I just was working on redoing the look and feel of the Train Phones photo blog that I have been working on. Unfortunately I have not added any new content, but if you have not seen the blog, I recommend that you take a look at it by clicking the banner to the right, or just entering http://trainphones.blogspot.com/ into your web browser.
Hopefully I will have some new content to add to that site shortly.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
4 HD sources 3 TVs
I just completed a complicated HDTV installation for a restaurant in NYC. While I do wiring jobs on a much larger scale than this, this was my first HDTV job on such a scale. Previous HDTV jobs that I have done have involved a single television with the components located within range of a standard store bought HDMI cable to reach from the component(s) to the television.
The project was to replace 3 wall mount televisions with the new televisions that the customer had already purchased. This in itself sounds fairly simple and straight forward, however things are not as easy as that.
Two of the existing wall mounts fit perfectly with the new televisions, but the 3rd television required replacing the mounting bracket.
All of the current TVs were fed with a composite video feed (analog Standard Definition), and all of the components were located in a rack in a back room. This required me to pull cable from the rack in the back room to each HDTV. I decided to purchase HDMI over CAT5 extenders to accomplish this. I ordered Sabrent HDMI-EXTC extenders, which require 2 - CAT5 runs per television.Unfortunately there was no drop ceilings, but there was several access hatches in the ceiling. I was able to utilize the existing access hatches to pull all of my cabling only requiring to cut out a single hole in the ceiling to pull all of the cabling, plus the small holes required to snake the wire down the walls behind the televisions.
Once all of the cabling was in place, and the TVs were mounted on the walls I had to connect all of the sources. There is 2 cable boxes, 1 DVD player and 1 Bluray player. To do the switching between the multiple sources and multiple monitors I purchased an Aten 4x4 HDMI matrix switch. This was the most expensive part of the project (aside from the televisions that the customer had already purchased). This allows switching of the 4 sources individually between the 3 HDTVs, so the monitors can all be watching whatever source that they want, either shared amongst multiple monitors, or each television viewing a different source at the same time.
Once all of the wiring, and hardware was installed I was having issues with the HDMI signal not working with any of the televisions. The HDMI over CAT5 converters that I purchased stated that they worked up to 200 feet for 1080i, but only around 60ft or so for 1080p. The longest run was 120ft (according to cable markings), the shortest run was less than 90ft. So I know that everything was within spec. for the job. Several attempts were made to contact the manufacturer unsuccessfully, and countless hours were spend researching what the troubles could be. Eventually I was provided with a simple solution over on AVSforum that I was skeptical about, but the deadline was fast approaching and my window to order replacement parts and have them overnighted was closed, so I crossed my fingers and took the hour and a half subway ride to the location to test out the advice that I was given on AVSforum. To my surprise it worked. The DVD and Bluray players factory default video output setting was AUTO - which was sending out 1080p over the line, but the HDMI extenders can not handle that spec at such distances, so all I needed to do was bring the DVD and Bluray player from the back room and connect them locally to a TV and change the output settings to 1080i. Much to my delight this resolved the only major set back of the entire job.
Two days after my first attempt to contact Sabrent, the manufacturer of the HDMI over CAT5 extenders, I am still waiting on a return phone call or email.
They already had an audio system in place, so I merely just had to connect the audio outputs of the source devices to the multi channel audio amplifiers that were in the closet.
The project was to replace 3 wall mount televisions with the new televisions that the customer had already purchased. This in itself sounds fairly simple and straight forward, however things are not as easy as that.
Two of the existing wall mounts fit perfectly with the new televisions, but the 3rd television required replacing the mounting bracket.
All of the current TVs were fed with a composite video feed (analog Standard Definition), and all of the components were located in a rack in a back room. This required me to pull cable from the rack in the back room to each HDTV. I decided to purchase HDMI over CAT5 extenders to accomplish this. I ordered Sabrent HDMI-EXTC extenders, which require 2 - CAT5 runs per television.Unfortunately there was no drop ceilings, but there was several access hatches in the ceiling. I was able to utilize the existing access hatches to pull all of my cabling only requiring to cut out a single hole in the ceiling to pull all of the cabling, plus the small holes required to snake the wire down the walls behind the televisions.
Once all of the cabling was in place, and the TVs were mounted on the walls I had to connect all of the sources. There is 2 cable boxes, 1 DVD player and 1 Bluray player. To do the switching between the multiple sources and multiple monitors I purchased an Aten 4x4 HDMI matrix switch. This was the most expensive part of the project (aside from the televisions that the customer had already purchased). This allows switching of the 4 sources individually between the 3 HDTVs, so the monitors can all be watching whatever source that they want, either shared amongst multiple monitors, or each television viewing a different source at the same time.
Once all of the wiring, and hardware was installed I was having issues with the HDMI signal not working with any of the televisions. The HDMI over CAT5 converters that I purchased stated that they worked up to 200 feet for 1080i, but only around 60ft or so for 1080p. The longest run was 120ft (according to cable markings), the shortest run was less than 90ft. So I know that everything was within spec. for the job. Several attempts were made to contact the manufacturer unsuccessfully, and countless hours were spend researching what the troubles could be. Eventually I was provided with a simple solution over on AVSforum that I was skeptical about, but the deadline was fast approaching and my window to order replacement parts and have them overnighted was closed, so I crossed my fingers and took the hour and a half subway ride to the location to test out the advice that I was given on AVSforum. To my surprise it worked. The DVD and Bluray players factory default video output setting was AUTO - which was sending out 1080p over the line, but the HDMI extenders can not handle that spec at such distances, so all I needed to do was bring the DVD and Bluray player from the back room and connect them locally to a TV and change the output settings to 1080i. Much to my delight this resolved the only major set back of the entire job.
Two days after my first attempt to contact Sabrent, the manufacturer of the HDMI over CAT5 extenders, I am still waiting on a return phone call or email.
They already had an audio system in place, so I merely just had to connect the audio outputs of the source devices to the multi channel audio amplifiers that were in the closet.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Connecting a UTI-1 to a PAP2
This post is mostly just for my own personal future reference.
This shows the settings and connections needed to connect a UTI-1 telephone interface to a PAP2 (or an analog telephone line)
Output of PAP2 connects to "station port" jack on UTI-1 and switch is set to "station"
when the PAP2 extension is dialed the UTI-1 answers produces a tone, and allows the caller to page over the connected amplifier.
This shows the settings and connections needed to connect a UTI-1 telephone interface to a PAP2 (or an analog telephone line)
Output of PAP2 connects to "station port" jack on UTI-1 and switch is set to "station"
when the PAP2 extension is dialed the UTI-1 answers produces a tone, and allows the caller to page over the connected amplifier.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Small network + door phone installation
Recently I completed a small network installation. This installation consisted of 7 new data pulls, a door phone (for VoIP) and a fax jack. While I did not document the jacks with photographs, I did document the new patch panel, and the network hardware mounting.
Hardware used:
Router and switch were provided by the customer, and were moved from the old office in the same building. I did not document the model number for these devices.
The customer did not want to place their network equipment into a closet, so it is visible inside the office, so special attention was given to ensure that the network was installed neatly, and remains neat. All patch cords have been labeled with the number corresponding to their position on the patch panel since tracing patch cords will be difficult with them mounted this way with out cutting all of the zip-ties and making it a mess.
Unfortunately due to time constraints (this small network took 2 1/2 days to build), the completion of the construction (plasterers, painters, movers), and other minor factors the power cord end of things is not as neat and pretty (and thus was not photographed, but that is something that the customer can clean up on their own once they move into the office - either by having an electrician installing an outlet higher up on the wall near the network equipment, or with an extension cord.
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| Cables pulled, hardware mounted. |
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| Side view showing cables entering patch panel from behind. |
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| Showing hole in ceiling where wires were pulled from. |
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| Door Phone. |
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| Router and switch mounted. |
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| Patch cords installed. |
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| Close-up of completed job (minus modems) |
Router and switch were provided by the customer, and were moved from the old office in the same building. I did not document the model number for these devices.
- Linksys PAP2 - VoIP ATA used for door phone to hot dial VoIP phones.
- Viking RC2-A Relay - used to control door release
- Viking E20-B door phone (connected to PAP2)
- 12 port CAT6 patch panel (wiring is CAT5, boss just placed order incorrectly)
Also not shown - New door release + power supply.
The customer did not want to place their network equipment into a closet, so it is visible inside the office, so special attention was given to ensure that the network was installed neatly, and remains neat. All patch cords have been labeled with the number corresponding to their position on the patch panel since tracing patch cords will be difficult with them mounted this way with out cutting all of the zip-ties and making it a mess.
Unfortunately due to time constraints (this small network took 2 1/2 days to build), the completion of the construction (plasterers, painters, movers), and other minor factors the power cord end of things is not as neat and pretty (and thus was not photographed, but that is something that the customer can clean up on their own once they move into the office - either by having an electrician installing an outlet higher up on the wall near the network equipment, or with an extension cord.
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