# Cat 5/Ethernet Signal Problem



## highrisen (Dec 21, 2011)

Help! I was trying to hook up Netflix to Panasonic BluRay player thru a 50' Cat 5 cable. 

First cable was a cheap $5 from ebay then upgraded to $38 cable from Best Buy. The BluRay was on a tv in a different room - I ran the cable over/under the hardwood floor to test. Each cable had signal distortion resulting in constant freezing of the picture during the movie.

I moved the bluray in to the room with the router and hooked up to the tv there, ran the cheap cable around the room so it wouldn't be coiled - picture was fine. So I set the BluRay back up in the other room and disconnected the other ethernet cables from the router (in attempt to strengthen the signal to one cable) and the original problem persisted. 

I have to assume it takes a significant amount of interference given that contractors run 12 strands of cat 5 through 1" conduit and they do not crosstalk even then. 

What could possibly be the reason for the problems with the cable stretched and encountering no other sources of interference? :twisted:


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## threephi (Mar 9, 2011)

Hook that Ethernet cable up to a laptop and see how it communicates and what the speeds are. Also, is there any chance that the Blu-Ray player is picking up a weak wireless signal from somewhere and using it, overriding the CAT5 you've plugged in?


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## threephi (Mar 9, 2011)

This is another theory. . . Is it possible that the different TV set has something to do with this.

It would make sense for the player to limit the resolution of the Netflix content based on the resolution of the television. It's possible that in your test setup near the router you end up only downloading SD content from Netflix. SD content requires less bandwidth, hence it might work.

Can you move the router closer to the actual set-up when you test it next time?


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## threephi (Mar 9, 2011)

I would like to know what ends up happening with this. Please keep us up to date.


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