A plasma over the fireplace question; sat related!

[Firehawk 157]

Just curious, for those who hung their flatscreen tvs over the fireplace, where do you put your satellite box? I plan to put mine off to the side and feed the tv thru a long hdmi cable.

PLMK-Looking for new ideas how to do this....

 

[berck]

I haven't done it yet, but I'm planning on doing it. I have a entertainment center which will bookend each side of the fireplace. The equipment will stay in the entertainment pillars on the sides and cables will run to the TV. I don't think I'll have to extend them much.

 

[tastim]

I chose not to do so because I didn't like looking up at my TV.... I stood it up there on the mantle for a few days to test it out and it really started to annoy me....even though it wasn't THAT much of an angle (modern fireplace, newer house, not a true mantle like the old days)

I have seen it done several ways though.... the 2 most popular are

1. Install custom racks next to the TV, mounted to the wall to hold all your components.

2. Put the components either inside a nearby cabinet (with UHF remotes or one of those mesh screens to allow IR to work), or on a rack next to the fireplace, with the wires fished through the drywall.

I have also seen components placed on the opposite wall (behind a wet bar, for instance) with HDMI cables fished up through one wall, through the attic and down the other wall... good luck doing that yourself though.

 

[psychicmind]

I recommend hiding all your A/V components in a near by closet (or at least hide them out of view) and buy an IR remote extender. Very very clean nice look and turns your TV into a pretty picture hanging on the wall.

Niles RCA-SM IR repeater system at Crutchfield.com

 

[pokey31]

I ran my cables through the wall, into the basement storage room underneath my family room. I have an HDMI cable, a composite cable, and a component cable running from my tv to my basement. (you can get as many feet of these cables as you need for fairly cheap on monoprice.com) My directv box and my ku-band box are in my basement, and I have both of them set up with RF remotes. The only thing that i have showing in my family room is the TV on the wall, everything else is in the basement, and I can control everything with the remotes sitting in my recliner in the family room. Cutting your wall out to run the cables was no big deal as long as you have someone who is good with drywall and can patch up your drywall. You can't tell mine was ever cut to run cables through.