Video Transfer through my house. Help plz

[raven]

OK, here is the Situation. Im in my room, and have no way of running a coax cable to my room to get cable signals. I am not willing to run cable through my rooms or along the walls because it just makes a mess out of my house. And I will not drill holes in my floors to try to get the coax cable up here. My house though, is wired with Cat-5 cables which i use to connect my pc's to a rounter then to the net. So my question is.. How can i get cable into my room? Is there any device which sends cable signals wirelessly? cus i havent beenable to find one. Or maybe is there a way to send the cable signals through the cat-5 cables in my house? Like ive found a link to some website which i think has some relavance to what i need, but im not totally sure what i will need to get. The Website that i Found is Here (http://www.videocapturecard.com/videobalun1.html)

I will get myself an AIW card very soon, IF i can get the cable running to my room.. cus it would be pointless right now to get the AIW without having cable running...

So would anyone have any suggestions or experience with something like this? Should I go wireless and where do i find these wireless devices. or should i run through Cat-5 and what converters will i need?

Also, if i do decide to go through Cat-5, would it interfear with my networking capabilities? Like would my speeds deminish drastically?

Thanks for any help =)

raven

[Matthias99]

I don't think CAT-5 has the bandwidth for cable television. They make wireless video transmitters, but those will only send a single video signal, not an entire cable feed. If you *have* to have cable in your room, you'll *have* to run cable there. If you just want to mirror whatever a cable box somewhere else is putting out, you can do that wirelessly.

[JigPu]

It might kinda work, but only if you had CAT-5e running through the walls instead of plain CAT-5.

CATV Frequencies: 52-500MHz (analog TV.. Digital TV is higher still)
CAT-5 Rated Maximum Frequency: 100MHz (~Channel 5)
CAT-5e Rated Maximum Frequency: 350MHz (~Channel 45 or 46)


Another problem would be that of impedance matching. I don't know how big of an issue it will be, but you'll want it near 75 Ohms :)

A final problem will be that of crosstalk. I don't know how the cable signals will possibly interfere with the LAN's operation, or how it will interfere with itself.

Just a few things to keep in mind if you decide to try it :)
JigPu

[raven]

lol, this sure will be a challenge....
if i can find a store near me which sells one of those coax to cat5 converters, then i might pick one up and test it out. ill have to borrow a few more things, but i dont think that will be a problem..
Im also very sceptical about weather or not it will work:confused: maybe wireless will be the way to go... but where can i find a wireless transmitter which will transmit to coax so i can still use an AIW card..... but then you say that only video is transmitted... and i dont want to be watching silent tv... hum... i might just have to get creative with this.... maybe i should run a cable through the heating ducts in my house? i really want to avoid drilling.... hum..

[Matthias99]

Sorry, I meant video and audio (as opposed to a full-spectrum cable signal). And you can put composite or S-Video into an AIW card by using an appropriate adapter or RF converter. So I don't see why that wouldn't work.

[raven]

Originally posted by Matthias99
Sorry, I meant video and audio (as opposed to a full-spectrum cable signal). And you can put composite or S-Video into an AIW card by using an appropriate adapter or RF converter. So I don't see why that wouldn't work.

sorry for being such a newb.. whats the difference between a full cable spectrum and just audio video?



EDIT: does it mean that a Cat-5 cable can only transmit certain frequencies ( cat-5e only to 350Mhz ) and that if i were to use this set up then i would only get a certain amount of channels? all because the cat-5 cable cant handle more?
while a full cable spectrum is from the lowest frequency to the highest broadcastable frequency which would give me all the channels?

[DaWiper]

Rave: Take look at Thomson's homepage. They have wireless A/V sollutions, and the best part is that you get a remote that can send signals thru to the sources in the other room...

[JigPu]

A full specturm cable signal would be everything that comes across your coax (including digital cable and cable internet). It's everything from 52MHz-1GHz (I think). The video transmitters will only transmit one channel worth of information at a time (video and sound), so you'll need to change channels with the transmitter (or another device [like a VCR] hooked up before the transmitter).

Yeah, CAT-5e can only handle signals up to 350MHz, so if you wire the coax right up to it, the maximum channel limit (assuming no crosstalk killing channels) would be 45 or 46.


The transmitter would probably be the best option for it, though you'd loose the ability to change channels using the computer.
JigPu

[raven]

too bad its only to channels 45-46 i was kind of hoping to get to atleast channel 55..
but none the less, im still gona look for a video transmitter, and then try both ways. and see what happens. Maybe along the way ill find something else that might work out. maybe.. would there be anyway of getting the cable signal, compressing everything ( maybe into a file or something ) and then transmitting across the cat5 cable to my computer which would then uncompress it and play it?

raven

[SpaceyWilly]

you could get a cable box and hook that up wherever you have a cable jack then send the video and audio output wirelessly to your computer using something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=82-333-004&depa=0
your only problem would be controlling the cable box remotely, but that all depends on the features of your cable box

[SpaceyWilly]

excuse my oversight,

those boxes I just linked to have IR sending as well as video sending, so that takes care of your control problems

[raven]

Originally posted by SpaceyWilly
you could get a cable box and hook that up wherever you have a cable jack then send the video and audio output wirelessly to your computer using something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=82-333-004&depa=0
your only problem would be controlling the cable box remotely, but that all depends on the features of your cable box

wow, nice find! Great price too!! might wait till christmas tho, let the exchange rate get just a little better, and then probably pick a pair up. That would be awsome if it worked.

Here's a newb question tho.. would the fact that it is wireless and connected to my computer pose any security threat? ive got my computer secured, but i havent read anything on secureing a computer through TV-in connections.... im just being cautious here.

[SpaceyWilly]

no there isn't any data flowing through those cables, just audio and video. For someone to hack your computer through those boxes they'd have to a) have an identical box and b) find a method to alter your tv tuner so that the composite video input somehow transfers information other than just video. I've never heard of this being done before, and I couldn't imagine anyone going through that much trouble to begin with unless you're a secret agent or something.

[cack01]

This software advertises that you can stream live T.V. across your network. I would only use it as a last resort, as you will need a host computer next to the cable outlet.
http://www.snapstream.com/Products/Products_PVS3.asp

[Mr.Guvernment]

call your cable company and they will likely be happy to run a new cable up the ouside of the house or another way that is un-ibtrousive and noticeble - for a small fee of course.