Media solutions for an older home

The home Im currently in has a nice fireplace, with ample space above it for a big TV. Coincidentally, we just bought a big TV - odd how that works.

This is an older home, so it was not prewired for A/V or anything like that. When we renovated the house this past summer, part of that reno was refacing the fireplace. My FIL did all the work over 2 days when I wasnt able to be there. If it were up to me, I wouldve had it set up with wall plates that allow for 6RCA and 2 HDMI inputs...alas, hes not as tech savy, and therefore, we were lucky he ran a power outlet and a single coax cable to the area where the TV will go.

There is no good way with my current setup to hide the cables needed to get component signal to the TV. Ive done some searching online for wireless options, but most of what I find are options to connect a wifi enabled device to a wireless network. This option is a distant possibility in my situation, but we havent had a standalone PC in the house for about 2 years...tablets and work laptops are handling home PC needs for now,. Also, none of the devices I currently own are wifi enabled, meaning Id also need to buy new devices.

Im hoping there is some kind of device that I can connect my devices to, that will somehow send a wireless signal to a dongle or the like that I can connect to my TV. Does anyone know of such a device? Are there methods Im not taking into consideration? I dont want to cut the walls open, that option is off the table for now. I beseech the great braintrust, please help your fellow GRM brother out.

I thought I read somewhere that putting a TV over a fireplace only does two things..

1: Gives you a crink in your neck from looking up at it
2: is a sure fire (sorry) way to kill your TV from the excess heat the fireplace gives off?

Something like this?

http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Video-Audio-Transmitter-Receiver/dp/B004HH5IRM/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

(Dunno how well it works)

If you're wiring up a house these days, don't run RCA or Coax or HDMI...just Cat6. It can do all of that.

Not what you are looking for, but I'm in a very similar situation with my girlfriends [rental] house, that will be my house as well in a few months. I'll be watching this thread; as of right now I was just planning on hiding the cables using painted PVC pipe.

I also need to figure out where to put the receiver.

mad_machine wrote: I thought I read somewhere that putting a TV over a fireplace only does two things.. 1: Gives you a crink in your neck from looking up at it 2: is a sure fire (sorry) way to kill your TV from the excess heat the fireplace gives off?

This fireplace is inactive, heat is no issue. The TV mount we will be using tilts downward, and the location is not too high actually (only about 46" off the ground). A relative has almost the exact setup, and its actually quite nice, and zero necks were crinked.

GameboyRMH wrote: Something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Video-Audio-Transmitter-Receiver/dp/B004HH5IRM/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt (Dunno how well it works) If you're wiring up a house these days, don't run RCA or Coax or HDMI...just Cat6. It can do all of that.

I will look into the linked item, but yeah, thats about what I was looking for. Anyone have any experience with these?

The house we are going to build in a year or so will definitely be pre-wired for A/V. They didnt have as forward thinking a mindset as I wouldve liked in 1951 when this house was built

I have an old home that has this weird molding around the top of the walls that doesn't touch the ceiling, but leaves a good 3/8" gap. I tucked all my wiring up there and used plastic sleeves painted wall color to get the wires up to the top of the wall. Looks great.

If the fireplace is inactive put the tv in it. Then you can put on a loop of a fire burning. Cheezy? Absolutly but I saw it done at a partu I was at last week and it was not as bad as you may think.

I saw a solution where someone hid the cables in plain site and painted them to look like plant stalks complete with leaves, etc.

Use the coax or power lead to pull a fish tape through the void behind the fireplace face. Then re-pull the wire back through along with the raw HDMI wires, etc. You'll have to put new plug ends on them after you're done.

At chez Curmudgeon I hung my big TV above the fireplace as well. No neck crick. I'm still on coax, but what I did to bring cable around was to mark the spot where I wanted the wall plate mounted, measured over from the corner then went outside and removed the vinyl siding in that area. I cut the opening for the old work box then drilled a hole through the outer sheathing to run my cable. The cable is concealed behind the vinyl siding. No reason this could not be done with HDMI cat 6 etc.

I've got my TV mounted over the fireplace. The mount drops the TV so that the mantle is behind the TV. It's mounted low enough that the mantle is actually at the midpoint of the TV's height. Neck crink is not evident and it works great. My fireplace is dormant too.

Wiring was accomplished by using the TV to hid the cords behind it except for about 4 inches. We put the component cabinet to the left of the TV and the cords all route into it. The 4 inches of cable mentioned above is hidden by white wire tape. It's barely noticeable.

In reply to Datsun1500:

thats good to know. I was looking at a few on Amazon, none got great ratings, a common theme is the loss of signal/resetting thing. It does look like most now have a reset button, versus having to power off, but I still will have to get up and do it.

Theres always Invisible wire tape that Ive seen used on DIY shows where wall modification may not be plausible. Thing is, they cannot turn from vertical to horizontal without fuss.

I may get creative with some additional trim...using some square dowels to raise the trim 3/4" or so off the face of the wall ought to do it. Maybe make it press fit between the 2 built in bookcases on either side of the fireplace so wires can be manipulated easier....hmmm....

On my setup, the TV is about 16" narrower than the fireplace and there are cables on each side. There's a freestanding bookcase on each side as well, that's where the A/V crap sits. I ran the component, HDMI etc cables through some 1" corrugated tubing, you have to look close to see it.

I ran a 2" conduit through my fireplace when I re-faced it years ago. I just had it end in a double gang box on the front wall. The conduit allows me to run many wires back and forth at any time.

Of course now the TV isn't there any more and I have a double wide wall plate just sitting there.

But the cat5/6 point is the best option. I have a friend that did a/v installs and he says that's the hot ticket. Can be used as speaker wire, coax, HDMI, etc.

Maybe use the existing coax as a fish line to pull all the cables you really want through it?

Behind the TV will be drywall, about 1.5 inches behind that drywall is a cinderblock chimney. The drywall hangs on 2x4s lying flat against the block. I can fish a few cables vertically, but horizontally its gonna be tough to make anything happen.

The fireplace is flanked on either side by built in bookcases, which are sitting on top of a mantle that runs the entire length of the wall. The bookshelves are trimmed in. The more and more I think about it, I think Im gonna poke a hole down thru the bottom of the bookshelf, and run the component cables along the mantle, behind some trim cut to press fit between the bookcases. When the cables get to the mid point, Im going to poke a hole in the wall behind that trim piece, and fish them up to the area behind the TV. A wall plate like this:

and bobs your uncle...

Cone_Junkie wrote: Maybe use the existing coax as a fish line to pull all the cables you really want through it?

Jerry mentioned the same thing. Im pretty sure the coax terminal available in this spot runs down into the basement where it jumps around from room to room. Fishing it back from there does nothing, the compnents will be in the bookshelves I mentioned ↑. I really only need to hide the cables for about 4 feet.