Great forum here. I just spent the last few hours educating myself on installing my first home theatre. One question I couldn't see the answer to:

I will soon be insulating my basement walls and just wanted to sort out what cables I should run. I have the speaker wires running in conduit to electrical boxes on the outside walls. The TV will also be mounted on an outside wall and I'm not sure what cables I should be running to it before the wall is closed up. The receiver will be placed so that about a 30 ft run will be nedded to get to the TV. I was looking at an Onkyo receiver that has HDMI switching so I'm told that all I need is a single HDMI cable to the TV. Is there any reason to run another HDMI or component cable for any future use?

Pull a few strings in any conduits so that you can pull any additional cables as required.

The connections you require depend on what you're connecting. Please provide the make/model of all the equipment:

- STB
- AVReceiver
- DVD player
- HDTV

Your AVReceiver may have HDMI switching, however, some devices have not been compatible with the HDMI receiver switching due to firmware issues. Also, some receivers may not "upconvert" other signals from other devices to the HDMI. Also, sometimes it's better to connect the device directly to the TV, rather than going through an AVR since devices can differ in how they need to be calibrated for the TV. Having only one connection to the TV can limit this optimized calibration.

Have a look at the following Digital Home FAQs (under help).

- Cables & Connections
- What you need to do to your new HDTV.

Please put your location and service provider in your UserCP Profile (location). It helps us help you.

What model Onkyo receiver are you looking to purchase? You'll want to ensure that this receiver is capable of upconverting analog sources to HDMI.

As for your HDMI cable, for a 30ft run I would recommend purchasing 24AWG. Monoprice sells a HDMI CL2 Rated Cable (for in-wall installation), 24AWG 35ft for a very reasonable price. A 28AWG HDMI cable will not be sufficient for a run this long.

Thanks for the quick responses. The receiver I plan to get is the Onkyo SR674 which apparently has upconverting capability. The TVs I've been looking at are the Sony KDS55A2000 or the Sony KDSR60XBR2. DVD player hasn't been decided on yet.

The TX-SR674 is indeed capable of upconverting analog sources to HDMI. Enjoy!

Warning: You didn't mention which Shaw STB you were/are getting, but be aware that some of these STBs are not yet compatible with HDMI switching receivers. Rogers has recently updated their firmware to allow for HDMI switching this month (it was not compatible before), however, I cannot recall if Shaw has - I don't believe so.

You may wish to do a search for HDMI Receivers and look at a few of those threads. For example:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=56206

If you can I would run one set of each cables with audio. Hdmi, component, a extra RG6 and a cord so you can pull a extra set of wire at a later time if needed.

That way for the times you may not want to turn on your stereo you can still get sound through your tv.

I have read that at 30'(hdmi) it's not unusual to lose picture quality and might need a booster at that length.

They have many brands that you can insert a powered hdmi booster at 15'.

You have to be carefully at some upconverting stereo receivers going from component to hdmi does not have the proper hand shake for the tv all the time resulting in error messages on screen from the tv.

OK, I think I'll run 1 HDMI, 1 Component video + audio. What would I use an additional RG6 for?

Now as far as the actual construction, what do you guys use for conduit and how do you terminate them cleanly at the wall? I think I've seen HDMI wall plates. Do they work well? What about the CV cable? Are there similar plates available for these? I'm planning to run the conduits straight up the walls into the suspended ceiling space and then back across the ceiling to the Receiver, etc.

As far as the Shaw STB I'm not totally sold on Shaw's HD service yet. From what I've been reading, Bell ExpressVu may have to be considered. Does Bell's hardware suffer from the same possible issues as Shaws?

I can confirm that Shaw's PVR does not allow for HDMI switching :mad:

My understanding is that there are no HDMI switching issues with the BEV 9200, but someone should confirm that. They have a different issue in that the firmware doesn't allow for DD5.1 via the HDMI output (it's not an HDMI issue, it's a firmware issue), so you also need to run a digital audio connection to the AVR.

Remember to leave some "strings" in that conduit...

Sterling22 opps did not notice your location. ;)

The extra RG6 you can use for ota HD but I guess from your location not in the near future.

The rg6 you can also use as a composite cable with rca ends screwed on the rg6 connector.

Spent some time at Home Depot tonight and I think I found what I need. I think I'll run 2 conduits of 2" central vac pipe down the wall to where the TV will be. That should give me plenty of room to run whatever cables I might need in the future (right?). For terminations I'll use the hinged door vac wall plates so the cables will just come out the open door of the plate and connect to the TV. It'll look fine behind the TV and will avoid using another connector at the wall plate. Thank you for the assistance everyone.:D

For my setup I installed plumbing pipe to run the cables through. That way I can change cables as needed. The plumbing pipe is fairly smooth and cheap to buy. I used a measuring tape to insert a string to pull cables through. The measuring tape is bendable and rigid enough to push through a pipe.

Note: I went with a larger dia pipe (almost 3") since I will be running a monitor cable from my computer. I wanted to make sure all the connectors would fit. You have to consider the cable ends fitting. 2" may be too small for all the cable ends to run through the pipe.

HDMI switching aside... the HDMI length at 30' will require a HDMI repeater. I just took delivery of a CTG (Cable To Go) 25' Rapid-Run digital runner cable, a HDMI breakout lead, and a "passive" HDMI wall plate for source end. The documentation states that for cable lengths greater than 25' require a "active" HDMI wall plate at source end. The cost for an active HDMI wall plate is about 3-4 times as much as a "passive" one. Luckily for me, I have a 25' distance. Besides the distance, the Rapid Run cables easily go through small diameter conduit, have a pulling cap, and are future proofed since the breakaways/wall plates can be interchanged.

My wiring at source/equip. closet; no conduit:
Inwall speaker wire to all speaker locations; Levitron speaker modules.
2 runs of 4 conductor cat 3 to subwoofer location using Levitron RCA modules.
2 runs of RG6 for cable; Levitron cable modules.
3 runs of cat 5e for data connections; Levitron data modules.
1 runs of 6 conductor cat 3 for telephone; Levitron telephone modules.
Inside vacum piping/conduit (cheapest) from source to projector:
1 25' Rapid-Run blue HT runner cable with component & S-video wall plate.
1 25' Rapid-Run red HT Digital runner cable with passive HDMI wall plate.

Note that the Rapid-Run has wall plates for VGA, RCA/SPDIF, composite video, and combo there of... I ordered mine from tigerdirect.ca but that is not an endorsement since getting it to your door can be problematic (the product ships from the States; though ordered in Canada).

Cheers,
Kaoru