[thefair1973]

Hi All,

Some great projects on this site and I'm about to embark on my own tomorrow. I've gone and bought a huge roll of plastic sheeting to tape up my room and also build me a little tent to minimize dust when I chase out the wall.

What I need to know is those people who've chased out walls, how deep have have you gone in to the wall and also how wide is the channel? I'm going to be putting in a HDMI-HDMI cable, HDMI-DVI cable, 2xSCART, Component, VGA, SVHS and power cables to try and avoid having to dangle any cables down the wall in the future.

Also, one last thing, what height would you recommend I mount my plasma? I know a lot of people mount them quite high, but equally, people mount it at eye-height, which seems very low and will look odd on my wall. If I mount it centrally, do you think me and the lady will end up with sore necks?

All advice greatfully received.

Thanks in advance!

[jonny round boy]

Can't really advise on the hieght of the plasma - that's really just down to personal choice. Myself, I'd put it so the centre of the screen was level with your eyeline when watching, but you've already said you think that looks odd. Personal preference.

Regarding the cables, whatever you do I'd highly recommend putting them in conduit of some kind to protect them from the plaster (and the plasterer's tools - they can have quite sharp edges) so the width & depth of the chase will be determined by the conduit size. Some people would also recommend putting the power cable in separately from the signal cables if possible, though with mine I didn't bother. This shouldn't be a problem for you, as from what you describe you'd need several chases to fit all those cables in anyway!

FWIW I used 40mm waste pipe as conduit for my install, so the chase was about 50x50mm. OK for the 600mm run I had, but not really ideal for long runs!

[neilball]

Keep your power and other cables separate as a starting point. If you are using pre-made cables then you might want to use PVC capping rather than conduit or trunking. It comes in various widths and you can buy it from B&Q in many cases for a reasonable price. It's simply fixed with capping nails/mickey pins. You only need to take off the plaster, no need to chase the brick or block and the plasterer will simply cover it over when making good.

Hi,

I buried my cables in 2 inch waste pipe that comes down the wall in 3 seperate drops. Do keep power away from any speaker video cables. Using waste pipe has made the job of pulling the cables so much more easier, and also allows for upgrades and additional calbes to be added. But cutting the drops was a little tricky.

[AMc]

To position your screen cut out some paper/cardboard the size of your screen. Stick it to the wall with bluetac and sit where you're going to sit at as close to the right height and distance back as you can. Try to sit there for a minute or two imagining you're watching TV. You'll soon get an idea if you will find it uncomfortably high or low. A lot depends on the height of your seating so try and get that right!

[Paul_GPvR]

hi,

i take it the scart leads are the largest connectors going down the pipe? Did they fit down the waste pipe ok?

thanks