Pre Wiring a home (1 Viewer)

[Ian_Woods]

Hi all

I am in the process of doing a total reconstruction of an apartment I bought in Czech Rep.
I plan to integrate a wired network and as such need some serious advise before I blow a wad of cash.

My wired system needs to be future proof and as follows is what I would like to achieve.
http://www.123macmini.com/gallery/di...pn&cat=0&pos=1

A central area for all components and control systems ,satellite ,new hdmi amp (actively looking , Denon ?) ,network storage media center pc (mac mini ?) I love mac's front stage.
Video and sound only no light ect.

Needs to be mutizone
1 - Home theater 7.1
2 - Kitchen/rec room audio and video , in ceiling speakers. Stereo is fine.
3 and 4 in ceiling speakers music only , osd lcd for choosing and browsing music .

I use itunes to organise my music and have aprox 300 gig movies and music on ex hard drive.
Lastly I don't need touch panels (ie amx or crestron) and am happy with osd with remote control . (read mac mini ?)
Having said that this seems to be a good option control multiple mac minis via remote desktop http://eshop.macsales.com/Customized...book_order.cfm

I need a system of wires layed now that will allow for me to grow my system as budget allows.
O yeah and no one speaks english where I live but I guess words like ethernet is universal.

Thanks for any and all advise

 

[Kamokazi]

Well I'm not an AV expert, so I don't know what AV cables you'd want to run, I would probably pick speakers and entertainment systems and match them up. I am a computer expert tholugh, so here is my suggestion for Ethernet:

First, you'll want to run Ethernet for everything, computer data AND standard phones. Ethernet cable can transmit phone signal, and RJ-45 connectors can accomodate regular phone cords. All these should run to a central switch inside that has a router and phone switchboard. What this allows you to do is turn any phone port into a data port and vise versa. You just take the wire you want and plug it into your router or phone switch.

Next, you need to choose between CAT 5e or CAT 6. CAT 6 is a decent chunk more expensive around here than CAT 5e. CAT 5e does support gigabit connections, so it is unlikely that you will NEED a CAT 6 connetion for AT LEAST 5 years, probably 10+ years. You will just need to evaluate the cost difference and decide...if the CAT 6 quote makes you cringe a little, go with the 5e. And once all the cables are run, it becomes easier to change them...you could use the 5e to pull 6 through (and by then CAT 7 will probably be commonly available).

 

[Ian_Woods]

Thanks for the reply Adam,

Ok I spoke to the electrical engineer today he spoke Czech I spoke english but it seems we understand each other due to tech speak.

Basically I told him to lay underfloor and in wall pvc pipes with max diameter . They would run from the Fixed wireless router and then to the av/pc rack , containing cat 5e cables .

From the rack will be a wall socket with cat5e ,rg45 connector and phone jack (no idea what cable that is but he seemed to know)

Then to all 3 rooms more pvc with the same cat5e and phone jacks.

I am a bit confused about why I need phone lines what is it for ? I read online that satellite uses it so I just told the engineer to put it in all rooms next to the rg45 plug. Is that right ?

Could you please explain to me the part about central switch with router and phone switchboard . Or if you have a link I could read that, bear in mind I have to explain this to someone who does not speak english Lol .

Damn this would be tough in an english speaking country but over here I think people think I am from the moon.

 

[Kamokazi]

Well, assuming you were using a standard landline phone service, you would need regular phones that us RJ11 connectors, and I believe phone cable itself is either Category 2 or 3. Ethernet/Data line is either Category 5, 5e or 6 cabling and RJ45 connectors.

The RJ11 Phone jack will fit into a RJ45 ethernet plug. They are the same height, so it fits snugly, with some extra space on the since it is narrower. The phone signal can travel across the Cat 5e cable.

Now if you aren't going to have a landline phone, then ignore the whole thing I was talking about and just use Cat 5e everywhere and don't worry about the phone connections.

If you are, then read this carefully:

Every place you were planning to have a regular phone line installed, you would want to have a RJ45 jack with Cat 5e running to it instead. Since it works with phone connections and Data connections both, it make it versatile.

Next, you would run all the lines, data and phone, to a utility room or anyplace you would want to manage it. In this room, you would have a phone switch(Installed by electrician) and your router, along with the internet line plugged into the router. Each line would be labeled where it is. Say you have a "West Bedroom - Window Side" line, and you want to hook a phone to it, you would simply plug that wire into the phone switch, and plug the phone into it upstairs. Then you want to set a PC up in there as well, near the jack on the north wall. You would have that cable labeled "West Bedroom - North Wall" and you would then plug it into your router.

Now let's say you want to change the room layout. You would switch them around physically and then plug them into the jack on the wall, so that your phone is now on the north wall and the PC is on the window side. Then go to your utility room and take the north wall line and plug it into the phone switch, and then plug the window side line into the router.

You would run one, maybe two (depending on number of PCs) lines into your AV cabinet. You woud not need the router in there, since that is in your utility room and it can connect everything from there. Unless you want to use your AV cabinet as the 'switch room'. It depends how much extra space you have in there. I don't think it would be necessary to have the router in there.

Just let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[Ian_Woods]

No I definitely don't use a land line have been using cell phones for years now.

This is a complete new electrical ethernet system for the apartment so my options are still wide open.

All I need for the sat then is a rf wall outlet. and cat5e or cat6 budget permitting .

OK next question ....

I have a fixed wireless connection as this is all we have in this region for now.The arial will be on the roof and the modem indoors.

Next I suppose I need to have a router connected to the ethernet (or do I call this the Lan ?)
My thinking on this is so that my isp sees only the router which in turn will take care of the other 3 mac's ip's correct ?

How do I protect my home network from intrusion from the internet ?

 

[Kamokazi]

You would plug the modem into the router, and then from the router to your devices. Routers typically have only 4 ports, so you may want to get a 4-port switch if you have additional devices.

As far as protection, most routers have a fairly decent firewall...but that only protects things coming in. If you get a trojan for something that sends information OUT, you would need a software firewall you install on PCs that checks outbound connections (windows firewall is not very good). A good antivirus program should catch these though before they can do any harm.

For antivirus I recommend NOD32 (eset.com), and for a firewall, Zone Alarm..they have a Free version and a Pro version...the Pro is worth the money if you are interested. NOD32 is great because it uses a very small amount of system resources (I usually see 11-12MB vs 40+ for Norton). It also has much better protection than Norton...the only AV that compares is Kaspersky. (anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com) BitDefender jumped up from four in front of Kaspersky even, but since they are the same in effectiveness, I'd still use NOD32 because of its low resource usage.

With a router and good AV, the firewall may not be necessary....try the free version a bit first.

Any more questions, just ask.

 

[Ian_Woods]

I have one pc and one mac at present, with an planned addition of 3 mac mini's.

The mac I don't worry about and I have little snitch running which sorts out outbound apps ect. as far as virus/trojans go on the mac well .....

The Pc I run zone alarm and for anti virus avast which is by far the best I have ever had on a pc.

So no worries when it comes to software I was just more interested on seperating the home network from the big bad world.

I guess the router will do the trick then.

I am currently doing research with the locals company's ie sat / cable and internet .

Will Update this post to keep you guys informed , needless to say once it is all done I will be posting some pics.

Thanks for the advice .

 

[Ian_Woods]

I just spoke to the electrician and cat 7 is available , also the price is not exorbitantly expensive and works out to 0.63 usd cents p/meter.

I was very surprised ! As I see cat 7 cables run $3 to $9 in the U.S.

 

[Mike Fassler]

cat 7 is overkill,but at that price what the hell. if you ever wanted to setup a 10gigabit lan you could do it with cat7.

 

[Ian_Woods]

Update .....

I put in cat 6 , due to the fact that here in Czech they only sell in rolls of 300 meters .

Which is mainly used in hospitals and the like.
So yeah overkill it would be since I probably need about 30 meters at most.

 

[north ga ski bum]

The reason you would need "land lines" near or on the plate with the Satellite is for a phone connection to your SSP(sat service provider). If you subscribe to anything above bare bones basic service most SSP require a phone line. If you want HD programming or a DVR it is a must.

As far as what to pull, speaker wire coupled with Cat 5 is going to be the best idea to any control points. Any location you might want a display they make a cable called "2x2" which has 2 RG-6Q and 2 cat 5e inside one jacket. Then connect beside each location a mud-ring with a piece of "flex pipe" to your access point, attic or cellar, for future use.

Try not to over think it, it gets difficult to see the forrest for the all those trees.