EdwardE

Urgent DVI pre-wiring question

Hello All,

We are in the middle of doing structured and whole-house distribution in our new home. Unfortunately we did not foresee doing so during the initial design and construction stage so we have no pre-made wire channels or conduit for wire distribution. We intend to distribute HDTV signals from a central hub in the basement (where we will have HDTV sources) to multiple points in the house and namely to three separate home theater areas -- 2 with plasma TVs and 1 with an HDTV projector. We are currently pulling broadcast quality component cables to these areas from the hub by drilling holes through floors, wall studs and beams.

However, one of our installers mentioned that DVI is gaining more acceptance in the HDTV area but confessed that he did not know much about it.

Ideally, we would like to future-proof our house and pull DVI cables to at least those three areas. We are limited to drilling holes through wooden studs and beams and we cannot run a 1.5" or 2" conduit.

I also have a question about HDMI -- will it work over current DVI cables? will there be connectors that connect to current DVI connectors? I.e. if we run dual link capable DVI cables, will we be able to interface with HDMI capable products?

Is there DVI cable available with detachable connectors (for ease of pulling the DVI wire through walls)?

Here are our runs:

Run 1: Hub to Media Room: 40-50'
Run 2: Hub to Library/HT: approx 100'-120'
Run 3: Hub to Master Bedroom: approx 160-200'

What DVI products (cables, repeaters, etc) would you recommend for accomplishing the above?


Best Regards,

Ed Etkin

Contact Info:
primary email: etkin.edward@verizon.net
secondary email: ftimer@rcn.com

Arthur_King

Everything I have read says that DVI(digital not analog over DVI connectors which is VGA) wont go beyond 5 meters (16ft). Anything beyond that would require some sort of extenders. I have heard talk (too lazy to google ) of Cat 5 extenders for DVI. I have no CLUE if they would support HDMI or any of that sort of thing.

The only thing I have heard for sure is that to future proof a house, go with Cat 6 Cable, and Multimode Fiber. As for AV stuff... You got me, but DVI doesn't seem to lend itself well to the kind of distances you're talking about.

Daffy Arthur King

\"Saying Windows 2000 is equal to MacOS X is like finding a potato that looks like Jesus and believing you\'ve witnessed the second coming.\"

Brooks

DVI is spec'd as maximum cable run at 5-6 meters.
There are a number of products out there which take your DVI signal, boost it and send it along plain old Cat5 as the previous poster mentioned. These are a few hundred each so each place where you want DVI to land will cost $300 or so for this equipment. This Cat5 run also has a max lendth although it is, for most of these items, in the 10s of meters and thus probably acceptable for your installation.
When planning this install keep in mind you'll need AC power and space for the "receiving" cat5 extender box - the various manufacturer's products vary in size and that that the "receiver" box will, of course, need to be within 5 meters of your DVI display source.