Hiding cables for wall mounted LED TV?

[holden_stroker]

Hi everyone, currently we are building a new house and im trying to organise my cabling for my home theatre.

Im going to mount my TV on the wall, with a base cabinet underneath with my receiver, dvd player etc in it. Just wondering what options I have as far as hiding the cables behind the wall goes. I was thinking of getting a power point put in at the level my TV will be at which will hide my power lead. As for my antenna lead, HDMI cable, and RCA cables I thought my best option would be to have a wall socket behind the TV and then another one down lower behind the cabinet. Is this the way I should do it?

And if so, it looks like I may need two wall sockets because I cant find one that has the connections I need on it.

I was looking at something like this which will at least cover RCA and HDMI.

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Trying to sort it out now before the electrician and plasterer come through.

Cheers.

[Adam]

In addition to the wall plates, I suggest having a pipe (such as PVC) running between the wall plates for the video/audio connections. That will make it easier in the future to run additional/different wires if you decide to do that.

Btw, I burst out laughing when I saw your screen name.

[holden_stroker]

Hi there, thanks for that. Good idea about the cables in a pipe. Yes my name actually comes from the "HSV 5.7-litre '350 Harrop Stroker' V8"

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[Adam]

Yes my name actually comes from the "HSV 5.7-litre '350 Harrop Stroker' V8"

Ahhh, not what I was thinking. My mind is still in high school.

[holden_stroker]

Ahhh, not what I was thinking. My mind is still in high school.

haha... Yes I have now chosen not to use the username anymore. It was fine on a car related forum LOL.

[ss2nv]

I would just cut two holes in the sheetrock, one behind the tv and one behind the av cabinet (assuming it will be directly below the tv) and fish the cables up inside the wall. You can get trim rings from Home Depot to clean up the holes some.

[Hi Ho]

The simplest solution is big mouth plates:

http://images3.cableorganizer.com/da...-cable-app.jpg

Simply run the wires from end to end. This reduces the number of connections and also the possibility of problems at connection points.

You can also use keystone plates with insert jacks.

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If you're having outlets installed make sure you take into consideration the height that you want to mount the TV and the type of mount you will use. If the outlet ends up in such a place that you cannot put the mount where you want then it is just another hassle.

Plan ahead. Definitely install conduit.

[BMXTRIX]

Conduit is not at all necessary if you have a straight shot between the TV location and the equipment location. If there is some barrier (wall stud) you need to get around, then definitely put in at least 1.25" conduit. Do NOT run your cables in this! Leave the conduit open for future cabling.

Make sure you pull your cable/antenna feed where you want the cable box to be. This typically is NOT to the TV location. But, if you need it there, then perhaps pull two feeds.

Run HDMI to the TV (at least one piece, but several if you aren't using an A/V receiver. Also, run cat6 cable as you will want network at the TV as well as at the A/V equipment location. Consider any video gaming that may need cables (Wii/X360Kinect) and plan for a way to get those in place as well.

Directly below the TV for equipment makes it super easy to run cables later. But, if you intend to put surround sound in place, you need to run the right cables and you need to do it before drywall goes up.

[Adam]

Conduit is not at all necessary if you have a straight shot between the TV location and the equipment location.

Agreed, but I mentioned it because my parents recently did something similar with a hole behind the TV location and a hole directly below it closer to the floor (and equipment). However, they put insulation in the wall. Uggg. So, running cables was more difficult. So, it was kind of a straight shot, but maybe not really. If they had put in a pipe, they could have just slid the cables down through it.

[Rickster71]

Just to add a point or two:
Try to run the low voltage on the opposite side of the stud from the high voltage, or even opposite sides of the stud cavity.