RubberBiker wrote:
Thanks for an excellent article John - and for me,timely!

Regarding video distribution - what are the pluses/minuses of using
HDMI rather than cat5e ?

HDMI is more a connection standard than a distribution one. You may find
its the only method that will fully support the HDCP system end to end
and hence not result in some lump of DRM getting the hump and deciding
to bollox the video quality.

Would it be worth saying something about terrestrial tv/satellite tv/
coax/distribution amps?

Yes, but not here!

In fact a sat distribution article might be worth having...

Is it practical to incorporate a coax patch panel in the same rack
along with a distribution amp?

No reason why you can't. You might want a bigger rack if you are going
to add this and a multiswitch, and distribution amps etc.

What about cabling in home cinema?

A separate article again I think...

Are any domestic fire alarm/intruder alarm systems readily compatible
with structured wiring?

With smoke alarms, most I have seen simply use three & E mains cable or
radio for the interlinking.

Fire/heat/smoke detectors that integrate with alarms systems, would run
on structured cabling, however I am not sure there is much benefit since
these things tend to be hardwired and small discrete telephone grade
cables are usually the order fo the day.

It might be worth linking to useful wikipedia articles, e.g.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat5e

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

Yup, will add those.

and to mention the relevance of cat6:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_6_cable

yup.

I appreciate that's a considerable expansion from the original scope -
but even one sentence on each topic to raise awareness makes a
difference (and hopefully later returns a fully-crafted article from
another reader!).

;-)

--
Cheers,

John.

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