Routing HDMI cables to opposite side of lounge

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Hi,

I am looking buy a new TV and want to wall mount it and hide the cables as much as possible. The problem I have is that the cable box etc will be at the other side of the room. I could do what I have done for my existing TV which is just channel out the wall and feed them through a plastic pipe under the floor and bring them back up where the AV kit will live. The cables come out of the wall at a point behind the TV and just plug in.

But I am wondering if there is a neater solution. Can I run HDMI cable through the wall in the same way and have an HDMI faceplate on the wall. Probably makes no difference as either way the cables will come out behind the TV. How hard is it to wire up the faceplate like this? Do faceplates exist that have four connections on them?

When I put up my existing TV about 12 years ago I ran the power cable through the wall with the SCART sockets from what I have read this is not a good idea in case the cable gets hot. The alternative is to get an electrician in to a new power socket in behind the TV. If I do this then I am wondering if the electrician could do the HDMI cabling as well.

Thanks
Andy
 
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Hi Andy, in my experience as a professional AV installer most wall plates are a waste of time behind a TV because you're not connecting and disconnecting regularly, and the plate itself is hidden by the TV anyway so the benefit of it looking neat is lost. There are two other consuderations: First, the majority of HDMI wall plates simply have a socket on the rear for the cables from the wall. This means you're trying to stuff 2 or three or more HDMI plug ends attached to fairly stiff cables and at awkward angles in to the restricted space behind a double gang socket. Good luck with that without crushing or kinking the leads. The other drawback is that every cable join is is a potential failure point. The HDMI signal isn't that robust. It doesn't react too well to intermittent connections.

In the end all that's really needed is some trunking in-wall finished off with a single or double gang back box topped off with a brush plate. This will give you a nice neat finish. The cables are also more likely to lie flat behind the TV so you won't need thick bracket for your thin TV. You can be even smarter by making it possible to pull up or push THE spare cable. This not only makes the install neater but gives you a bit of future proofing if the new TV have the HDMI sockets in a different place.
 
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Worth considering a wireless HDMI transmitter / receiver pair? How many source devices are there (you said 'cable box etc')?
Could you do with one cable (or one wireless transceiver set) and an HDMI switch at the source end? If it were me and it was to be cabled, I'd run Cat5/6 and use transmitters / receivers.
 
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