Wireless HDMI vs run cables in the wall

[Spideypaul]

Hello - I've got a 4K TV that I have on my fireplace and need to make the HDMI cables disappear. I was originally looking into wireless HDMI but from what I've seen they are somewhat unreliable and are only 1080p. I'm considering other options including running the HDMI cables into my wall cavity or possibly a HDMI extender. I'm really just looking for some advise. Unfortunately I'll be looking at running the cables horizontally in the wall cavity, which won't be very easy to do. I'm guessing that running the cables behind the wall will give me the best signal. Right now I only have an Xbox One and a Blu-ray player to hook up but I'm assuming I'll eventually get a 4K player and a 4K gaming unit. Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated. I'm just starting to look into this and am hoping for some guidance. Thank you.

 

[Saga Lout]

Can't you go uphlil and under the floor in the room above?

I don't know where you are but here in England, a fireplace wouldn't be built into a cavity wall and even if your's is one, there'll be a stout vertical piece of timber every two feet or so that you'd have to drill through. The plasterboard will be wrecked at the end of that job.

If it's not a cavity wall, you could chase a channel in the plaster all the way to the brick to bury the wires then plaster over it and that would be the easier job.

You might like to consider putting up a dado rail to hide the cable. If you can't buy them ready made for the purpose - plastic ones are available here - you could rout a suitable channel on the back of a wooden moulding. It might look odd if you don't do the whole room but that's a small price to pay.

 

[americanaudiophile]

Another option is to use HDMI over CAT adapters. That allows you to use 1 or 2 CAT5e or 6 cables instead of the bulky HDMI cable. Got to get good ones.
http/www.hdtvsupply.com/hdtocaad.html

 

[Spideypaul]

I was considering going through the floor with my wires, thanks. I don't know if I gain anything from using HDMI cables vs going the CAT5 route.

Can't you go uphlil and under the floor in the room above?

I don't know where you are but here in England, a fireplace wouldn't be built into a cavity wall and even if your's is one, there'll be a stout vertical piece of timber every two feet or so that you'd have to drill through. The plasterboard will be wrecked at the end of that job.

If it's not a cavity wall, you could chase a channel in the plaster all the way to the brick to bury the wires then plaster over it and that would be the easier job.

You might like to consider putting up a dado rail to hide the cable. If you can't buy them ready made for the purpose - plastic ones are available here - you could rout a suitable channel on the back of a wooden moulding. It might look odd if you don't do the whole room but that's a small price to pay.

 

[Saga Lout]

That got me wondering if that could support a Powerline adapter connection?

 

[Spideypaul]

Thanks for replying. I'm not familiar with what I'd exactly need and where or not it'll work with my 4K TV. Someone posted on another forum that CAT5 can produce some latency issues for gaming (I don't know if that's correct or not). One of my issues/concerns is that since right now my TV is sitting on my mantle with no nearby electrical outlet (it's plugged in via an extension cord) I don't know whether the CAT adapters will add more things that will need to be plugged in and hidden (can it be hidden behind the TV?). I'm assuming that with the CAT adapter I'll need at least one plug at/near my TV (I'm hoping that I'll be able to add another outlet behind my TV - hopefully from going down through my basement).

Thanks for the link. It's very helpful and appreciated. There's a lot to digest there.

Another option is to use HDMI over CAT adapters. That allows you to use 1 or 2 CAT5e or 6 cables instead of the bulky HDMI cable. Got to get good ones.
http/www.hdtvsupply.com/hdtocaad.html

 

[Spideypaul]

That got me wondering if that could support a Powerline adapter connection?

I honestly don't know. I'm very new with this technology. I never had to hide my wires before.

Googling a Powerline adapter now and my head's starting to spin! I have an older house so I'm not sure that would work.

 

[ssddx]

if at all possible, under the floor or over the ceiling are preferred methods as they are easier to install post-construction. put a wall plate in on both ends as this will be the cleanest option. ideally you will want to limit the cable length as much as you can though around 50ft is considered the cutoff before you would need a booster in many cases.

i cant say how they fare for latency on cat5 though i've certainly heard of trouble with powerline adapters.

the first thing i would suggest doing is taking a few pictures so we know what you are talking about. at minimum of the tv location and another showing how that relates to the position of the input devices (xbox, etc).

if the walls are painted you could just get away with flatwire hdmi which is ultra thin and can be adhered to walls and painted over. another common trick people do is to tack hdmi along molding and in corners to hide it a little when in the walls is not possible.

wireless hdmi can be convenient but it degrades heavily with range and suffers from the same problems other wireless devices do. its okay, but not a fix-all.

 

[Spideypaul]

Thank you.

I'll post some photos this weekend.

if at all possible, under the floor or over the ceiling are preferred methods as they are easier to install post-construction. put a wall plate in on both ends as this will be the cleanest option. ideally you will want to limit the cable length as much as you can though around 50ft is considered the cutoff before you would need a booster in many cases.

i cant say how they fare for latency on cat5 though i've certainly heard of trouble with powerline adapters.

the first thing i would suggest doing is taking a few pictures so we know what you are talking about. at minimum of the tv location and another showing how that relates to the position of the input devices (xbox, etc).

if the walls are painted you could just get away with flatwire hdmi which is ultra thin and can be adhered to walls and painted over. another common trick people do is to tack hdmi along molding and in corners to hide it a little when in the walls is not possible.

wireless hdmi can be convenient but it degrades heavily with range and suffers from the same problems other wireless devices do. its okay, but not a fix-all.

 

[Spideypaul]

if at all possible, under the floor or over the ceiling are preferred methods as they are easier to install post-construction. put a wall plate in on both ends as this will be the cleanest option. ideally you will want to limit the cable length as much as you can though around 50ft is considered the cutoff before you would need a booster in many cases.

i cant say how they fare for latency on cat5 though i've certainly heard of trouble with powerline adapters.

the first thing i would suggest doing is taking a few pictures so we know what you are talking about. at minimum of the tv location and another showing how that relates to the position of the input devices (xbox, etc).

if the walls are painted you could just get away with flatwire hdmi which is ultra thin and can be adhered to walls and painted over. another common trick people do is to tack hdmi along molding and in corners to hide it a little when in the walls is not possible.

wireless hdmi can be convenient but it degrades heavily with range and suffers from the same problems other wireless devices do. its okay, but not a fix-all.

I was trying to post photos but for some reason I can't seem to do it. I don't know if it's my Edge browser or not but it's not letting me upload my photo into my original post.

 

[Saga Lout]

You need a third party as a go-between.

I use www.imgur.com to upload photos to the Forum but others are available.

 

[Spideypaul]

You need a third party as a go-between.

I use www.imgur.com to upload photos to the Forum but others are available.

Thank you. I was able to upload a couple of photos.

 

[Saga Lout]

Faced with that problem, I'd just drop them to the floor in a white plastic channel then lose them into the next room through the skirting board.

If symetry is important to you, put an empty one on the other side of the fireplace.