I will have three plasma tv's in three different rooms (New house - Dining room, Rec room and Living room) that will be HDTV, but I do NOT want cable boxes near the tv which will be mounted on the wall about 5 feet up. What are my best options for feeding the signal to them?

I thought this would be best: A central cabinet location within 50 feet of all three, this cabinet would have 3 cable boxes and audio gear to feed each rooms plasma with a hdmi cable and speakers, etc using a Harmony remote...

or another option?

Thanks!

Sure, put them all in an equipment room. I would be concerned about a 50 ft hdmi run. You might consider going component, and using 3 x rg59/rg6 cable instead. If you go with an rf remote, which I would do, then no control wires. You could also look into a component video router to route video from the cable boxes / high-def disc / camera around the house.

Thanks for your input! I have read so much about Component vs HDMI, if I go with component then I need to pull audio also then correct and the signal with component would still be the best 1080i/p?

Check out the Rapid Run system from Parts Express. This might help with a one wire system.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=183-735

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=180-004

Thanks! ordered the rapid run systems with active outlets! :)

How will you control the three cable boxes individually from 3 different rooms? If you do it using RF remotes the control will change the channels on all the TV's at once. I think you will have to also install IR repeaters and use IR remotes.

I say mount the cable boxes vertically on the wall BEHIND the plasma mounts. You only need the mounts to come out 2-3 inches to fit it and no one will ever see it. You don't need all the fancy controllers and you don't need 50ft runs of cable.

no you can buy Ir /RF controllers that can be programmed for each cable box. The problem is that all the tv's are in locations where you would see easily behind them. no options except to remotely locate.