Enter to Win: Custom Wall Plates and T-Shirts from DVIGear

Tom Andry

Tom Andry

Speaker of the House
DVIGear wants your opinion about DVI and HDMI Wall Plates
…and we’re willing to give you the shirt off our backs for it !​

We’re giving away a custom DVI or HDMI wall plate to ten (10) randomly selected winners ($70 MSRP) that respond to the questions below. In addition, ten (10) randomly selected winners will receive an attractive DVIGear T-Shirt in the size of their choice. Each wall plate and T-Shirt will be delivered to the respective winners at absolutely no charge.

To be eligible to win, you must: 1) Be a registered Audioholics forum member, 2) Answer the questions below in the forum. To be eligible, you must respond to ALL questions:

1) When designing or installing a home theater system, do you always terminate cable runs into finished wall plates? Please explain your preferences.

2) What are the most important Audio and Video connector types you need to have on a custom wall plate? Examples:

Audio: Stereo Audio, Coaxial Digital, Toslink, 3.5 mm, etc.
Video: DVI, HDMI, Component Video, S-Video, Composite Video, etc.​
3) If you won this contest, what type of custom wall plate should we build for you? Please click on the link to the website below to explore all the possibilities.


READ MORE about DVIGear’s Custom Wall Plates
 
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J

Josuah

Senior Audioholic
1) No, I would use wall plates and run cables within the walls, ceiling, and floor if it was easy. But since it is cheaper and easier for me to run them outside the walls, that's what I do. When I get a dedicated room, running them through the walls and using wall plates would be my choice.

2) Since all my gear would be in the same place except for the projector and speakers, DVI/HDMI and Component would be the most important, followed by binding posts for speakers.

3) I would choose a wall plate with DVI, HDMI, and component video on it.
 
S

SKINNER

Junior Audioholic
1) When designing or installing a home theater system, do you always terminate cable runs into finished wall plates? Please explain your preferences.

Yes. As a matter of fact, I just bought a new house and this will be one of my first projects. There's nothing worse that speaker cables running out in the open. ;)

2) What are the most important Audio and Video connector types you need to have on a custom wall plate? Examples:

Since I don't have a dedicated theater room all my equipment stays in the rack next to my TV. So the only thing I'm looking for in wall plates are posts for 5.1/7.1 surround.


3) If you won this contest, what type of custom wall plate should we build for you? Please click on the link to the website below to explore all the possibilities.

Speaker distribution plates. 1 main plate with 4 hookups for my 2 rear surrounds and front channels. Also, 4 plates for each of the above mentioned speakers. Do you have plates with connections for a sub?
 
L

lbjazz

Audioholic Intern
1)
I have never had the luxury but one day when I'm not poor and living in an apartment everything is going to have plates. I cann't stand the look of wires running out of a hole in the wall. Plates make everything look organized and it makes my setup look more expensive and impressive.

2)
Audio - Besides plain old binding posts for all the speakers, Stereo audio and digital coax

Video - component and hdmi

3)
I'd want a massive speaker distribution plate that i can use someday down the road.
 
Tomorrow

Tomorrow

Audioholic Ninja
1. Absolutely. Speaker wire and cat5 cable would taking over the house without them. I wish I would have built in more.

2. I'd love to move my HDMI into the wall. Stereo audio, too.

3. Oh, my. It would be delightful to have all the speakers neatly id'ed, HDMI nestled for long runs, and stereo audio.
 
B

Babyface

Enthusiast
1) I would consider it, especially for speaker wires. I would also incluse wall plates if I kept my components on rack away from my display.

2) The most important audio connectors would be for speaker wire and a digital coax or toslink and stereo audio so I could connect my pc to my receiver. For video, I would want component video for the time being, and dvi or hdmi for connecting bideo from my pc to my TV. Right now I don't have a digital television, but in the uture I'd like to upgrade.

3) I would want a wall plate with dvi, toslink and two speaker terminations for connecting my rear speakers.
 
B

BobBart

Audioholic
1. I haven't used wall plates because my wires come up under the floor. I do think the plates look better if running cables in the wall.
2.I would need coaxial,dvi,toslink,composite,component and standard audio.
3.I would go with computer connections,component and rca in the almond color.
 
S

s002wjh

Junior Audioholic
1) No, because for it is much easier for me to run them outside the walls.

2) Since all my gear would be in the same place except for the speakers, DVI/HDMI and Component would be the most important, followed by binding posts for speakers.

3) I would choose a wall plate with HDMI.
 
jcPanny

jcPanny

Audioholic Ninja
HT Wiring

1) When designing or installing a home theater system, do you always terminate cable runs into finished wall plates? Please explain your preferences.

Yes, wall plates are preferred for all audio and video connections, however, due to the high cost of additional DVI, HDMI, or component video cables, I would skip the wall plate for these connections.


2) What are the most important Audio and Video connector types you need to have on a custom wall plate? Examples:

Speaker level audio: (main L/R, surrounds, surround backs, Zone 2).
Line level audio: (zone 2/3)
Video: Svideo or component video.
Other: Volume controls, A/B switches, etc.
 
T

talannar

Junior Audioholic
1) When designing or installing a home theater system, do you always terminate cable runs into finished wall plates? Please explain your preferences.

If I were building a home, or completely remodeling a room I would run wall plates. However, the expense is too great, so I will end up running my wires outside the walls.

2) What are the most important Audio and Video connector types you need to have on a custom wall plate?

Surround posts for speakers (5.1/7.1 and Zone 2) is a definite. I wouldn't mind DVI/HDMI since I would like to keep the DVD player with the rest of my equipment and not have to move it to be nearer the projector I'm hoping to get.


3) If you won this contest, what type of custom wall plate should we build for you? Please click on the link to the website below to explore all the possibilities.

1 main plate with 9 hookups for 7 speaker surround and 2 speakers for Zone 2; 10 Hookups if you can do a subwoofer connection. I'd also like HDMI or DVI, but I'm not positive which one at this time, and a connection for my PC's sound card.
 
chriscmore

chriscmore

Junior Audioholic
1) I didn't, as running the cables through walls was too difficult anyway. Plus, the added set of terminations and the additional set of cables are not worth the price, IMO. For the first issue, I built an oak 4" box beam that concealed the cables and worked to divide the room from the dark (dark ceiling, etc) home theater to the lighter office area. For the second issue, unless it's a cost-insensitive issue, I subscribe to using hollow electrical boxes (sold as box "extenders"), buying another box just for the little drywall tabs, and then covering it with a spring-loaded outdoor electrical cover. It's then just a hole that normal cables can be run through, yet looks quite finished. Actually, it doesn't then stick out as far from the wall as connections would, as the spring cover effectively clamps the cables nice and neat.

I would never run primary (L/C/R) speaker cables through walls with terminal boxes - I'm too much of an audiophile with those garden hose size cables.

2) In order of importance:
Video - HDMI (with a secure-lock system), component, composite (could be used for Toslink if necessary). S-video is worthless, DVI is great with it's lock system, but otherwise waning.

Audio - 4 speaker (for surrounds only), or 4 RCA, Optical, Toslink

3) HDMI (with a secure-lock system), component video
 
D

djoxygen

Full Audioholic
1) I am just starting our home theater remodel. We are going to use finished wall plates for everything. Ethernet, Co-ax, audio (XLR) and video (for sure digital, maybe analog too).

2) DVI/HDMI, XLR, Co-Ax, Ethernet. (component is less important)

3) I think I have enet/coax covered, so DVI/HDMI and XLR in one plate would be sweet.
 
A

albasbal

Enthusiast
1.) I do like to terminate connections at wall plates. I feel it is better than leaving a wire hanging through a hole that could be damaged an hard to replace

2.) Audio: toslink, b/c if you're running cable through walls it is probably long distance and my preference is toslink is better, though more expensive
Video: DVI and HDMI whatever I'd design would have to have those connectivity. I doubt I'll ever use the latter ever again

3.) At the source of all the equipment I would only be interconnecting the reciever to video sources and speakers. So I would only see the necesity for one plate with HDMI, DVI to send video to TV/projector, and Stereo Audio, toslink, SPDIF to recieve audio.
One plate with binding posts for sending 7.1 channel to speakers (possibly in a one of the dual junction boxes since it would be large).
 
V

varkeast

Junior Audioholic
1) I used Terminators for my in wall speaker cable, that is the only inwall install i have done

2) Audio: 5 way binding for speakers, RCA for spdif, stereo audio
Video: HDMI, Component, 15pin dsub for computer


3) I would like something that gave me HDMI, 15pin dsub for Computer, and 3 RCA for spdif and stereo audio, and if possible some sort of USB passthrough for control. This way i can move my loud PC to another room.
 
A

abboudc

Audioholic Chief
1) Always? No. But if i have the option to and it's feasible, i do. If the wall isn't open, i won't cut into it and will just run the cables under the carpet and/or floor.

2) speaker level and cat5.

3) Most of the 'run' wires in my house are speaker wire. All of the others are in very close proximity to where they need to be and wouldn't benefit from in wall wiring. So speaker level and cat5.
 
M

MrMezz

Enthusiast
1) When designing or installing a home theater system, do you always terminate cable runs into finished wall plates? Please explain your preferences.

It really depends on the situation. If the cables are run into a room where the wire will be evidently visable I will terminate. If we run to a bookshelf where a plate looks bad we don't terminate. We never terminate any run in an equipment closet.

2) What are the most important Audio and Video connector types you need to have on a custom wall plate?
I find that most Video for rear projection sets is terminated whether it's DVI, HDMI or Component. Front Projectors are never terminated.
We use termination often for audio.

3) If you won this contest, what type of custom wall plate should we build for you? I would like a custom wall plate to plug in XBox 360. This would include component video and Toslink.
 
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bwood

bwood

Enthusiast
I have never run cables in the wall due to the complexities, but if i were to build a new room/house i would definitely finish it off with wall plates


Audio: at least connectors for 5.1, 7.1 if future proofing. Also need rca for spdif, not sure about termination of toslink to a panel unless you can get the signal loss due to the connection way down

video: HDMI, component. no need for the old composite/svideo garbage any more.


I would like a panel with HDMI and 5.1 analog RCA jacks
 
R

r.beckman

Audiophyte
Wall Plate Requirements

1. Designing home theater system wiring:

Ideally, each design incorporates all validated near-term requirements and thus can be immediately completed in the desired style, fit, and finish. This most certainly includes wall plates.

Sometimes new home customers, especially those installing structured wiring solutions, anticipate other needs and pre-wire to enable future options. In this case, the customer may choose to terminate these wires later.

Common video wiring configurations in recent years have included Composite, S-Video, and Component Video have been ubiquitous along with RGBHV used on projectors, and VGA used on computer video. With HDTV came new configurations capable of higher definition video (such as DVI) along with multi-channels of audio (HDMI). The convenience of a single, high-definition cable with one connection point to do it all is highly desirable.

In summary, know your requirements and anticipated needs. Finish now what you can and pull added wire for likely future needs. Always use quality materials. Unused pre-wire cost at time of initial construction is a fraction of the cost, difficulty, repair, and clean-up your likely to incur later.

2. Most important audio/video connector types:

Today, DVI or HDMI as well as IEEE1394 (Firewire), USB, RJ45 (networks), and provision for one or more RG-6 terminations are the most important.

Earlier mentioned were the pre-eminent values of DVI/HDMI connections. The other connection types deserve further explanation as their future importance may not be obvious even to those familiar with their common use today.

USB, RG-6 (with appropriate termination), RJ-45, and Firewire are quite different and typically serve distinct applications. However, they have some characteristics that keep them in the mix for our continuing interest. These characteristics are:

• They are universal standards, common, and fairly inexpensive
• Each has a capacity for high resolution and high speed digital content and signaling (audio/video and controls)
• Designers have used these standards for new innovations in our converging digital world of communications, computing, and A/V

This last point would not be real if it wasn’t for the first two points. This is the essence of why these four connection types remain important to the consumer. In a digital world, the ability to inexpensively deliver high-resolution imagery and sound to desired locations for a variety of current and still unanticipated applications is very important.

It is important to note that older connection types may be very important in typical environment to enable continued use of existing components.

You may have noticed that newly announced products immediately studied and discussed by enthusiasts. They wonder about the type, number, and flexibility of their digital connections. Flexibly delivering hi-def signals, securely, is critical today.

Content owners need to protect their intellectual capital from wanton, wholesale copying. Yet, they must facilitate easy enjoyment by legitimate consumers. For a solution, designers must have “control” signaling to manage high-resolution streams of encrypted content. The most important of these are the DVI or HMDI and to a much lesser extent IEEE1394. Of course, security is not the only critical element driving future A/V connectivity. Basic technological innovation remains a very strong undercurrent of the entire A/V world. Consider these two recent crossover or hybrid innovations:

• NetStreams DigiLinx products distribute high-resolution data (digital audio content bits and control signals) over an extended network segment of an Ethernet LAN. Polkaudio developed two speaker systems (LC265i-IP and LC80i-IP) that work with NetStreams products and CAT5e networks.
• Coaxsys creates products that impose on a standard RG-6 coax (F connectors) a TCP/IP network. Specifically, this solution adds an IP network in a frequency band above the other standard frequency bands in which local FM and TV broadcasts (via local antennas) and cable TV (standard, digital, and special channels) broadcasts are found.

The above examples demonstrate novel new ways older, but capable, technologies serve high quality audio/video services. Most consumers are unaware that in the first example above, this design has the potential for a closed-loop system to optimize the audio for the room environment. The best known example of a closed-loop room calibration system comes from DEQX with their Calibrated NHT Xd speakers. This solution may be the most significant advance in quality audio in decades.


3. Desired custom wall plate:

The custom wall plate I need requires connections for HDMI, RJ-45, as well as either a special 13-pin connector or four (minimum) RG-6 terminations and ideally up to six. This combination deserves an explanation.

We have already established why the HDMI interface is important and how IP-based speakers may become the solution for taming many rooms. An RJ-45 connector may also obtain your music collection on network-attached servers (NAS) or for accessing Internet radio using your Roku Soundbridge or Slim Devices Squeezebox 3.

Including four, five, or six RG-6 connectors may seem excessive to some. An option described later may offer an elegant alternative. So why would anyone need or want so many RG-6 connections? Flexibility is why! An RG-6 Quadshield cable can deliver, at highest quality, any RF analog or digital audio/video signal of interest.

Versatility can be accomplished using a specific connector type (F, RCA, and BNC) and one or more strands. Briefly, here is a sample list of common interfaces, the connector type, and the number of strands:

• Audio – RCA – 2 (analog, stereo)
• Audio – RCA – 1 (digital audio – stereo; 5.1; and 7.1)
• RF – F – 1 (analog RF antenna signals, cable broadband & TV, and IP computer networking including VOIP telephony)
• Video – RCA – 1 (Composite Video)
• Video – RCA – 3 (Component Video)
• Video – RCA or BNC – 5 (RGBHV – Red, Green, Blue, Horizontal & Vertical sync)

We arrived at a minimum count of four for digital audio and component video. This combination equals what can be delivered (less security) by a single HMDI cable. The maximum of six accounts for digital audio and RGBHV used in many projection situations.

Finally we must discuss computer video (VGA) signals. A variation of VGA is found on most computers. A combination of RG-6 wires can be used to deliver VGA signals by applying conversion connectors sold by several manufacturers. This type of flexibility led to the recent availability of a combination of wiring or bulk cabling.

Liberty markets a wiring product solution (EZ-LINX) that more elegantly achieves this broad flexibility. This solution combines multiple wires with a special 13-pin connector on each end. If this 13-pin connection was built into my custom wall plate with an HMDI and a RJ-45 connector that is really all I would need!
 
Bryce_H

Bryce_H

Senior Audioholic
1) When designing or installing a home theater system, do you always terminate cable runs into finished wall plates? Please explain your preferences.

No, and I don't either. I just finished a dedicated home theater in the basement and I bought plates with pass throughs for all my connections (speakers and video). Its just one more link in a chain (which may end up being the weakest link) and another area for problems to occur.

2) What are the most important Audio and Video connector types you need to have on a custom wall plate? Examples:

I think if you had a complete home wired - it would be benefitial to have speaker (RCA) and video (HDMI, DVI, Component) The other connection are primarily between components.


3) If you won this contest, what type of custom wall plate should we build for you? Please click on the link to the website below to explore all the possibilities.

plate with 5 stero speaker leads and 1 sub RCA cable. 5 stereo plates and 1 RCA plate (for living room 5.1 system)
 
J

jmhm2003

Audiophyte
1) I would only use in wall wiring and wall plates if starting from scratch.

2) I want to have the source in a different room sometimes so DVI, HDMI, Toslink and Digital Audio

3) Same as number 2.
 
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