Pre-wiring for a flat panel TV and AV system

September 25, 2006 8:03 PM

Help me pre-wire my folks' new condo for a bitchin flat panel TV...

My folks are moving into a new condo next May. As a [surprise] gift for my Dad, and to appease my mom's desire for minimal clutter, I am going to wire their TV viewing area and install a new flat panel TV and speakers in advance. The contractor has agreed to pre-wire a designated area, for a price, essentially running wire from an area for an eventual console (DVD player, CD player, AV receiver, cable box - Comcast, not Direct TV, if that matters) to the area for the eventual flat panel, which I expect will be 40-45 inch size.

The contractor/low voltage contractor has suggested running the following from the console area to the TV site:
2 cat5 cables, 1 HDMI, and 1 coax cable, in addition to the center and side channel speaker wires.

My question to fellow MeFites, is, does this make sense? One AV geek said I should run at least three HDMI cables. My own confusion stems from the fact that I currently use component video cables in my own set-up from the Cable box to the TV. And the Cat5 has me totally buffaloed.

Lastly, they have suggested centering the TV at a height of 60 inches, which seems fine, but I'm open to advice. I assume they will be ten to fourteen feet back from the TV.

Any input/advice appreciated.

posted by docpops to technology (7 comments total)

This is why you run conduit.
posted by trevyn at 8:35 PM on September 25, 2006

I'm planning a similar setup and I'm going with a single HDMI cable in the wall with a home theater receiver that handles multiple HDMI ports (for HD cable, eventual xbox360, eventual HD-DVD/blu-ray DVD player, etc).

Currently I have four video inputs going to my plasma with a mess of wiring dangling behind it and I'd rather just have a simple set-up when I tear the wall open and run conduit, and just have all the cables going into the A/V amp instead.
posted by mathowie at 8:36 PM on September 25, 2006

Mathowie - I've heard that one can run multiple HDMI inputs to the AV receiver as well and wondered about that. So why the Cat5 cables?
posted by docpops at 8:54 PM on September 25, 2006

I'd say that's about right.

HDMI is higher quality than component, so you def want those. I have no idea why you'd want more than one however. As far as getting Cat5, definitely get that. In the (near?) future, TV will be coming from the internet, and this will allow you to stream directly. I would, however, see if they'll spring for cat6 or cat5e.

Of course, this is my uniformed opinion. You'll find much better advice at AVS Forum
posted by unexpected at 8:54 PM on September 25, 2006

The other cool thing about Cat5, is that it's a fairly robust way to run all sorts of other crap. You've got 8 wires (4 twisted pairs) in each cat5 cable, and you don't just have to use them for networking.

I've seen structured cable used to route audio signals and RS232 serial comms before. Sure it's not audiophile-grade stuff, but if you're handy with a soldering iron it's fairly simple to build a cat5-to-dual-coax adapter, or many other things. Heck I bet people sell cat5 adapters for stuff.

Hey lookie here: a home-built cat5-vga converter, and a professional cat5-SVGA+audio converter.

Just don't try running optical TOSLINK or SPDIF over cat5 ;-)
posted by pivotal at 9:22 PM on September 25, 2006

Hmm.. From the console area (where all your AV equipment will be, except the actual display and speakers) to the TV.. It is the console area that will have all the fancy stuff going on..

I'm thinking you shouldn't need multiple HDMI from the console to TV location, because you will be switching the signal at the console location.

On the other hand, I think you want to be able to drive all of the TVs inputs. So, put an s-video and a second coaxial cable for composite (modulated tv-cable, and composite video are both 75-ohm coaxial cable). Maybe even a third coaxial, so you can drive it as component video or a combination of composite and modulated cable signal.

You also want an ethernet connection, because odds are some TVs be playing video straight from the home network pretty soon (and who knows what else). I don't see how a second ethernet cable will do any good in this particular spot - from console to display.

If they call it cat5, it is almost guaranteed to be cat5e, but it doesn't hurt to check..

Conduit is great, but if it is long, or if there are more than a couple of bends, the friction gets too high to pull cable. Then you need to use lubricant.. In this application, it is likely that the distance is short and fairly direct, so maybe a run of 1" conduit would be best.

And I second the AVS forum suggestion..
posted by Chuckles at 10:29 PM on September 25, 2006

Matt, as far as I know, the Xbox 360 doesn't have any kind of HDMI output support, or any planned. I would bet the Wii won't either.

Either way, I would fully advise 3 pairs for Y/Pr/Pb; and, hey, while we're being backward-compatible, a pair for composite.

So, sounds like this is covered by the second Cat5; I'm sure it will work, but is Cat5 ideal for this? Isn't most Component/Composite cable coaxially shielded, and not just twisted-pair?
posted by blenderfish at 10:47 PM on September 25, 2006