Wired house - why?

[Playwme]

For smart TV's I'd run wire for its intenet connection. Most of the ones I've seen need a good strong signal for streaming via wifi and even then it can be iffy. We do most of ours through an AppleTV instead. Not only do we get all the online content but all. TV's have full sharing of all media on our computers as well.
Whole house Audio, the Sonos gear is the sh!7. Of all the wireless devices in my house it's the most reliable. I've never had it hiccup while streaming. It's not cheap, but the versatility is unmatched. I really don't see any need for wired house audio.

 

[Cobra5150]

I use wires because the people who want to break in to wireless routers are smarter than me and have more free time to work on it..

I don't need someone to be sending a goat **** pic to the white house on my behalf, thank you

I did that once as a joke. The reply asked for more pics.

 

[yeldogt]

For smart TV's I'd run wire for its intenet connection. Most of the ones I've seen need a good strong signal for streaming via wifi and even then it can be iffy. We do most of ours through an AppleTV instead. Not only do we get all the online content but all. TV's have full sharing of all media on our computers as well.
Whole house Audio, the Sonos gear is the sh!7. Of all the wireless devices in my house it's the most reliable. I've never had it hiccup while streaming. It's not cheap, but the versatility is unmatched. I really don't see any need for wired house audio.

Thanks -- we went to a neighbors house for dinner and they had Sonos all over the house including the TV surround ... It was great.

 

[Ripcurl]

Thanks --- so really TV's should have a cable line and a cat line.

So what you are saying is I can actually use one of those CAT lines that I installed all over the old house .. I should get a smart TV to use one before I sell the place.

Don't forget the power

 

[Norcal]

If you want to plan for the future & don't know or want to run cable, there is PVC, P&C duct that would be a inexpensive way have a chase if or when needed, P&C duct would be found at a electrical supply house, not a big box store.

 

[CNGsaves]

I'd run at least 2 runs of CAT5e to main location of TV equipment. One ethernet run would provide direct internet feed to "Smart" TV and the other one would be for SlingBox. Any TV channels that you are paying for can be watched anywhere with a SlingBox. I scored on a NIB SlingBox 350 on CL for $45 and works great.

Also would run a CAT5e to any central distribution point for old style landlines (ie CAT3 or 4 wire . . .even 2 wire) as this makes it real easy to jump between providers of phone service whether it be U-Verse, Verizon, Cable, or even the cheapest of any Magic Jack (approx $30 per YEAR).

 

[Ripcurl]

If one were expecting to have a smart TV and a media streaming device, ie slingbox, AppleTV, Roku, PS3 or all of those and only had one cat5 outlet, then you can just install a switch/splitter that will connect all of those devices. Having just one outlet will not necessarily limit you.

 

[stonesfan68]

Like everyone has said it comes down to preference/tech savvy the individual is.
If you plan on streaming media from programs like netflix, huluu, plex, itunes through devices like a PS3, roku, iTV, stereo receiver, or a remote computer/server then you want to be wired. If any those listed names dont make sense you, then dont worry about the wired aspect unless you are worried about resale.

This. Wired outperforms wireless for most streaming video applications, unless you plan on installing commercial grade wi-if equipment.


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[risc]

Wireless for laptops, tablets and phones but wired for server, desktop and media streaming devices. I still grab a cable and plug in when I need to copy a bunch of stuff to my laptop. Even with 802.11ac I get about 200mbps where I get >800mbps on the wire.

 

[discochris]

My first post here. Going to post some garage related stuff as I will be embarking on a medium sized remodel project this spring on the garage, but thought I'd chime in.

Our house is an odd multilevel layout from 1978, and getting consistent wi-fi has been a challenge because of the floor plan. My office is in the basement, at the opposite end of the house from the family room where we spend the most time. I finally ended up running ethernet cable up into the family room so the wireless router could be located there, and another line through the basement to my office to an old router I had. So the Roku in the family room and the PS3 in the media room in the basement are now hardwired, as is the computer in the office where I have all our movies and music (and where I run Plex). I had to do a short run of conduit outside the walls in one spot, but for the most part, it solved all our issues. For streaming media, hardwired is the way to go - we always had buffering issues until I ran the CAT cable, and now no issues at all. We actually even went from broadband cable to DSL to save some money, and we've had no performance issues whatsoever.

 

[yeldogt]

This is very helpful.

The house will have a few TV's -- so I want them to work correctly.

This is a special project for me .. the house will have plaster walls and sizable amount of wood work. We are not installing anything on the walls -- only on the large baseboards. So I'm limiting the extra wires and hiding the controls as best I can.

Hiding the airports is easy and I'm doing one of the pop up Powerpoint/ Ethernet outlets where I plan on working a bit.

It is hard to get information on what is really needed -- In my city house I have fiber optic cable that I was told "had" to be installed .... never used.


Roku -- does that not work like netflix? -- it uses a box or it's in the TV ..correct. It also connects via CAT to a LAN

 

[discochris]

A Roku is a box that plugs into the TV, usually by HDMI. We use ours to stream Amazon, Netflix, Plex, and YouTube, but there are many options for channels. We use it a lot. If not for live sports, we'd probably cut the cable (DirecTV for us) entirely.

 

[badasmopar]

IMO the reason why wireless has become so popular is the simplicity of it. Most people don't want to mess with installing a structured media cabinet, router, switches, patch panels, run a wire to every location, and the knowledge to terminate every run correctly. I myself have wired every location in the house (including garage) with 2 runs of cat5e, and 1 run of RG6. Router and switches are all gigabit, so as to have plenty of bandwidth available. I also have wireless for all the smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc.

 

[nolimits76]

Personally I don't get all the hoopla with a "smart TV". I have one and yes, I can use apps on the TV, but honestly if you have a modern Bluray player, Xbox One, PS4, etc. then chances are you also have all the same (and probably more) apps on those devices as well. One advantage (or disadvantage depending how you view it) is that when hooked up, they can auto download updates. I'm kind of picky and once I get my TV settings adjusted, I don't want auto updates.

All my devices (bluray, Xbox one, cable/dish box, etc) hook to my HDTV with HDMI cables. I then run an optical cable back to my audio receiver for dolby sound. Some prefer to run all their devices to their audio receiver first, and then simply run an HDMI out to their TV for the picture.

At our new place, the previous owner had the builder run speaker wires and I have to say I freaking love it! Before I fought with running/hiding speaker wires and sometimes had to sacrifice on speaker placement. I haven't tried the wireless speakers, but last I checked options were limited and prices were $$$. IMO, it's a no brainer to install speaker wires during construction of a new home when nothing is in your way. In my case, it looked the wall puked up a whole bunch of speaker wires and it was messy. I went in and made a speaker connection plate on the wall w/ labels, etc. Then I made some custom wires to run from the wall plate to my audio receiver which makes it easy to connect/disconnect them, plus they look very good as I used some "braided hose" type material. For the wires out of my ceiling, I simply added plugs and the braided wire covers to clean up the look a bit. All this would have cost me hundreds of dollars had I bought it pre-made, but instead I bought all the pieces from Monoprice and eBay for less than a hundred bucks.

Those issues being addressed, let's talk about coaxial cables. Knowing how you plan to set things up will help you decide how many lines is needed. For years I have used Cox for my TV and cable internet services. And I like to have my cable modem & router near my TV so I can run hard wires to all my devices (smart TV, bluray, Xbox One, etc). When using Cox as your only provider, it's easy. Only one coaxial cable is required. Then a splitter takes a line to your cable modem and the other goes to your cable box. Once the cable modem is fed, you then use an ethernet cable to feed your router. Most routers have 4 wired ports on them and newer units also have wifi built in. If you need more than 4 wired ports, you can run an ethernet cable from one of the wired ports of your router to the input of a network switch. Switches are more or less splitters for ethernet connections. Running a setup on wires keeps all your video streaming fast and without complication.

At my new house, I have a vaulted ceiling in my living room and only 1 coaxial line behind the TV. When we moved in I decided to use DirecTV for television and Cox for cable internet. To do this, I needed 2 coaxial cables, one for each provider. The problem came in that I had fire blocking all throughout the wall I needed to run a new wire down. Due to the complexity level and expense involved I opted for an alternate solution.

I moved my cable internet to my home office (about 30-40' from living room). I setup a new Asus router as the main wifi router. Then I bought an Apple Airport and placed by the TV and other A/V equipment. The Airport connected wirelessly to the Asus. From the Airport I ran an ethernet cable to a Netgear switch, and then ran hardwires from the Netgear switch to my various devices. Essentially all my stuff was wireless in this configuration and it worked pretty well honestly.

Just recently we switched back to Cox for all our services, and I moved the modem & router back by the TV and have everything hard wired again. I personally prefer this method, and I was cleaning up/removing some of the things I didn't need it became obvious there were lots of areas where things COULD have went wrong. Thankfully they never did for me. Another factor is I occasionally game and getting the fastest zero latency connection relates to zero lag and faster/more accurate game play on shooter games like Call of Duty.

So a lot of what is "right" will depend on your own preferences and how you plan to set things up. I agree that wireless technology is getting better and faster; however, a wired connection is still my preferred type when possible. For general computing, I've been on wireless for several years now. We only have laptops in the house and I can't imagine having a desktop again. Of course our tablets & phones are wireless as well. Some people run media servers at home that would warrant a hard wired line though. I'm not one of those people thus far.

We've been on cell phones for so long, I put almost zero value in land line phones. However, many consider that very important. I wouldn't go crazy on that end. Maybe wire 2-3 locations and then use a base and wireless stations to cover the other areas.

 

[nolimits76]

I forgot to mention when running these initial runs, I would use something like a 2" PVC conduit for the wires (vs. stapling them to the studs like typically done during construction). This will provide you an easy way to drop new lines in the future, plus if you replace old lines w/ new lines (technology changes/updates) you can use the old wire as a "pull wire" and as you pull that one out you will be feeding in your new line at the same time.

 

[Todd.Brock]

I agree that the smart TV's are slow (. Mine at least ) on wifi. If I was building a house, I would put one coax and one cat 6 or two for the TV. I envision a closet where the modem would love and then a few wired locations and a few wired access points in the ceiling on each floor of the house / gArage, etc.

 

[Ripcurl]

Roku is like AppleTV, small box that streams media. It comes down to program preference, like the Plex app. It is available on Roku but not the AppleTV. But our Samsung TV was able to download the Plex app into the TV, thus not requiring any other box. The TV app works fine and have been using it for 3 months. It actually is a much nicer interface on the TV than the roku itself. I laughed pretty hard when I first opened the Plex app on the roku3, man what a joke, but it works too.

Just to give you an idea, here is my set up, the TV is displaying the plex app, which is in the tv, which then plays on the ceiling speakers.

Behind the TV is power and a conduit to the basement. My receiver, cable box, appletv and everything else is in the basement about 30' away. I use a repeater to control all the devices in the basement. The one GIANT draw back is the inability to use a harmony remote with repeaters... It is not something that is widely discussed online and I fell off my chair when this didnt work when I set it all up. So, we live with 4 remotes by the couch, plus the fire place and fan, so technically 6.

 

[Ripcurl]

I also agree with nolimits. No house phone since I moved out of my parents place. The security for our house is run over the internet so no need. Our cell phones get all the calls if anything happens.

 

[mobiledynamics]

I have not read all the responses to this thread, but it boils down to if you have golden-ears or golden-network senses.

Wired will always be better than wireless, IMO. Most noticable from a end user standpoint with streaming video. And or if you run a HTPC, and you are streaming a HIGH RES file back to your TV.

On the internet side, for a average user, wireless is sufficient. For someone who transfers large files , wired is noticable.

Lastly, Sonos is great and all. I have it in our house. But I use it more for the remote control capabilites....and I have a Sonos Wireless speaker in the garage and garden shed. However, for real *audiophoile* heads, we still prefer hard wired speakers.

There is no right or wrong. It's just a matter of what ~quality~ you seek
Wired, at the end of the day, will offer considerable more headroom than wireless

 

[404]

I did that once as a joke. The reply asked for more pics.

Did the goats have big udders? Or were they more ballsy.

 

[wssix99]

Tell my why I need wires.

Reliability. Wireless goes down from time to time and if you have your gear on wires, you'll have fewer "tech support" calls from spouses, etc. Hard wires are fire and forget.

If you do structured wiring and send everything to a central point, you can re-purpose the wires for other uses in the future. For example, if you run 2 CAT6 wires, you can send video over those two lines. I installed one RG6 and 2 CAT6 wires to every room in the house, back to a central point, and I can put just about anything (data, video, phone, etc.) to any room just by moving wires around my patch panel.

My wife still gripes about WIFI issues on her laptop, but I don't get any "calls" on the other devices hooked up to the wall.

BTW - If you use a keystone system for the wall plates, you can customize the look or use blanks so you don't upset the look of your old house too much.

Bare minimum you wire EVERY FLOOR so that you can add wireless access points in future, or distribute more hardwire devices in future.

Great point. I wired every floor in my house with a ceiling box with Cat6 for ceiling-mounted access points. I'm really happy with them as they allow me to put the access point in the middle of everything and the gear is up and out of the way.

 

[yeldogt]

I'm in my early 50's and I building this house as a bit of a refuge .. its just for the two of us. My current house and office is a big multi level monstrosity: 7 TV's .. who knows how many phones in the system .. audio in every room w/ controller. I should take a picture of the "home run" closet. Lighting controls w/remotes. It cost me a fortune at the time and most of it is unused. Items become outdated and not compatible.

The whole house audio is rarely used .. I almost never turn on my expensive "audio" system .... TV ?? I watch CNBC at my desk (to keep the dog amused).

I want to simplify.

 

[yeldogt]

Great point. I wired every floor in my house with a ceiling box with Cat6 for ceiling-mounted access points. I'm really happy with them as they allow me to put the access point in the middle of everything and the gear is up and out of the way.

What access point did you use? I was thinking of doing this in one location -- many don't get good reviews -- for whatever reason.

The apple airports have mounts -- but the wires are still visible.

I also wanted one for outside.

 

[The mean fish]

At a very minimum I would run some sort of low voltage flex conduit to a few spots in the room for future use. It's a whole lot easier than repairing drywall later. Fiber is always peeking around the corner so at some point in the not too distant future we're probably going to be looking at wireless and fiber being the 2 options in every home.

 

[The mean fish]

What access point did you use? I was thinking of doing this in one location -- many don't get good reviews -- for whatever reason.

The apple airports have mounts -- but the wires are still visible.

I also wanted one for outside.

http://www.ubnt.com/

Ubiquiti makes some really high end, affordable stuff for homes that are clean looking and mountable. I run a pair of their access points, one primary in my home and one slaved unit in my shop 250' away linked via CAT5 and combined they cover about 99% of my 2+ acre property.

 

[bmxdad]

Wireless is not 100%, unless line of site. Even then, there is always interference. Wired is 100% ... and as speeds go faster, wired will be able to keep up whereas wireless will always lag.

As said before, better to have it and not use it, then not have it and want it.

 

[BeachBoy]

For me it's the opposite, I'm going from wireless to wired as much a possible.

alarm system, speakers, cable, internet, etc.

wireless has plenty of issues, reception, need for bridges and relays, security, reliability, etc.

wire is much better IMO.

 

[mobiledynamics]

Another note FWIW.
DUAL RG6 runs to every tv location is pretty much a standard for me these days...
1 for whatever video provider you use, FIOS, DTV, and the latter can be used for OTA antenna feed - which IMO, depending on where you live and reception-wise, is the best quality feed.

Another location, where I use the RG feed, I use it for FM antenna. Wifey loves to listen to BBC radio.

 

[Bob Dobbs]

What access point did you use? I was thinking of doing this in one location -- many don't get good reviews -- for whatever reason.



The apple airports have mounts -- but the wires are still visible.



I also wanted one for outside.

Ubiquiti Unifi LR... I've got a ton of these in residential installs as well as in hotels and large municipal buildings. $80, best performance I've seen outside of spending $1000 on a Ruckus gear


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[MFortie]

I don't need someone to be sending a goat **** pic to the white house on my behalf, thank you

You have goat ****?

 

[yeldogt]

Another location, where I use the RG feed, I use it for FM antenna. Wifey loves to listen to BBC radio.

Thats a good idea -- what kind of antenna. We have lousy radio reception.

 

[wssix99]

It cost me a fortune at the time and most of it is unused. Items become outdated and not compatible.

That's why I went with the CAT6. With two of those wires, you can do just about anything and the cost of the wires (assuming your walls are exposed and its easy to run the wire) is relatively cheap. In some cases, I buried the wires in the wall just-in-case, and didn't need to spring for the plates/covers.

What access point did you use? I was thinking of doing this in one location -- many don't get good reviews -- for whatever reason.

I went inexpensive and am using this one: http://www.engeniustech.com/product...client-bridges/ceiling-wall-mount/eap350.html

I'm powering the access point through PoE adapter and it looks really clean. It's not the long range model and it doesn't reach out to all four levels of the house, but I have CAT6-wired ceiling boxes on every floor and can add more if I need additional coverage. As I understand things, I can configure them so they will pass the connection as one moves about the house.

 

[Sparkyjack]

My wife and I 'built' a house in the spring summer of '98. The builder was very easy to work with we had access to the house throught the entries process.
Early on we expressed a desire to do low voltage wiring and central vac ourselves, looking back on things I wish I had pulled flexible blue conduit with pull strings to all the locations and some more.
The conduit option would have allowed my to pull what I needed in each location and upgrade as technology changed or improved.

I use a combination of wired and wireless deepening on the device.
For mobile devices wireless is the primary connection. Portable devices that have wireless and wired options wireless is primary, wired is used as needed for things like network backups.
For stuff that does not move often like Apple TV, blue ray players, media players desktops I like to use wired connections.

So it's wired when I can or should and wireless when I must.

 

[yeldogt]

That's why I went with the CAT6. With two of those wires, you can do just about anything and the cost of the wires (assuming your walls are exposed and its easy to run the wire) is relatively cheap. In some cases, I buried the wires in the wall just-in-case, and didn't need to spring for the plates/covers.



I went inexpensive and am using this one: http://www.engeniustech.com/product...client-bridges/ceiling-wall-mount/eap350.html

I'm powering the access point through PoE adapter and it looks really clean. It's not the long range model and it doesn't reach out to all four levels of the house, but I have CAT6-wired ceiling boxes on every floor and can add more if I need additional coverage. As I understand things, I can configure them so they will pass the connection as one moves about the house.

Both good ideas -- Thanks

I'm not against running some wires. If you talk to the wired house guys they still want to run 6 wires to two locations in every room. Whole house audio was a fortune years ago and requires massive amounts of wires .. and then you have speakers all aver the place.

 

[Playwme]

Ubiquiti Unifi LR... I've got a ton of these in residential installs as well as in hotels and large municipal buildings. $80, best performance I've seen outside of spending $1000 on a Ruckus gear


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Plus one on this recomendation. We have a single access point which gives way stronger and more reliable signal than the airport express did. Cheap as too, and if you want to delve into its control functions there's lots of cool stuff like being able to track how much time and data each device is using. ****** good if you have sneaky kids with their own tablets or phones.

 

[cowboyjosh]

In my own home and in the homes I build, I over wire. CAT 5E, CAT 6, everywhere; RG6 coax on each wall in every bedroom, etc. HOWEVER, these days many of my clients and myself included do distributed video, distributed audio with RTI or Crestron control. 3 XFINITY boxes in the rack in the basement, along with Apple TV, Music / Video server, and a Cat 5E running to each TV on the system. No more boxes or components at each TV. In some cases my integrator has said folks are even getting away from DVD / BLU Ray in favor of streaming.

I use to run CAT 5E and RG6 to each security camera location that way the CAT could be used as power and RG6 as video, to allow the homeowner to go either analog or IP, these days it's only CAT to each camera location, since no one in the 500k to 2.5 million market I build in goes with an analog solution any longer.

WIFI is a *****, always a dead zone in every house.