I'm a big fan of MA's short power cords. From 6" to 2'. Makes the power side look much better.

I was refering to when the cat5e/cat 6 will be used for an HDMI balun. This does not follow 568A/568B standards although I will check and discuss this in a separate topic if this is true.

By the way what is an HP validation tool?

We use screwable ones from easy adapters at the moment,
[Link: easyadapters.com]

but I really want to start using RJ45 to DB9 ones since they are much cheaper and look more professional. Do they need a tool? How much time do you need to "connect" one? Where do you buy them from?

Ah ok i understand. I have zero experience with HDMI baluns so i dont really know what the pinout is. But if you are using 568B on your patch panel and wall plate you basically have an extension cable. You can pin your patch cables accordingly at each end to match whatever the HDMI balun is looking for. Same with any balun or control cable or whatever you are using the cat cable for.


[Link: testequipmentconnection.com]

Nice Certifier.  Does it print results?

Yes. FYI ours is pretty old now. Almost 10 years. I am guessing you can get a better one for a fraction of the cost.

Rather than bundle power cords that are too long or buy new cords to get a shorter length, I just use screw on replacement IEC females and cut the cord to the exact length I need. Takes just a little time but it looks great.

[Link: alliedelec.com]

What you're saying makes sense on paper, but no one recommends running HDMI baluns through ANY termination point other than the RJ45s on the ends.  Supposedly there will be a new batch of baluns coming out with better chipsets that are much less reliant on the termination and should be fine running through keystone inserts and patch panels.  Right now it's a big no-no.  Since you have zero experience with HDMI baluns you have no idea how painful they are to work with.  You have to do everything BETTER than 100% correct with ZERO flaws anywhere and they still may not work right.  Someone posted in another thread that they had cat5 runs where they certified them up to Gigabit speeds and they still had 2 sets of baluns that did not work correctly - in fact both sets did different things on the same wires!  This is every day in the life of HDMI baluns...

I do exactly what you're saying with patch panels and keystones as extensions for everything else except HDMI baluns.  They get Cat6 straight from point A to point B no matter what.  And I still have problems with them.  Argh.

I can promise u that I will never have any experience with hdmi baluns :). I am on the blue team.

for hdmi baluns,
we always punch them down
and then use patch cables.

to me its a more solid connection.

What do you use?

The connection cannot be/is not more solid but termination helps in other ways.

how is it more solid?  because you're using a pre-made patch cable?

Instead of two RJ45 terminations in the line, you now have (4) RJ45s and (2) keystone inserts.

Have you tried using shielded Cat6?

Ah why the hell not..









Depending on how many amps we're using, I'll sometimes put the amplifiers on the top section of the rack. Middle Atlantic thermal management white papers, however, will suggest that all major heat producing components live in the bottom section of the rack to create a thermal convection on the principle that heat will rise up. There's a lot of good documentation on this here:
[Link: repnet.middleatlantic.com]

I like mounting amps at the top of the rack for the same reason. The heat rise, while not great in velocity, will cause what is known as the Venturi effect and cause a mild updraft . This way, heat produced by smaller units is drawn up and then we exhaust everything out the top. There is no need to heat all the devices more than they would normally be by putting the greatest heat producer at the bottom. I usually mount any UPS or similar systems at the bottom.