Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Questions on long AV cable run

I think I may have screwed up. I am finishing off my basement and have completed the install of cables for the various pieces of equipment. Sheetrock is installed, finished and painted. I have an HD DirectTv satelliter receiver feeding my main plasma TV. At the last minute, I decided to run a hidden cable to another location in the basement to feed a small LCD tv. Without much thought, I ran a coaxial cable. I am now discovering that coaxial cable was apparently not a good choice, aas the satellite receover does not have a coaxial out, and I have not found any 20" LCD tv's with coaxial inputs.

I could still run different cables at this time, but the cable run would be about 60 feet.

First, is there any way to still use the existing coaxial cable? (I realize that it will not send a HD signal)

Second, what other cable options do I have if I run new cable?

Thanks for your help.

Well maybe I can answer my own question. Blue Jeans cable offers unbundled component video cables in a 60 foot length for about $130. That would send an HD signal and cost about the same as the RF modulator and de-modulator, which would also have poor picture quality. Unless you guys think there would be a problem running the component video cable in a length of 60 feet, then I think its a no brainer to go that route.

Please let me know if you see any problems with a component cable run of that length. Thanks

I haven't used component that long, but I would think you'd be fine if the cable quality is good. A good shield and a true 75 Ohm balanced one should do the trick.

This cable at monoprice.com looks like a good option too, and is less expensive.

if you don't feel like pulling new cable,

This is a good solution for running component video over coaxial..

Rapid Run

Good Luck.

Edit: Never mind, I think you need special coaxial cable...

I'm dealing w/ a similar dilemma. Rapid Run is intriguing.

I went to a audio/video installation store and they gave me another idea. Monster has a coax cable made out of mini-coax but terminated w/ RCA. It's VERY thin, probably about 1/4 thickness of normal coax. Very flexible. I could see using this to run difficult routes since it's small, could be run under a carpet.

Your other option is to use video baluns from Muxlab. It converts signals over Cat5. The caveat (according to my dealer) is that you have to make sure that you use IEEE spec'ed Cat5E to make sure it's properly shielded. Then you can find very thin Cat5 cables for the long runs.