General Forum

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore

elephant — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:35:06 GMT

ouverture:
HD Distribution over Cat7 article by experts who have hundreds of dealers around the world using their "Matrix Switches"

Thanks for the article

The 4x4 seems affordable with attractive features (IR passthrough)

I was amused by the conclusion

The Full HD distribution market will always be strong in the high-end residential custom installation environment. Clients now demand the very best the market has to offer for their 103" 1080p deep colour displays ......

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore

ouverture — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 10:26:03 GMT

I know someone who buys Cat5e HD Switchers from Tradestech for many years, and he has installed their HD Maxtrix switches in lots of homes, up to 50mt guaranteed for Cat5e, up to 65mt with Cat6, and obviously for longer runs Cat7, but the cost difference between Cat5, 6 and 7 is so tiny now, that for new installations it only makes sense to use Cat7

HD Distribution over Cat7 article by experts who have hundreds of dealers around the world using their "Matrix Switches"

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

kallasr — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 04:20:01 GMT

Sure, if you have the chance to start from the beginning, use CAT7 cabling, it should be about the same prize as CAT5/CAT6. So did we five years ago.

Ralf

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

TripEnglish — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 11:36:19 GMT

csmager:

I think the point is that CAT5/6 might work over small distances for ML/PL, but over greater distances and for future HD video usage, CAT5/6 will likely prove inadequate.

If you had the opportunity to rewire your house, you'd be daft not to use CAT7 if you had any intention of sticking with B&O.

I'd like to caution against this type of thinking. Csmanger is correct to warn against any other structured cabling installation other than Cat7.

If you think in terms of "what can I get away with" as far as short distances and basic ML Bus activities you're going to put yourself in a position where the full distribution and matrixing of 1080p+ video will not work and you'll end up reinstalling some or all of your infrastructure. Besides, why would you buy a spool of Cat6 and a spool of Cat7 in the first place?

The whole point is "one cable does it all" which makes it easier, cheaper, and tidier.

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

beolife — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 09:43:31 GMT

Here's a example of how currently you will connect legacy products i.e. analogue masterlink.

In the hopefully near future they will convert to a IP masterlink i.e. digital which will allow for multisource x multizone all over IP.

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

Klas — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 06:19:05 GMT

so will cat 7 run replace digital cables for BL5 e.g? sorry for nooby and not really understanding the difference....

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

csmager — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 05:19:57 GMT

I think the point is that CAT5/6 might work over small distances for ML/PL, but over greater distances and for future HD video usage, CAT5/6 will likely prove inadequate.

If you had the opportunity to rewire your house, you'd be daft not to use CAT7 if you had any intention of sticking with B&O.

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

kallasr — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:57:33 GMT

Even though it is German, check the pictures posted.

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/p/30331/242211.aspx#242211

It worked for me (BS3000, BV3-32, BL3500).

Ralf

PS:Cat 5e Patchpanels (but Cat7 cables). Cat5e is enough for this passive setup (using just the cabling - no acitve devices like switches etc.).

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

csmager — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:46:44 GMT

Large48:

Are they then going to make recommendations about which Ethernet switch these all connect to centrally? 10-Gig / Gig / Fast / Eth? all full wire switching speed? etc, etc

At the moment, you're using the cable in place of ML/PL, so while they're using Ethernet-standard cables, it's not using Ethernet. You'll run them all to a patch panel and patch them together - no switching.

What happens in locations that still use / need RF signals? is that another RF to Ethernet adaptor?

RF balun's exist, might not work over the same length as normal 75 Ohm Coax.

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

Large48 — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 02:37:40 GMT

So all those people that decided to go wireless for their IT as it was the 'Future' are now a bit stuck!

Also it sounds like (I've not read all the other threads) that I would need several Cat7 cables, 1 for ML, 1 (for each) PL, etc?

Are they then going to make recommendations about which Ethernet switch these all connect to centrally? 10-Gig / Gig / Fast / Eth? all full wire switching speed? etc, etc

Or are they thinking of just daisy chaining the cables for all devices / speakers?

What happens in locations that still use / need RF signals? is that another RF to Ethernet adaptor?

I can see the logic but this will prove very interesting to connect some of the older collectable systems etc............

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

Pushkin — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:53:35 GMT

Thank you this is very helpful to know - I now have the interesting task of replacing my cat 5e with cat 7 and so really hope this heralds the advent of HD video distribution throughout the house. Would also be good if the increased bandwidth allowed two way communication.

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

SWISS_2 — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:45:24 GMT

Thank you.

We discussed every thing else regarding the BV 10 ( the side-swing mounting plate, cable attachments on the bottom of the screen, grill cloth colour choices, etc ) but this move to Cat 7, and what is coming sounds significant.

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

TripEnglish — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:09:18 GMT

SWISS_2:

Trip:

Would that then be wise to include a run of Cat 7 for the new BV 10 model I saw today iin California ?

Yes!

At this point we have exhausted our stores of spooled ML & PL and are only using Cat7. It works great for existing systems as the product cables still terminate in familiar ML & PL heads, but future products will not only have RJ45 jacks for the Cat7 cable, but will make use of its tremendous bandwidth for the new features.

The other benefit is the very low cost when compared with ML & PL cabling which averages over $2.50 per foot off the spool.

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

SWISS_2 — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:31:31 GMT

Trip:

Would that then be wise to include a run of Cat 7 for the new BV 10 model I saw today iin California ?

Re: B&O doesnt recommend MasterLink anymore, the recommend CAD 7 cables for your house ???

TripEnglish — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:55:32 GMT

rednik:

Stan:

According to this thread, not all Cat 5 and 6 works "perfectly"... at least if you have a BL3500 in the mix.

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/p/10922/81475.aspx#81475

Short story shorter, you need *shielded* cat 5 or 6. I believe Cat 7 is shielded by default so this is not an issue.

Stan

True. I should have stipulated I was talking about STP, as opposed to UTP Cat 5 and 6 cable. This is the type found as standard in nearly all structured cabling systems, and since I have only ever used utp for short lengths of lead straigh into a devioce, I never thought to differentiate in my initial post.

While I'm sure that the OP appreciates your advice not to future proof his setup, I'll reiterate that the Cat7 installation is the standard and, going forward, the next generation of features will not work with Cat5 or Cat6 cabling. They do not have the bandwidth to carry the signals. So if all you want to do is a basic MasterLink setup for current products and never be able to take advantages of the new features rolling out over the next 18-24 months, by all means heed Rednik's advice. Otherwise, the Cat7 cabling premium is hardly worth the fuss and comes out to about $0.31 a foot in the US. The Cat6 I was using prior to this ran just over $0.25.