Cable question. Ethernet or RG-6. (1 Viewer)

[scarablover99]

Hi everyone this is my first post.
Here's my situation. My wife and I would like to move our home entertainment system. We stream on a Vizio P65Q9 series television with a Vizio M51 series sound bar. We stream via Xfinity and the modem is connected to the cable from Xfinity where the cable comes into the house.
Here's the question.
Should I extend the cable (rg-6) and move the modem with the entertainment system? Estimated cable length 40' to 50'.
Or leave the modem where it is and run an ethernet cable (cat8) and leave the modem where it is? Same cable length.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Paul

 

[David Norman]

Interesting question. I would like to know what the tech guys say about it, but my first thought is keep the modem where it's at and run the Cat6 (better) to the new location. It all likelihood it honestly probably won't matter much assuming your current Signal Strength isn't borderline to start with.

This is at least in part assuming you'll add a new "splice" or connector inline and not have a single new line run from origination to the new location. The splice is going to add a small signal loss plus the loss of the extra cable length.

Don't know the actual distances, but say 100 foot current RG-6 Coax from your origin to modem then a few feet Ethernet from the cable to Modem/router to end components would change to either

A) 150 feet RG-6 origin to Modem/Router and a similar amt of Ethernet Modem/Router to Components

OR

B) 100 ft RG-6 that is currently working fine then 40-50+ feet new Ethernet from modem/router to components.

From my trial/error running and re-running coax and Cat6 ethernet in my crawlspace and attic -- I found shortening the Coax (basically removing 50 feet from a max 125 ft) and removing as many splitter/splices-barrel connectors worked much better than trying to shorten Ethernet Cat 6 cable lengths after my Modem/Router/Switches.
That said, my cable signal strength at the shortest coax point has never been the absolute strongest

I have never had signal issues at the end of my Ethernet runs (max 100 ft) as long as my modem was receiving a good clean signal from its coax origin -- shortening the RG6 coax to around 70ft made a big difference however

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Some of it might come down to what is easier for you to do. Punching down cat5\6 is easier than crimping coax (without the right tools). Before you do anything, think about what is on the outside of your house. Is the location of your new entertainment center closer to where the comcast feed connects to your house on the outside? If so, maybe just install a new jack from there and move the modem?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Mod note: I moved this from forum feedback and questions to general home theater questions.

 

[scarablover99]

Gentleman thank you for the replies. Reading what you guys wrote I am thinking (and yes it does hurt a bit) that I can play musical modem and actually do what I wanted and see what will work better. Extending the length of the rg-6 from where it comes into the house with a coupler and run some cat-8 from where the modem is now.
I'll be checking my stash to see what I have on hand to try this out.

Thanks again.
Paul

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Do you really need wired ethernet, or is the wireless in your home good enough for streaming? If you have decent wireless, you may not need to run any cable. In our home, the Xfinity cable modem / router is located in my first floor office, and the main home theater is in the family room on the same floor. I just stream wirelessly to both a Roku Ultra and Apple TV 4K in that room, plus Roku devices in other rooms -- bedrooms on the 2nd floor, plus a display in the bar area in our basement. I have no issues streaming 4K / Dolby Vision content.