typical cables needed for home cinema

[Toilet Duck]

Hello all,

I don't yet have a TV or any other associated equipment as I'm doing my house up before I move in. However, I eventually plan to have my telly wall mounted on the chimney breast, and want to run all necessary cables in conduit sunk into the brickwork and plastered over so that no cables are visible.

Not knowing much about home cinema set ups, what cables should I install between where the TV will sit and where the rest of the kit will be (SKY box, PS3, Bluray player, amp etc etc?)

I appreciate its impossible to say 100% as I don't know what equipment I will eventually buy, but what is likely? Obviously I'll need a mains cable for the television, some HDMI leads (how many is "enough"?), maybe a scart lead. Am I likely to need a USB lead going to the TV? Or ethernet cable?

If you have surround sound, where does the optical fibre cable run between? Does it need to go to the TV, or does it go from the Bluray player to an amp of some sort? (Sorry if its a numpty question but I know next to nothing about this). I've already run speaker cable behind the skirting boards (which are now fixed) so that it exits strategically around the room for 5.1 speakers.

I'm going to start to channel out the brickwork this week. Once the cables have been run and the conduit plastered over, its unlikely I will be able to easily add more cables due to the angles that the conduit has to take to follow the shape of the wall/chimney breast. I'd rather run too many cables then too little!

Any help/advice much appreciated

[M@verick]

I have done this recently, and ended up needing the following cables:

HDMI x 2 (I went for HDMI 1.4 compliant cables to future proof as much as i could).

Ethernet x 1 (the TV I have is not currently DLNA but the next one will be)

Nintendo Wii, motion bar extension cable x 1 (to allow me to fix the motion bar under the TV and extend the cable to meet the Wii hidden in the AV cupboard)

RF / Coax x 1 - standard TV aerial for freeview usage.

3.5mm Stereo cable x 1 - this is used to extend the IR remote extender cable such that i can hide the AV equipment remotely in a cabinet behind the sofa (TV at opposite end of lounge) and still use the Logitech Harmony remote to control everything in the cabinet.

The above assumes that the only optical cable I need goes from the Sky HD/PS3/other to the AV Amp hidden in the cabinet. Im using the AV Amp to do most of my Video and Audio Switching such that I minimise the amount of cables going under the floor and up to the TV. The two HDMI's going into the TV are from the AV Amp, and one from the PS3 (which im using as a Blu Ray source).

All the cables were sourced from www.thatcable.com, with the exception of the Wii extender which i had to order via Amazon.

Hope that helps.

R.

ETA - dont forget to run a power cable/socket to the wall behind where the TV is to be sited or youll end up having to run a power cable in plain sight.

[Autopilot]

I answered a question similar to this not that long ago. Have a look at my response here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Essentially, if you're going to buy an Amp, 'most' things will plug in to that, so you have an HDMI lead going from the HDMI out on the Amp to the TV, and other devices such as PS3, Xbox, whatever, plug in to the amp only.

I ended up putting an ethernet cable, power lead, aerial and a single HDMI in to the wall. and they pop out where I was putting some shelves to house and power the amp.

I vaguely remember something about Sky receivers requiring an extra cable somewhere along the line, so worth reading up on.

[Bullett]

I only needed 1 HDMI and power. Everything else connected to amp.
But I put in an extra HDMI and an ethernet.

I need another ethernet now.

So basically figure out what you think you need, then double it.

[M@verick]

Bullett said:

I only needed 1 HDMI and power. Everything else connected to amp.
But I put in an extra HDMI and an ethernet.

I need another ethernet now.

So basically figure out what you think you need, then double it.

could you not use converters on the spare HDMI and turn that into your extra ethernet cable ?

R.

[Toilet Duck]

M@verick said:

lots of usefull info

Thank you very much thats a great help, that web link looks good as well

Autopilot said:

I answered a question similar to this not that long ago. Have a look at my response here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Just read through your old post, very informative thanks!

Bullett said:

I need another ethernet now.

Can I ask what you need two seperate ethernet cables for?

[Bullett]

One would be for Internet tv the other is taking the feed from the ir extender.

[talkssense]

Don't try and guess what you will need and fix them permantly in the wall. Take the WII and Xbox as examples, who knew a few years ago what you needed for sensor bars? who knows what the new ones will need. How many people buried old HDMI and now want to run 3d?

either run a conduit, or a LOAD of CAT6 cables

[Toilet Duck]

talkssense said:

Don't try and guess what you will need and fix them permantly in the wall. Take the WII and Xbox as examples, who knew a few years ago what you needed for sensor bars? who knows what the new ones will need. How many people buried old HDMI and now want to run 3d?

either run a conduit, or a LOAD of CAT6 cables

I fully get what your saying, but unfortunately due to the sharp angles (90 degree internal and external) around the chimney breast, I won't easily be able to pull any new cables through once I've replastered over the conduit. In fact, I'd lay money it will be impossible

[Autopilot]

Toilet Duck said:

I fully get what your saying, but unfortunately due to the sharp angles (90 degree internal and external) around the chimney breast, I won't easily be able to pull any new cables through once I've replastered over the conduit. In fact, I'd lay money it will be impossible

Precisely! Your proposed setup sounds the same as mine and you're right, due to the angles, once the cables are in and it's all plastered , that's it, there's no adding or removing.

I ran an ethernet cable through the wall, but I've got a feeling that HDMI 1.4 supports ethernet, so you shouldn't need an additional ethernet cable....I didn't trust what I read, so added one anyway and that is how my TV connects to the web.