HDMI Switch Box for wall mounted TV installation

[RiccardoG]

I am having an electrician do some work at our place one of which is to provide a fully hidden installation for the wall mounted TV. Two sockets and one antenna are being installed at TV height, behind it.

Now, the issue is with the DVD player, Wii and all the other stuff that attaches to the TV. I don't want to see any cables along the wall going to the TV.

My idea is to use an 'HDMI Switch', this would mean having only one cable (going in the wall, installed by the electrician) to the TV from a switch box hidden below into which all the ancillaries plug into.

Has anyone done this? Its not the cheapest solution (£300 for the box + £60 odd for the HDMI cable) but is it good and will it be 'future proof' for a good few years (particularly given that the HDMI cable is embedded in the wall)? Any other solutions to this?

Thanks for any help!

[miniman]

I think the normal advice (Plotloss will be along shortly to confirm or deny no doubt!) is to run a Cat5 cable behind the wall too, as this gives you some future-proofing. I've just bought some wall plates (for banana connectors) from www.audiovisualonline.co.uk - they seem to do everything you could dream of in terms of wall sockets for HDMI etc.

Personally I would bury a decent size run plastic pipe under the wall with a pull-through cord so you can fetch any cables you like through it in the future, then terminate at each end behind decent faceplates.

[headcase]

RiccardoG said:

I am having an electrician do some work at our place one of which is to provide a fully hidden installation for the wall mounted TV. Two sockets and one antenna are being installed at TV height, behind it.

Now, the issue is with the DVD player, Wii and all the other stuff that attaches to the TV. I don't want to see any cables along the wall going to the TV.

My idea is to use an 'HDMI Switch', this would mean having only one cable (going in the wall, installed by the electrician) to the TV from a switch box hidden below into which all the ancillaries plug into.

Has anyone done this? Its not the cheapest solution (£300 for the box + £60 odd for the HDMI cable) but is it good and will it be 'future proof' for a good few years (particularly given that the HDMI cable is embedded in the wall)? Any other solutions to this?

Thanks for any help!

Firstly i wouldnt get an electrician to do it for you, they are good at doing electricians stuff but AV is a different ball game, you would be suprised at how many botchups ive had to deal with when the customer didnt wat to pay us to 1st fix because the electrician was cheaper.
Most modern TV's now are very flat and the bracket to make it look right will also be quite flat so putting sockets and aerial points behind the TV is a bad idea they just get in the way and you have to space the TV off the wall just to fit the plug in.
For general futureproofing i normally run the cables you need for the equipment you have right now + a spare hdmi, also where possible an empty piece of trunking.
Be aware that HDMI is an ever changing product, whatever HDMI exists now there will be another in afew years that may require a higher qualtiy cable.
To get your cable exit point behind the TV correct and the bracket in the right place dont guesstimate it, get your TV and your bracket and assemble them, you can then take measurements from the TV and mark on the wall EXACTLY where the bracket is going to fix, you can also see where the TV sockets are and judge the best place for the cable exit.
Its the worst thing in the world to turn upto a job where there is sockets on the wall behind the TV and a bracket already mounted only to find the arms on the bracket clash with the sockets, the plug wont go in, the tv dosent cover the sockets etc.....
Put some thought into it

[satans worm]

How about just buy an amplifier, then 1 lead to the tv and plug as many different sources you want into the amp, ofcourse you will then need to buy speakers, and house the amp.
Probaly not such a good idea then, as you were....

[RiccardoG]

headcase said:

Firstly i wouldnt get an electrician to do it for you, they are good at doing electricians stuff but AV is a different ball game, you would be suprised at how many botchups ive had to deal with when the customer didnt wat to pay us to 1st fix because the electrician was cheaper.
Most modern TV's now are very flat and the bracket to make it look right will also be quite flat so putting sockets and aerial points behind the TV is a bad idea they just get in the way and you have to space the TV off the wall just to fit the plug in.
For general futureproofing i normally run the cables you need for the equipment you have right now + a spare hdmi, also where possible an empty piece of trunking.
Be aware that HDMI is an ever changing product, whatever HDMI exists now there will be another in afew years that may require a higher qualtiy cable.
To get your cable exit point behind the TV correct and the bracket in the right place dont guesstimate it, get your TV and your bracket and assemble them, you can then take measurements from the TV and mark on the wall EXACTLY where the bracket is going to fix, you can also see where the TV sockets are and judge the best place for the cable exit.
Its the worst thing in the world to turn upto a job where there is sockets on the wall behind the TV and a bracket already mounted only to find the arms on the bracket clash with the sockets, the plug wont go in, the tv dosent cover the sockets etc.....
Put some thought into it

Thanks for the feedback (also miniman), its very good food for thought.

You are correct, I had not given this any thought so far but its true that it needs some proper planning to work out best. Will take some measurements and cross check locations (its a new house we're buying).

Current idea is to have a 2.5 x 2 inch 'tunnel' cut in the wall (and correctly plastered back in and finished off etc) so as to allow most connection cables to be run through that. This will leave just the socket at TV level.

Satans worm

Edited by RiccardoG on Wednesday 22 September 10:56