Conduit for receiver to wall mounted TV

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timmmay

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#95520 6-Jan-2012 18:58

I went to have my 55" LCD put on my wall, long story short, the wall got ripped out and it's being rebuilt. I'm having all my power points and network connections put in the center, behind where the entertainment unit will go, plus power behind the TV.

I'm putting a 40 or 50mm pipe in the wall, for cables, like HDMI. What do we do on the walls? The electrician said just put a face plate in, but I have to get HDMI up there, and in future maybe a TV aerial cable, some RCA plugs, etc. Is there a way to make it look tidy, even though it won't really be seen? Do I need to buy some kind of a commercial conduit?

I'm heading out for a few hours, so won't reply until 10pm or so. Any advice appreciated :-)

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#565481 6-Jan-2012 19:18

You can get HDMI wall plates. And you can get RCA wall plates. So run the cables now and flag trying to put them in later. Go to your local electrical wholesaler.
If you are running HDMI what do you want RCA's for?

timmmay

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#565561 6-Jan-2012 22:29

RCA is for the PS2, if I bother to hook it up, given the PS3 runs over HDMI. I think Telstra Clear runs over RCA as well, though I don't have it right now. I also need ethernet to the TV. I guess I should put antenna in too.

Wall plates sound like a pain in the butt, and expensive. It'd mean HDMI, aerial, ethernet, and two lots of RCA, so at least eight wall plates and four sets of cables in the wall. I figured if you just had holes you just poke your cables down, no-one will ever see the holes. I'd rather make the openings not too ugly though.

Can you get some kind of conduit that has rounded ends to make getting cables through easier? I can pop down to Bunnings tomorrow, or an electrical place, but if I don't know what i'm after that'd make it a bit difficult.

Dunnersfella

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#565562 6-Jan-2012 22:32

Does your amp not upscale RCA cables to HDMI then?

timmmay

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#565567 6-Jan-2012 22:40

Don't think so. Onkyo SR-508.

mattwnz

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#565578 6-Jan-2012 23:04

Where are you locating your media boxes? In a media room or cabinet away from the screen, so that you have only got IR receivers near the screen?

timmmay

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#565586 6-Jan-2012 23:12

In a cabinet on the floor right under the TV

smarsden

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#565598 6-Jan-2012 23:56

For simple face plates that allow you to simply feed the cables through, these brush plates from Jaycar work well, and I think give quite a tidy result:

http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=PS0291&keywords=brush+plate&form=KEYWORD

Since you're placing all your equipment in a cabinet under your TV, this will be easier than having multiple connections terminating onto specific faceplates - you'll be able to feed cables (e.g. 2m length) straight from the equipment to the TV.

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timmmay

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#565599 7-Jan-2012 00:00

Perfect, thanks! Would a standard electrical preece have them to? Jaycar it's further away than hardware or electrical stores.

smarsden

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#565601 7-Jan-2012 00:09

I've only ever seen and bought those particular ones from Jaycar, and when I was last looking for this type of thing, never saw anything similar at any hardware or electrical stores. Depending on how quickly you needed them, you could always order online from Jaycar and get them to deliver?

You could always try phoning around hardware and electrical stores too, just in case they do have anything now.

chevrolux

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#565617 7-Jan-2012 01:43

I have about 6 plates behind my AV cabinet. And then a power and HDMI up high behind the tv. Very tidy and very functional. The cost of plates is bugger all compared to re-building a wall lol

ToPGuNZ

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#565645 7-Jan-2012 08:29

I used the jaycar brush plates and they work very well. The only other options I found at the time was these ones.

http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/wall-plates-1/feed-thru-wall-plates.html/

Ham

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#565699 7-Jan-2012 11:20

More wall plates: http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/wall-plates-1/feed-thru-wall-plates.html/

timmmay

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#565704 7-Jan-2012 11:25

Thanks guys. The feed thru wall plates look cool, but I think the Jaycar ones will be fine if the ones my electrician has aren't right. It's only 15 minutes drive to Jaycar, my girlfriend lives around the corner from them anyway.

I don't want six wall plates, it just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe slightly neater, but not for the $200 or whatever it costs, given no-one will ever see them.

nickb800

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#565705 7-Jan-2012 11:28

Those rapalloav feed thru wall plates might mate better with conduit in the wall for a more seamless solution.
Those jaycar brush plates would probably need to be taken off at each end each time you wished to feed a new cable through. Still, nothing compared with ripping a wall open, but still something to consider depending on how often you plan to run cabling to the TV

timmmay

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#565706 7-Jan-2012 11:31

Yeah they probably would be better, but given the electrician's coming later today and I can drive to Jaycar i'll probably go with those. Taking the plate off occasionally isn't a big deal, it'll be very rare. I'll probably run antenna, HDMI, and a few RCA cables to start with and may never need to run anything else.

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