Ethernet cable question

lor77 · Post by **lor77** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:07 am

Hello,
I'm planning to connect my pc to my DLNA http://www.dlna.org/home supported Lcd screen.
The distance between the Tv and my pc should be almost around 20m if you take into account the cornering of the cable.
I want to steam blue-rays,high-def programs and other supported video and audio formats.
My question is what kind of ethernet cable should i use for that kind of connection?.
I guess the Gigabit Ethernet but what category(cat5-cat6),UTP or FTP cable?

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:37 am

The basic difference between UTP, STP and FTP can be found in the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair

UTP is by far the most common with ethernet cables, and works perfectly in most scenarios (i.e. not surrounded by high voltage power lines etc).

Cat 6. is hardly more expensive than Cat 5e. but is better and can run Gigabit to longer distances than 5e which is also gigabit capable. A 20M run for even cat 5e. is no problem at all.

The bottom line, Cat 5e. or ideally Cat 6. UTP.

Andy

lor77 · Post by **lor77** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:10 am

Thanks for the reply Andy,
Did anyone by any chance experienced this kind of connection?
I'm talking about the quality of the picture wise?

xan_user · Post by **xan_user** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:20 am

I did some installs for a couple systems like this. It was as good or better than component hd. I cant remember the company right now, but it was pretty generic looking hardware. It used standard cheapo cat 5 that the electrician had rouged in.

Of course it always depends on the video source, as most HD is still compressed quite a bit. ymmv

Boy do I miss VOOM!

taznz · Post by **taznz** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:05 am

If your going to install it in the walls, go CAT7 (basically CAT6 STP) rated to 100Gbit/s, it make the setup future proof, no need to re-run cable at a later date to support new technology.

It's more expensive and is harder to find, but worth it in the long run, also good to use if your routing cable near power or other interferance.

It your just going to run the cable along the floor, stick to CAT6.

lor77 · Post by **lor77** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:29 am

Thanks for the replies guys i will search for the cat 7 cable if not i will try the plane cat 6 cable.
Just ordered the Philips 32PFL9613D and can wait to set it up.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 10:47 am

Make sure you don't get ordinary cat6 or even cat7 cable - any discerning audiophile, or indeed videophile, needs nothing less than the AK-DL1: Ultra Premium Denon Link Cable!

As it happens, you can now snap one up from Amazon for a bargain $297, saving $200 on the RRP. Make sure you check out some of the 257 user reviews for some helpful insights...

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 3:38 pm

nick705 wrote:Make sure you don't get ordinary cat6 or even cat7 cable - any discerning audiophile, or indeed videophile, needs nothing less than the AK-DL1: Ultra Premium Denon Link Cable!

As it happens, you can now snap one up from Amazon for a bargain $297, saving $200 on the RRP. Make sure you check out some of the 257 user reviews for some helpful insights...

I upgraded from that cable to a coat hanger. Seems to be ok so far.

lor77 · Post by **lor77** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:57 am

I ended up in buying the CAT6 cable 30m of it.
Steaming through the cable is working fine so far.
I use Tversity software for making the hdd server the only problem so far is that i cant make it play the subtitles.
This is only when the subtitles are not embedded in the video as in the normal DVD\Blue ray structure.
There are some ways to come around but could not make work so far with Tversity.
Apart from that the video steaming without transcoding is absolutely great.
Any help with Tversity software concerning the subtitles will be appreciated!!

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:08 pm

lor77 wrote:the only problem so far is that i cant make it play the subtitles.
This is only when the subtitles are not embedded in the video as in the normal DVD\Blue ray structure.

Are the subtitles SRT format? That's the best supported one. Are file names exactly the same as the video file (accept for having .SRT at the end)?

lor77 · Post by **lor77** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 2:38 pm

Most of the hidef files come in mkv format which in most of the cases contain inside one srt file for the subtitles,an audio file(AC3\DTS) and the video file(H264).
For the normal dvd i think its the vob file.
Im trying to play those Hidef formats and not the plane avi\dixx files in most of the cases.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:18 pm

lor77 wrote:Most of the hidef files come in mkv format which in most of the cases contain inside one srt file for the subtitles,an audio file(AC3\DTS) and the video file(H264).
For the normal dvd i think its the vob file.
Im trying to play those Hidef formats and not the plane avi\dixx files in most of the cases.

Yes, but my point is that many players will only recognize the the SRT file if it is named exactly like the video file except for the extension. If they have the same name and are not working, it means the TV doesn't support them. The only solution for that problem, AFAIK, is to use software to burn them into the video file.