tv wiring
 

will begin building some bookshelves and cabinets for tv/dvd/etc, soon.
I'd like to control the spider nest of cables as best as possible. I'm sure there are panels for doing this sort of thing. anyone w/ any experience?
Anyone designed such a system? I'd like to consider all things as I put together my plan.

http://www.tycromedia.com/images/Pri...0P1310ATVD.jpg

This is a TV/DD combo. Only one cord.

Hope this helps.

damn baseball player......

:D

I set up my own system, though I didn't build shelves and cabinets. I just purchased the shelves and such.

What I did to make it simple to keep track of which cables were which, was used different colored cable ties like these:

http://www.toptimegroup.com/electric...Cable_ties.jpg

For the DVD player, I used three red ties - one near where you plug the cables into the DVD player, one near where you plug the cables into the TV and one around the middle so I know which was the DVD player. I used yellow for the stereo - I use my stereo speakers for external tv speakers. It's color coded like that.

I hope this is more helpful than my simple home theater suggestion.

It really depends on what equipment you have. I recommend using an AV Receiver. Assuming you get a quality one, you can connect all the gear up to that, and then connect that to the TV.

If you're building the entertainment center yourself, just make sure you give yourself plenty of room around your gear. Overheated electronics is one of the biggest factors that decrease their life. I would even recommend a built-in fan in the back of the cabinet to help keep things cool.

You can also find tubing that will consolidate your cables into one 'bunch', to keep the wires from being all over the place. If you want to go on the cheap, just use some PVC pipe attached to the back of the shelves (behind the backing, obviously). You can run the cords through the pipe.

Oh - and avoid having equipment stacked on other equipment. It doesn't help out with the heat issue...

we have a cool built in our place.

I like it for 3 reasons:

1. Simple design....NO shelves, so no way to load shelves up with crap and clutter.

2. 3 Storage cabinets underneath....left cabinet for all components, middle cabinet for sub, as well as kids toys, right cabinet for more kids toys. All toys are out of sight.

3. We used framed speaker screen instead of an all wood cabinet door. The result is that you cannot even see the components. but since the speaker screen is porous, we can use our remotes normally and keep the cabinet doors closed.

I also echo Spaz's suggestion that there be enough room in the back for cooling and air circulation.

Thanks gang.
The equipment we have is: dvr, dvd, surround sound receiver, vcr. The plan is to build built-ins on either side of the fireplace and hang the tv above the mantle. So, I want to run all the wires behind things. I was hoping to find some kind of panel that I can mount in the back of the shelving unit. Something to plug the various video cables to the TV ports and the speaker wires. Then, another panel to mount behind the tv w/ the inputs to plug into the tv.
Mr. Google is not finding me such things, but maybe they have a particular name.... ?
But, I like the pvc pipe option if I can't find such a thing.
Are there any super neat gizmos coming down the pike that I should consider before covering up all my wiring routes?

Or maybe I should just go w/ IPU's hi-techaroni.

The closest thing I've ever found to what you're talking about is called 'Rapid Run'. I considered doing this, but decided it would be more economical to just buy a new entertainment center.

You can also find in-wall components with wall-jack type accessories simply by googling "in-wall component video cable".


I highly recommend you plan for the future, and include a hookup for a Blu-ray player. You could always throw a couple extra cables behind the paneling as well, to ensure you're prepared.

In interesting discussion is whether you should plan for component or HDMI for the blu-ray. I've read a bit on this subject, and it's not at all clear which will work better...