Subscriber Discussion

POE To NVR What Category Should Be Used?

JM
John Minster
•Mar 25, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I may be taking a leap of faith on this one but I'm thinking since you should use Cat6 to connect multiple switches, should you also be using Cat6 to connect a POE to an NVR?

JM
John Minster
•Mar 25, 2015
IPVMU Certified

How do I get this into the class discussion board?

MT
Matt Transue
•Mar 25, 2015
In reply to John Minster

Hey John,

To enter this directly into the Class discussion board, go to the class page and click on the 'Course Forum' link on the top right of the page.

This is where you can enter questions, comments, etc. that are limited to only those in the class.

Course Forum

SM
Steve Mitchell
•Mar 25, 2015

Hi John, I'm not positive what you mean by "a POE?" Are you refering to a POE IP camera device? If so, then it's not strictly necessary to use Cat6 for each individual IP camera to the NVR.

Cat6 provides better electrical characteristics than Cat5 demanded at higher bit rates. For example, 1Gbps, while within the specification, is pushing the Cat5 capabilties while Cat6 is designed to handle the greater bandwidth necessary for these higher bit rates. Cat6 at high bit rates is supposed to provide better immunity to noise and more consistent performance. Thus the instruction to use Cat6 for switch interconnections as those will aggregate traffic from multiple devices. But a single IP camera may only generate less than 10mbps, which is well within the capabilities of humble Cat5's lower bandwidth.

Note also that Cat6 is not just cable but also appropriate connectors and methods of wiring. So all components involved need to be considered for true Cat6 capabilities.

JM
John Minster
•Mar 25, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Thank you Matt, much appreciated.

Steve,

I have 24 HD IP cameras running to a POE, from there I've got one CAT5e running to the NVR for all the cameras. I'm now thinking that it is such a short run and that would negate the need for CAT6

MT
Matt Transue
•Mar 25, 2015
In reply to John Minster

Hey John,

Maybe I am missing something, but here is what I think.

Cat5e is rated up to 1 Gb/s. Cat6 is rated up to 10 Gb/s.

So unless your 24 cameras are requiring above 1 Gb/s (total), there will likely be no advantage to switching to Cat6.

What's most important here is to make sure you know how much total bandwidth all 24 cameras require. Also, be sure that the switches are interconnected using GbE ports (so there is no bottleneck on a 100 Mb/s interconnection).

For example, if each camera requires 6 Mb/s (6 Mb/s x 24 cameras = 144 Mb/s total)...so this would be well under the 1 Gb/s rating that Cat5e can support.

I know I'm generalizing here and again, maybe I am missing something. If so please let me know.

SM
Steve Mitchell
•Mar 25, 2015
In reply to Matt Transue

John you should be fine at 1Gbps and a short distance with Cat5. Longer distances would advise Cat6 (at 1Gbps).

JM
John Minster
•Mar 25, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Thank you Steve

Matt,

You're not missing anything, but I am. As soon as I saw your response I realized I could've figured this out myself.

Thanks for your help, greatly appreciated.

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