Longest firewire? alternative wiring?

[rlcoach]

I am looking to get an ADVC-100 but sadly my PC is upstairs and my video source is downstairs. Does anyone know how long a good quality Firewire cable can be before you have to use a repeater of some kind?

If anyone can think of an alternative way of connection, that would be useful, as I am running out ideas. I hate wiring but want as best a quality a solution as possible. The fixed parameters are video source downstairs, pc upstairs and my house is networked with ethernet 100mbps.

[MrMungus]

Why can't you run a video cable upstairs?

[rlcoach]

I did think about that but I dont have much room for running cables around the house and moving the video and sound will mean running lots of cables as I would be cabling video and audio both ways.

[MrMungus]

I did think about that but I dont have much room for running cables around the house and moving the video and sound will mean running lots of cables as I would be cabling video and audio both ways.

It doesn't take that much room to run a cable. Can't you just drop a cable from the second floor the the first down inside the wall then cut a hole in the wall to connect it? Seems pretty simple to me.

[OmegaSupreme]

The maximum length for a firewire cable is 15ft. There are repeater cables that will give you an additional 15ft and can be chained together, but they cost ~ $30 a cable. If this is a long run, it can get costly. The maximum length even with the repeater cables is ~225 ft.

[BJ_M]

there are ultra high quality 30 and 32 foot firewire cables that work just fine .. like these http://www.granitedigital.com/catalog/pg18_firewirecables.htm

[rlcoach]

I did think about that but I dont have much room for running cables around the house and moving the video and sound will mean running lots of cables as I would be cabling video and audio both ways.

It doesn't take that much room to run a cable. Can't you just drop a cable from the second floor the the first down inside the wall then cut a hole in the wall to connect it? Seems pretty simple to me.

I am afraid that my diy skills are non-existent, who knows what horror I could unleash with a drill. My skills are more in the area of computer programming but that doesnt really help in this case . All the cabling I have done so far is pinning cables around the skirting boards and tucking under the carpets

[MrMungus]

I am afraid that my diy skills are non-existent, who knows what horror I could unleash with a drill. My skills are more in the area of computer programming but that doesnt really help in this case . All the cabling I have done so far is pinning cables around the skirting boards and tucking under the carpets

Bah. It's not hard. Hole in wall, drop cable, hole in other wall, pull cable. You can do it!

[daznic]

I have the same problem as you but only have to span about 6 metres to the other side of the room. After decorating, the wife wont let me pin a cable to the skirting up pull up the carpet !
I did think of a wireless video sender & keeping the ADVC at the PC.
Do you think there would be a loss in Video/Audio quality though ?
Anyone out there used one of these ?
I too would be grateful of a good solution !

[rlcoach]

I was thinking of using a wireless video sender, I`m sure its fine for watching satellite on a monitor but I have doubts on whether it would be good enough to record video to dvd.

[painkiller]

Even if the overall distance isn't too considerable, and you want a good job done right - you may wish to consider having a professional install the wiring for you.

This results in: excellent signal distribution, capturing quality, keeps the home looking nice, etc. Might be worth it to pay to have it done.

Shouldn't be too expensive. (But I couldn't guess.)