AJ_ Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 I have several CAT5 runs from the basement to each room in the house. Some of these are used to send HDMI signals using baluns. Currently, in the basement, the wires are terminated and plugged in directly to the device (HDMI matrix, for example). If I were to terminate cables in to a patch panel and then add another patch cable between the panel and the device, would there be any signal loss? I'm striving for a cleaner look at the rack. The current state is horrible with cables of different lengths hanging all over the place. Thanks, AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 TECHNICALLY, yes doing any form of extension/termination will decrease signal strength. In reality, it's not normally a problem what so ever. But there IS a risk yes. For speaker cables, coax feeds for cable/sat boxes or out to subs, any stereo/rca cables this risk is extremely minimal to the point of non-existent. For CAT cable used for networking or video distribution (the latter more so) the chance does exist. It's not recommended by most if not all manufacturers to do so. Will it actually BE a problem? Likely not - but you're doing this at you own risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnyfarm299 Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 The issue for us arises when the weight of the cables causes issues at the patch. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mallom Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 TECHNICALLY, yes doing any form of extension/termination will decrease signal strength. In reality, it's not normally a problem what so ever. But there IS a risk yes. For speaker cables, coax feeds for cable/sat boxes or out to subs, any stereo/rca cables this risk is extremely minimal to the point of non-existent. For CAT cable used for networking or video distribution (the latter more so) the chance does exist. It's not recommended by most if not all manufacturers to do so. Will it actually BE a problem? Likely not - but you're doing this at you own risk. +1 You should not have any problems using a patch panel for the network part of the project, but I would keep the ones you use to extend video as home runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Lowe Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 11 hours ago, mallom said: +1 You should not have any problems using a patch panel for the network part of the project, but I would keep the ones you use to extend video as home runs. this would be best practice here. get a good quality panel. keep power and other like cables away from the connections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_ Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Thanks for your input, all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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