you want it to spec to hit those 10G speeds. CAT5E is very forgiving and will even do 10G up to 55m - improperly installed CAT6 will give you errors involving NEXT, etc. and although you won't notice it, you also won't get any benefit over CAT5E in that case.

On the pragmatic side of things, 10G switches and are still ridiculously expensive and most are moving towards optical instead of copper (except in certain SAN environments where Brocade and others use FCoE over copper). Even if prices do come down, it will take a loooong time to make it worthwhile to the average user.

To each their own I guess. Just don't expect any benefit from it in 99% of situations.
Click to expand...

Because when installing in the wall wiring - you generally want to install the best wiring that's available at that time. Why? Because ideally you don't want to have to rip out the wiring and upgrade later on, which is a major time and cost issue. I have all cat6 wiring in my walls right now, because the cost was extremely negligible compared to cat5e and this way later on I don't have to rip out my wiring when 5-10 years from now 10gb is readily available and I do need the speeds - I'm already set. As far as termination is concerned, there's really not much different between cat5e and cat6 if you do punch down terminations to a jack. I don't see optical for consumer home use really taking off unless there's a need for speed that copper cannot deliver and since cat6 can do 10gb/s.... another 20+ years maybe?
 
kevnich2 said:
As far as termination is concerned, there's really not much different between cat5e and cat6 if you do punch down terminations to a jack.
Click to expand...

No, there is a huge difference. We had to certify part of a cable plant for 10gb over copper and I assure you it's not a punch-and-run affair. The tolerances are pretty tight for every of aspect of the termination for it to run 10gb w/o a fair amount of packet re-transmission. However, in the future you could always re-terminate it properly and it would do 10gb.

Again, to each their own.
 
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