Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - Wall installation of Panasonic plasma tv

I just bought a Panasonic 42 inch plasma flat screen (model #TH-42PX60U) and am planning to install it on the living room wall. Have ordered a Peerless wall mount and am awaiting delivery before getting started. Would appreciate any tips (especially "do's" and "don'ts") on this type of installation, and a few specific questions I have are:
1. What type of cable should I buy to run from cable box to the TV and from DVD player to TV? I have seen "HDMI cables" for as much as $159. Is it necessary to spend this much and what are alternatives? Any specific stores or brand to buy?
2. Have been looking around for some wall plates to cover the holes made in drywall to run cables inside walls, but haven't spotted anything yet. What and where is the best type of plate to use for this? I assume there is something like an outlet cover that will cover the hole in the wall, with a hole in the cover that is appropriate for the cable?
3. Will also be running speaker cables through the wall to the TV for home audio system. Is there anything to avoid as far as running cables together (speaker, HDMI, etc.) or should they be routed separately? (By the way, I am installing electrical outlet to power the TV on the wall behind the TV.)

Thanks in advance.

Whenever I'm putting the wall mount up for customers I always try to have the least amount of cables going through the wall. If your cable supplier has an HDMI connection on their cable box, take advantage of it. Also, if you bought a HD-Upconvert DVD player or HD-DVD/Bluray player, then you need to use HDMI on those also. If your having an audio receiver with it, then just use digital coax or fiber optic for audio connection to the receiver from cable and dvd player. As far as the quality cables, you can use monster series HDMI cables, but I normally don't. I normally use Acoustic research pro series. Same quality, just at a lower price.

I'm not familiar with the mount, so I can't give ya any pointers other than make sure its level and it's mounted onto at least two studs. The mounts I use have top and bottom screw holes for sturdiness.

Good job on putting an electrical outlet behind the TV. So many people don't do that. I would recommend putting a nice surge supressor back there behind the TV. There are some plasma wall mount surge suppresors, they are kind of expensive but worth it in my opinion

As far as cover's go, I know Leviton makes a couple of wall covers. One is just a plain blank cover. I use those alot and just take a dremel or hole saw and make a hole in it. The other is a cover for a circular wall light switch. Those I have to order through my company, but you may find some on the internet. Keep in mind that they will be covered by the TV and your equipment anyway.

Hope that helps,

Stuntman

Thanks, Stuntman. The information you provided is very helpful.
I do have a couple of follow-up questions:

1. Are you saying that the HDMI cable (assuming I use this) is the only cable that needs to be run through the wall up to the TV? I don't think I'm clear on how the speaker cables for audio system should be handled. I was thinking these also would have to go up through the wall to the TV. Not correct?

2. Also, a new question that I forgot to include previously: I currently have a Tivo DVR and am tentatively planning to wire it in to my system when I install the new plasma TV. However, the concern I have with the Tivo is that, with my old television, the Tivo seems to diminish the quality of the picture. I've noticed that in watching TV either in real time or a recorded program through the Tivo, the picture is not as good as when I bypass the Tivo by connecting the cable box directly into the back of the TV. My questions are whether this is a known problem with Tivo; and whether there is anything I can do about it? I'm making quite an investment in plasma to have a high quality picture, so would like to know if Tivo is going to be a problem and is not recommended. (If I'm using a Tivo, I guess the question on using HDMI cable depends on whether the Tivo has an HDMI connection, which I don't know offhand?)

Thanks

The only Tivo units that have HDMI connections are the one with DirecTV HD-DVR units. Otherwise you use S-video connections. If you are going with a cable service and also doing HD service through them, check and see if they have a box with HDMI connections. My Cable company only has those on their HD-DVR units. As far as cabling goes, if I'm doing a wall mount with a home theater setup, I only run video connections to the TV, and I run seperate audio connections from the cable box and the DVD player to the Audio receiver. That way, it keeps the amount of cables going through the wall at a minimum.

As far as picture quality on a tivo goes, I PERSONALLY think that there is a slight loss of picture going through the box, but that's my opinion only. Keep in mind that if you bought a plasma, you should be considering doing digital cable or satellite at the least, if not HD service. Analog signals can look very, very distorted on a plasma. Luckily you got a tv that tends to be a little more forgiving on analog signals. I like Tivo, but with more and more service providers offering their own DVR's in one box, tivo is kinda getting left behind. I know sales at our store have bottomed out on our Tivo units. We used to sell 5-10 a week. Now we are lucky to sell 5 in two months.

hope that helps,

Stuntman

Thanks again, Stuntman. That helps a lot. I do have digital cable with HD service. Your comments are kind of pushing me to an approach that was already in the back of my mind: get rid of the Tivo box and subscribe to the cable company's DVR service instead. Sounds like that way, I get rid of one box and am assured of having an HDMI connection on the new cable/DVR box. Also, I won't be wondering anymore about whether the Tivo is harming my picture quality.

Also, I will run audio cables from the cable box and DVD player to the receiver as you suggest rather than from the TV. Have to admit that as an amateur I was sort of under the impression that the speaker cables need to connect into the TV. You've made the light bulb pop on in that regard!

No offense meant here, but since you spent a couple thousand on the plasma TV, why try to go cheap on the cabling? Get the HDMI and get all the video quality you paid for.
Like Stuntman said, get HD service, too.

There will be a new TiVo model coming out in the fall that should support HDTV, HDMI, etc. I am a huge fan of TiVo but in your situation would probably rent from the cable company for now but make sure to check out the new TiVo when it is released.

I actually heard something about a new SDTV model out now that directly supports digital cable and haven't looked into it, but since you're spending so much on HDTV it may not be worth it even if it has digital connectors.

Ken,
As far as cables, I had the same problem. After spending 2 grand on tv, I didn't want to spend a couple hundred more dollars on cable. Enter Ebay. I bought all monster cables for a SMALL fraction of the price of audio stores. For instance, I bought two Monster audio cables for $25 shipped and a 4ft Monster HDMI cable for $20 shipped. Don't be fooled into thinking you have to spend $100+ on an HDMI cable when there is an alternative. But don't go without these cables either. They make a huge difference!

Thanks everyone for your comments. I do feel better informed as I start this project. Thought I'd post a quick recap of what I plan to do and see if I've got it reasonably correct:

My "system" will consist of digital cable service coming into the cable company's HD/DVR box and going to the Panasonic plasma TV described in my first post. I also need to wire in my Sony 5.1 audio system and DVD player. I'm planning to get the HDMI cable (or equivalent) described at BestBuy.com:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6826027&type=product&id=1091101681462

Will shop around a little for best price, of course. Question: is this cable a good choice to run from the HD/DVR box to theTV?

Then I will use RCA-style audio cables (red and white connectors) to connect the HD/DVR box to the audio receiver and another pair of audio cables to connect DVD to audio receiver. Question: I'm not sure about video connection from DVD player to TV. I don't think the DVD player has an HDMI connection. Should I run an S-video cable from DVD to TV?

Thanks.

Does the above sound OK?

I have a different opinion on the cables. Assuming that cheaper cables lose video quality is "analog thinking". It does not apply to "digital signals". With digital the signal is either "there" or it's "not". If you have really long runs of cable the strength may decrease to the point of the picture freezing. But you will NEVER lose any "detail". For runs of 10 to 20 feet it's not even an issue. The better cable may give you better "ends" but how often are you going to moving these things? Also the better cable may be more "rigid" which may be an issue in small entertainment centers. But hey, this is only my opinion after repairing this stuff for 31 years.

dakota

I'll have to disagree with Dakota a little bit. He's right that a digital signal is either there or its not, but the "signal" quality can be low enough that the receiver isn't always able to rebuilt the image properly. Just because the signal is digital doesn't mean it can't drop out intermittantly. Satellite TV owners see this alot during a heavy rainstorm where the picture gets blocky; the computer doesn't have enough valid information to put the image back together so it works with what it last received for that particular part of the image. This isn't nearly as much of a factor for cables though.

A cheaper digital (HDMI) cable can definitely pull its own weight against a more expensive cable under most circumstances.

For your audio connections, I'd use a fiber optic cable instead of the RCA cables, assuming your equipment supports it. They are completely EMI/RFI immune since they operate in the optic domain.