Hook Me Up (1 Viewer)

[no respect]

O.K. I've been getting great help and useful advice since I began bombarding you guys with questions.

Now, here is another one that I am kind of freaking out over. I am doing a 55-60 inch flat screen on a wall mount. I'm not a rack kind of guy but more of a nice piece of furniture guy for the electronics to be set below the tv. I'm freaking out over my connections from the components to the tv. I, of course don't want any wires/cords showing. I think my family room system has just the hdmi from the cable box to the tv. In my basement ht the set up won't be much different.

There will be a receiver, dvd, cable box and possibly an amp for transducers. ( I may be answering my own question here) Could I run an hdmi cable in pvc within the wall from the box to the tv?

 

[Al.Anderson]

I'm not sure why you need the PVC. What you do want in is-wall rated cable. (Does the use of a PVC channel eliminate the need for in-wall wiring? Not sure about that one, but I'd use in-wall wiring anyway.)


Either way, you should be aware that running peripheral connections directly to your TV will often (as in almost always) not provide true surround sound. Most TVs only send a true surround signal out of their optical output for their tuner (so over the air signals or QAM). If you have a cable box, DVD player, or game system connected the TV will only send out stereo, and you will wind up with simulated surround using something like PL II. So bottom line, you want to run everything to your receiver, and then run the HDMI from the receiver to the TV. If that has to be in-wall then so be it (use the in-wall cable for that).

 

[Jason Charlton]

For an easy way to route an HDMI cable through the wall and out behind the TV, consider using a pair of these wallplates combined with a pair of these mounting brackets.


The openings in the wallplates are plenty large enough that you will be able to fish the HDMI cable (connectors and all) cleanly and easily.

 

[David Willow]

If you have to go the 'pvc' route, check out Wiremold. They make very nice channeling that may match your walls. You can find Wiremold at Home Depot.

 

[no respect]

Thanks all for your help. These are great ideas. Al, the reason for pvc is just so the cables are in a confined space in case I have to replace or add. I did not know about wall rated cables for hdmi. Thank you for that info. Yes, I will go through my receiver for the surround sound.

Jason, very interested in those wall plates.

 

[Robert_J]

Originally Posted by no respect

the reason for pvc is just so the cables are in a confined space in case I have to replace or add.

Your wall cavity is a confined space. I used similar faceplates and mounting brackets except I went with a triple gang setup and a matching wall plate - http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-617 This allowed me to run my wires for all speakers as well as my sub and my antenna through the wall plate. I did have to change the RCA in the AUX position of the wall plate to an F connector.


In my ceiling, I used a wall-plate similar to the one Jason linked to but it also has an electrical outlet. That allowed my projector to plug into the ceiling and I could run both HDMI and component video to it.