HDMI Wiring Advice - In-Wall or Outside?

Sherm

I need to figure out the best way to get HDMI cables from my Cable Box and Audio Receiver to our Flat Screen TV, which is over a gas fireplace. I was thinking about how to get the wires through the wall and into the basement, which I've already done for speaker wire for the Receiver, but doing this for the Flat Screen is a little more complicated ... due to the Gas Fireplace. Then I thought that I might be better off going outside with the wires, in such a way as that I could hide them behind the Vinyl Siding, and then into the basement? They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so what do you think?

Sherm

Going outside with the wire seems like it would be much easier and would be a lot less work, but is there a downside? How weather resistant is HDMI Wire or do they have special HDMI Wire for going outside? How would I do this if I really wanted to do it "the right way"? This is what is looks like from outside ...

gregzoll

Proper way is to cut the drywall, so that you can pull all of the wires, then connect into a wall plate.

Sherm

Thanks for replying Greg! I was planning on cutting the drywall, then running the wires into the basement and connecting to wall plates on both sides (at the TV and at the Receiver Unit). The question I had was could the wires ever be run outside of the house? That would be easier, but does it have drawbacks?

Thanks again - Best regards,
John

gregzoll

No, because they are not made to be used outside.

Sherm

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of ... could always go this route:
http://www.outdoortvspot.com/departments_name_Outdoor-TV-Cables_path_11410.html

And ... for the price of those outdoor cables (50' for $175.00 ), I think I'll figure out how to run the cables down into the basement through the wall. Had a real tough time with the one I already did for the receiver ... routing lines outside ...



Thanks much for sharing your knowledge!

Best regards,
John

ferris13

Thought I would mention Wireless HDMI. Something to look into at least. When I ran mine I had now idea wireless existed.

Sherm

Wow, didn't know about Wireless HDMI either! Thanks Ferris13!

Anybody have any experience with Wireless HDMI?

Thanks - cheers!

tyhatts

I would be hesitant on wireless HDMI ..... I would think you wouldn't get the same quality as hard wired HDMI .

scriz

I have almost the exact same setup. I have a TV above my gas fireplace and I want to hook up my boxes/audio receiver in the corner of the room.

The goal is to keep all boxes organized in the corner, run HDMI up to the TV through the wall, and wire the room for surround sound from the audio receiver in the corner.

I have a crawlspace (instead of a basement) under the room, and it is easy access. My main concern is to run cables through the wall with the tv/fireplace, I'll have to deal with insulation. Also, will I even be able to get a cable up around the fireplace and out into the nook? I have never done this type of thing before either, so I don't want to run into any issues mid-project.

Any advice?

Sherm - did you decide on how you were going to do it? If so, how is it working out?

gregzoll

Easy way to do it is, Cut the drywall to install a conduit to be able to pull the wiring back up point to point. Even better way is to just forgo the install above the fireplace, and locate somewhere else in the room such as a cabinet that you can raise the Flatscreen out of if you want it out of sight when not in use, and equipment in a closet that has cooling for keeping the audio and video equipment cool.

Placing it above the fireplace just screams look at me, especially when the set is off. Look at some of the set ups in http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/cat.../installations and some of the other trade sites & magazines.

scriz

Sherm - have you done your wiring yet?

operagost

Being as HDMI is a fully digital format, I would expect that the image "quality" would be exactly the same. It will work, or it won't. There could be a marginal area where the signal could break up occasionally due to interference, but I don't call that a "quality" problem.

stvmcq

Wireless HDMI does work, but the setup to do so is rather pricey. If you want to go outside I would recommend doing HDMI over Cat 5. This gives you two components to connect HDMI on to from either end and allows the distance between to be run in data cable, (which is pretty inexpensive in bulk and can be run outdoors). HDMI cables can also be had very inexpensively up to 25 ft with no repeater to cover any extra distance.

HDMI cables here:

www.av-express.com

HDMI extenders here:

www.gefen.com

forresth

Keep it as short as possible. HDMI is not made for long runs. I have also had an atrocious DOA rate with HDMI cable, so test it before you hide it.