I'm in the planning stages of a home theater setup. What do I need to run to the tv so I can hook up various components? I planned on running power, HDMI cables, RCA cables, coax, and an ethernet cable. Is there anything else I need? Can I run the power in one conduit and run the rest in another conduit or do they need to be run in separate conduits?
132k 79 79 gold badges 324 324 silver badges 611 611 bronze badges asked Mar 29, 2013 at 19:24 John Byrne John Byrne 1 1 1 gold badge 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badgeThis seems like it's got more to do with your setup than anything else. You need to run all the cables that you need to connect to the TV for whatever devices you plan to hook up to it, right?
Commented Mar 29, 2013 at 20:04DO NOT RUN POWER CORDS THROUGH THE WALL. Have an Electrician install a receptacle behind the television, they even make receptacles that offer surge protection now.
Commented Apr 1, 2013 at 10:58This is a subjective question, as the required cables will vary greatly depending on the components that have to connect to the television.
Commented Apr 1, 2013 at 10:59As for what wires to run to the TV, it entirely depends on what you plan to hook up. If you're going to have a receiver set up (e.g. to power surround sound speakers) you can run all your devices to that, and only have a single HDMI from the receiver to the TV (plus power). If you're going to run all your individual devices to the TV, you'll need to take a look at what you have.
Running conduit is a good idea so that you can pull more cables later on. I wouldn't install a bunch of extra stuff just on the off-chance you might need it. Make a reasonable plan now and decide what you want. In 5 years there may be entirely new standards so it would be a waste of time and money to try to speculate. Conduit with a little extra room is the best future-proofing.
answered Mar 29, 2013 at 20:04 14.2k 10 10 gold badges 44 44 silver badges 47 47 bronze badgesConduit is your best bet. Baring that, you can carry most signals over 1 or 2 Cat5e, and they're cheap, so you can put 2-4 of those in.