Running Wire for HT

[darth22]

I have a TV with HDMI im mounting on the wall , I have a blue Ray, and HDMI receiver, and DTV HD Receiver. I need to know what cables I need to run. Just the number and what type to achieve the best picture and sound. My receiver isnt coming for awhile but, I have to run the cables through the wall tomorrow. I have to buy all the cables tonight so please let me know asap.

[zepman1]

Depends what you want to do, and what the capabilities of your receiver are.

You could run DTV and Bluray to AVR via 1 HDMI each. Then you need only 1 HDMI cable in the wall from AVR to TV. But, in this case you need to always have the AVR turned on for sound/picture. Lots of people do it this way.

I personally like to have the ability to watch TV without the AVR on. So I ran HDMI (in-wall) from cable box to tv. Then I ran a digital coax from cable box to AVR for surround sound from tv when I want it. For bluray I run HDMI from bluray player to the AVR, and another from AVR to tv, as I will always want surround sound when watching movies.

In any case, make sure your bluray is connected to your AVR such that you can get TrueHD/ Master DTS sound. This means either HDMI or multi-channel analog if your player does internal decoding.

Some AVR's don't send on-screen display via HDMI so if that is you situation you may need a cable for that (composite video probably). That's probably all you need but it depends on your situation and if you may add anything else down the road as access may be limited later to add more cables. Anything new could be run through the AVR, so its not a big deal unless you like to have the option to not have the AVR on.

Hope that helps.

[nightflier]

If you have to seal things up right away, and you have enough room, put two pairs or more of Cat6e in the wall as well. Even if you won't be using it right away, it will give you options in the future for running sound and/or video using baluns. Cat6 cable is very cheap, about $0.12 per foot in bulk, so it doesn't hurt to put it in there now, 5 cables should be plenty for just about anything you're likely to need..

[darth22]

THX You both been a lot of help