fiber optic cable

[msgchef]

Found the Belkin banana cable with 2 cat5e, 2rg6 quad and 2 strand fiber optic. Seems the way to go for my new construction.
I think most of us know cat and rg cable hookup, but I am clueless about fiber optic cable usage, hookup etc. Can it be terminated to hdmi inputs? I know there is a transmitter and receiver but I haven't seen any schematics showing this usage. Anyone care to offer a tutuorial? thanks

 

[mtrycrafts]

....
I think most of us know cat and rg cable hookup, but I am clueless about fiber optic cable usage, hookup etc. Can it be terminated to hdmi inputs? I know there is a transmitter and receiver but I haven't seen any schematics showing this usage. Anyone care to offer a tutuorial? thanks

Don't think so. Fiber is for digital optical signals and it has its own connectors. HDMI uses electrical signals through it, no mix and match.

 

[msgchef]

Don't think so. Fiber is for digital optical signals and it has its own connectors. HDMI uses electrical signals through it, no mix and match.

How is it used as in Verizon FIOS? What would its application be in a home av system? It appears it is not worth the $ to build it into the walls today for future usage.
thanks

 

[TLS Guy]

How is it used as in Verizon FIOS? What would its application be in a home av system? It appears it is not worth the $ to build it into the walls today for future usage.
thanks

Fiber optic cable uses pulses of light to transmit digital data. Fiber optic cable has very high bandwidth. It is a little fragile.

Who knows what cables you will need down the road? Very likely some form of optical cabling will be required in future HT set ups. In addition to high bandwidth it electrically isolates equipment and does not set up ground loops

Don't just bury wires in walls, use conduit. Putting any wire in a wall not in conduit is a daft mistake.

 

[Seth=L]

The only use for optical in home audio is for SPDIF transmission. Another name for this type of physical connection is Toslink. This type of connection can be used to connect a CD player, DVD player, Gaming system, certain audio cards on computers, satellite receivers, and many other sources to a home theater receiver or preamp/processor. It is used for the transmission of 2 channel PCM, Dolby Digital and DTS bitstreams to a capable receiver or processor for decoding.

An example of Toslink is shown below.

An example of Toslink inputs on a receiver...

And Toslink output on a DVD player (the rca connector next to the optical serves the same purpose, it is known as Coaxial).

 

[markw]

Not being able to use FIOS yet, from what I understand it's converted into standard 75 ohm coaxial before it gets inside your house, or immediately afterwards.

 

[Seth=L]

Not being able to use FIOS yet, from what I understand it's converted into standard 75 ohm coaxial before it gets inside your house, or immediately afterwards.

FiOS has a box the install that handles are the processing (that's what the fiber optic line comes into). For there it is coaxial, which has plenty of bandwidth over such short distances. Electrical bandwidth still has more potential at the moment than optical. Comcast is already talking about retooling and making a higher bandwidth electrical service to compete with FiOS (even though it's not necessary as FiOS doesn't even know what to do with all the extra bandwidth capabilities they have now).

The Modem/Router that FiOS provides uses a heavy gauge coaxial, I am not sure of the impedance rating, but they had to electrically test the cable with a handheld computer of sorts before they installed it.

 

[palmharbor]

fiberoptic fragile

I had to replace my two fiber optic TOSLINK cables as they
refused to work as my length is over 20 feet from the DVD
and HD Cable box to my Emotiva LMC-1. I use exclusively
coaxial cable ....its much cheaper and utterly reliable.

 

[Seth=L]

I had to replace my two fiber optic TOSLINK cables as they
refused to work as my length is over 20 feet from the DVD
and HD Cable box to my Emotiva LMC-1. I use exclusively
coaxial cable ....its much cheaper and utterly reliable.

I don't like optical, for the record, for reasons like these.

 

[mtrycrafts]

How is it used as in Verizon FIOS? What would its application be in a home av system? It appears it is not worth the $ to build it into the walls today for future usage.
thanks

In the future, if you get FiOS, then you possibly could take advantage of fiber but then, that cable needs to be at the feed-point in on the house. If you are wiring the whole house, then it is a different story but then, you may not want it bundled as you don't need the other stuff in the bundle from that point to a central distribution of that Fios.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Not being able to use FIOS yet, from what I understand it's converted into standard 75 ohm coaxial before it gets inside your house, or immediately afterwards.

But, would it be possible to use fiber in the house and forgo the coax in that use?

 

[markw]

why?

But, would it be possible to use fiber in the house and forgo the coax in that use?

There's no consumer products that I can think of that can do anything with the raw optical feed. One would need a converter on every device in order to use it.

 

[mtrycrafts]

There's no consumer products that I can think of that can do anything with the raw optical feed. One would need a converter on every device in order to use it.

Come to think of it that way, yep.

 

[TLS Guy]

Come to think of it that way, yep.

An optical cable can only transmit a digital signal, as there is only light or no light.

Now fiber optic cables do have a lot of advantages. They have huge bandwidth, that is why they are the backbone of the Internet. They don't carry current, minimizing loss issues. They don't cause ground loops.

If I were putting together an HT system of preamp processor and powered speakers optical cable to connect the units would be my first choice. I think this will come. That is why it is and mistake to put HT cable in walls that is not in conduit, and that includes speaker wire. Really it is a pity the HDMI was not a optical interface. I suspect what eventually replaces it will be.