The wife and I are soon to be movng into our new house.  One project that I would reeally ike to undertake in the next few months is a quality DIY Home Theatre/Living Room.  

Currently, I have a tiered 3 level glass shelf, similar to this, just a little wider



My problem with he stand is with the peripherals, there is really no good way to cut down on wire clutter, and with the setup of the stand I hate the way the wires look.  

In the new place, I might be hanging the TV on the wall, which leaves me with an even bigger issue of hiding reciever inputs and power cables into the TV, into the wall.  I have seen many clean setups, but havn't really found any good DIY guides to doing clean LCD on the wall installs.

Also, probably putting in a nice 5.1 or 7.1 sound system, with wall to wall carpeting, is the best way to run wires under the carpet, along the baseboard or through the drywall somehow.  

And lastly, as far as getting a clean look for all the peripherals (Recievers, Game Systems, Satellite Box, Blu Ray) I don't necessarily want them to be in the room, possibly wired in from a nearby closet, which Im assuming I need a IR remote/relay system to control them...but im not really smart on all that, I might just end up putting them on the old TV stand, but I ould like to hear options if anyone has them.

Any guides or tips for installs, are greatly appreciated.










Thanks guys, look forward to any and all advice!

Are you hagning the tv over the fireplace or putting it in the corner as shown?

Do not know yet.  I haven't really got a chance to seehow the natural light effects the room throught the day yet since we have not moved in (The furniture is the prior occupants)

Here is my Family Room set up. It's prety clean. The equipment and speakers are in the credenza and I use an IR repeating system to control them with the doors closed.



I also have a dedicated theater which is also simple. Spent most of my time, money and energy on good equipment and calibration.





Let me know what specific questions you have. As far as wiring is concerned, it your equipment is HDMI capable you will have eliminated a ton of wire. Hanging a FPD on the wall is very simple and even easier to run the HDMI cable(s) and power cable behind the wall.

Very Clean, probably something similar to what I'm picturing.  The only peripheral that Is not run via HDMI is the wifes Wii and Roku/Netflix box.  I would have HDMI running from the reciever to the TV, obviously.  I think My biggest question is how to run HDMI 50' through drywall, just incase I decide against doing a low mount, with all peripherals either concealed or in a closet.  

As far as actually mounting the screen, I have done it before, with the 36" in my Bedroom, I can fnd studs in drywall, so Im pretty much on top of that.

You may want to consider an actual piece of furniture as we did for our bedroom.  It looks like an armour when closed but when open it holds six components and two big slide out draws for DVD's and CD's.  It is made by Hooker Furniture and we bought it delivered for 75% off from a Carson Prairie Scott Outlet.  It was missing the hardware handles which I bought at Menards for $5.  It has wheels so it will roll over carpet and all of the wiring is tucked neatly behind it.  Came with a power bar too.

Firebird-Any pics of your setup?

The wife was wanting to get an enclosed media cabinet anyway for our 400+ DVDs, so I might just look for a little bit bigger and get one to contain all the peripherals too

It's hard to give you advice on how to run the cable without seeing the starting and ending points. Here is a link where you can get some nice HMDI cables for a good price. 48 feet is $82

http://www.avcable.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=HDMI&Category_Code=DVI_CABLE_HDMI_CABLE

I usually get my cables from monoprice, its about $1 a foot or less, they treat me right every time

This is NOT ours but it is the idea.








400 DVD/cds is a lot

I think what I might be leaning toward at this point is mounting the TV on the wall, with a lower piece for furniture to double as Media/Peripheral Storage...unless someone can convince me to the benefits o doing it otherwise...

+1, I was racking my brains trying to think of them. The build quality if the AVcables is better but the monoprice ones are good also and cheaper.

I have a thread in the archives on something similar that I did in my previous house, it might give you a few ideas.

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=1&f=139&t=555966

Scott-

Pretty sexy setup, thanks for the link.  Great job on that wall, it turned out spectacular

Don't mount the TV over the fireplace.  It is too high up.  You'll always have to upward tilt to your head to watch.  This is a drag after an hour or so.

We are taking that into consideration...along with the fact that since it is a rectangular room, vision to the TV over the fireplace would be severly degraded to anyone in the room, that is not directly infront of the display.

Absolutely do not mount it over the fireplace it's much to high.

Ditto on fireplace mounting.  Also, you might want to check the heat output above your fireplace before doing so!  
If you are mounting on a wall, you can cut an access hole in the wall, remove your baseboard moulding and run the cables out there.  Or even beter, you can notch out the bottom of the sheetrock at the floor level, run your cables in this notch and then cover everything back up with the base board.  At work we often use a "back box" made by Chief Mfg. that allows a power outlet to be installed in it that is horizontal so you can plug in the TV without the plug sticking out too far where it will hit the back of the TV when you try hanging it on the wall.  You can also install some conduits as we have to in business/public buildings.  Just remember, all the mouldings in your room can be removed and used to hide cables.  I've even seen guys use heavy mouldings and route the back of them out for cable runs, along with cutting out the sheetrock behind the moulding.

Is it unfinished basement under the room?

If so drill straight down behind your receiver and then bring each speaker wire back up under where the speaker stand will go.

Install something like this behind where the TV will be mounted;

http://www.cinemabuilder.com/products/electrical/recessed-wall-plate-w-port.asp
http://www.aifittings.com/whnew98.htm
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/sherifftruman/100_3384.jpg

The PS3 plays BluRay and has a bluetooth remote so you won't need line of sight to the closet.

Pretty much everything else will need an IR remote extender to go from the TV to the closet.