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Flat Panel Over Wood Fireplace Wiring

1698 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Rootsman
Hi,


I've installed my 42" LCD on the wall above the wood fireplace in my family room and now I'm trying to hide the wires. I'm in Florida so I'm on a slab (no basement) and the house is a 2-story so there is no attic space above the living family room.


Currently, the a/v equipment/cable box etc are on a table in the left corner of the room near the cable outlet. I'd like to place them in the rear of the room that would require fishing wire through the ceiling, the exterior fireplace wall and an interior wall. There is a ceiling fan and flood light along the center line of the ceiling too.


Alternatively, I'm also thinking about placing the a/v equipment in the wood fireplace below the flat panel since we will never use the fireplace and have a much shorter wire run. I'm not seeing an easy way to do that as the top of the fireplace insert runs all the way to the front wall.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've been looking at these tacky wires for 5 months now.
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I think monster cable sells wire that is paper thin and sticks to the wall. You can then paint it. We've used it in the past and it works pretty good. For the power I'd imagine that you'll need to have an outlet installed behind the TV. You should be able to tap off of the fan or a nearby outlet. If it were mine to do I'd just snake the wires to the ceiling and be done with it
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rootsman /forum/post/0


I've been looking at these tacky wires for 5 months now.

Yup, the wires ruin the look. You also have to worry about what you plan to watch and

cable lengths. I'm having trouble at 50 ft with hdmi to cat6 baluns. Others have not

had problems up to 100 ft. If you have space behind the drywall to the flu, which is

likely, you may be able to fish them up over the wall beam between the 2nd floor and

the ceiling on the first floor. If you take down the fan and flood light, you should be

able to run them all the way to the rear wall. You may have to drill at the intersection

of the walls and ceiling.


That said, since you are running wires, I'd advise the following because you won't

want to do it twice, especially if you have to do drywall repair.


2 RG6 (for F-type connections)

5 RCA cables (Y Pb Pr, L/R audio, also good generic inputs)

2 shielded cat 6 (for hdmi)


You might as well put a surge protected outlet on the wall behind the tv, you have to

run the wires anyway, and florida has a lot of lightning. It's painful, but worth it in the

end. (my component closet is at the right side white cabinet in the foreground)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by flatpanel /forum/post/0


I'm having trouble at 50 ft with hdmi to cat6 baluns.

You need to read this



Quote:
You might as well put a surge protected outlet on the wall behind the tv

Most surge protectors do not last very long, especially if they use MOVs. Also, be sure that it is listed as a transient voltage surge suppressor. A good UPS would offer much better protection
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2
Based on an intial rough quote from a "professional installer" ($500 drywall repair, & $500 wire hiding. And I though you hire a professional to avoid drywall damage) I'll probably install the a/v equipment in the fireplace since we will never use it.


I'll see if I can get a quote on that too, as I'm not seeing any gaps to run the wires through the fireplace.
I have a friend that did exactly what you are talking about, a fire place he never used, and it worked out perfectly for him.
Well I decided to keep it real simple and just hang the cable box and a car DVD player behind the TV and discreetly run the cable and electric wires. The alternatives sounded like they would be a royal pain.
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