What wires to run to the tv (through wall)?

[pHEnomIC69]

Basically, we are doing our home theater and we want to stealth all the wires in the wall, i already did the speakers but we are having a guy come to run the tv wires. In the corner of the room we have our receiver, dvd player, cable box, etc. and We have the tv in the middle. Since the guy is coming, what exactly should i have him put through the wall. I am thinking two hdmi cables (from the corner to the tv) would work. Is there anything else i should have him do while he is here? There is already an ethernet port behind the tv as well as power/cable.

[Coytee]

If you want to run HDMI lines (as I have done)

If you want to hide them in your walls where you can't easily update them (as I have done)

If you want to try to future-proof yourself (as I HOPE to do)

Here's what I did.

I've got my two 45' runs of HDMI from my closet to the TV location. I ALSO ran four lines of Cat 6 (not Cat 5) to each of those locations.

My understanding is, you can run HDMI over Cat 6 and today, you need two lines to do so. I ran four lines so I might be able to have double HDMI outlets if need be.

This still might not catch everything so another option would be to run conduit from point A to B but if you did this, I'd not run your current wires in there. I'd run them through the walls and only run a chaser line through the conduit so that you can easily pull wires in the future.

If you look to do this, I learned that my HDMI ends do NOT fit through anything less than the 3/4" romex connector. Even at that, I had to remove the clamp part and I could just barely squiggle my two HDMI's through the box. I wanted the romex connector in there to help act like a grommet and let the HDMI line rub against this smooth connector, rather than the edge of the box itself.

I ran both of my HDMI's and 4 Cat 6 wires to the same 4x4 box under the idea that if I ever need the Cat 6 lines, that means the HDMI lines are toast and I can clip their ends off and (hopefully) 'simply' convert over to the Cat 6 lines.

You might also consider another Cat 6 line (though Cat 5 would work) for possible use as a trigger line or perhaps you could already use your existing ethernet line if need be.

I ran all kinds of wires across my room trying to forsee any changes (hahahaha)

Right....good luck on that front.

[bismarck]

Great advice! Running CAT6 is the best way to futureproof a system. You could run CAT5e if you wanted, it will do just as good of a job. I would oder bulk CA5e/6 off of monoprice.com and then order some EZ RJ45 ends and the crimper to go with it. Running one HDMI is typically good enough because your receiver should transcaode any signals to HDMI, but two is safer. I would also run some RG6 a.k.a coax, it can be used as a subwoofer cable if you ever need it in the future. That is the one thing I never see people do properly, wire for multiple subwoofers/locations in a room. But, I am also a huge advocate for having 2-4 subs in a HT room. Good luck!