Cable pins vs Trunking vs Drilling - Mounted TV

[Rony28]

Hi,

SO I am moving into a new house soon and I am planning on getting a 55" TV to mount onto my wall.

Now I don't have much knowledge regarding TVs and cabling, but from my limited research there are 3 ways to deal with cable management:

A) Pinning the cables nicely to the wall and painting them the same colour as the wall.
B) Trunking the cables with a nice slim D-Line?
C) Drilling through the wall so that all cables are hidden.

I have plaster walls (newbuild) and I have just a big blank wall, placing the TV right in the middle, so no door trims/corners to hide the cables against.

My questions are, which is the best one to do?

I originally wanted to go for C, as it is the cleanest, however it requires drilling into walls and that is permanent and I was a bit anxious with them being plaster walls and not be strong enough.

Then I decided B would be the next best option, as looking at some pictures, it doesn't look too bad. Until I spoke to a Currys salesperson whose personal opinion was that they looked ugly (if not done perfectly).

He suggested pinning and painting the cables will look better than trunking.

But then my friend who is also getting a new build says she will be getting the drill in method C, as it does look very clean. which has made me think I should go for it too.

So I've gone a full loop not really getting anywhere. so I wanted to get opinions of people who have done these, what you think, and if there are any other pros and cons to look out for?

One other thing I was worried about is that potentially I will be using a HDMI cable to connect to my PC/laptop a lot to watch movies/play games. Can I put a permanent HDMI cable in method C, and have it come down at the bottom ready to be used? Can I add a HDMI cable after the drilling and completion has been done? How does it work? Is it as simple as just plugging it in, then slotting the cable through the hole in the wall and out the otherside?

If I went for trunking, will I be able to "open" the trunk to add more cables?

I guess with pinning, it will be difficult to add more cables as I'd have to pin this additional cable and paint it too.

Thanks,

 

[Deleted member 24354]

It all depends what finish you want. For me I hate seeing cables or trunking from behind a wall hung TV. Take the time and effort to chase the cables in properly.

 

[Rony28]

I was going to get a handyman to do it, as there is no way I would trust myself to do it.

I was just hoping to get some insight as to the general consensus as to which is better, perhaps even with some pictures of the cable pinning/trunking as I cannot seem to find many pictures on the internet.

I think I will go for the drilling behind wall method then.

Thanks,

 

[John]

New build? Does it come with a media plate ?
Cables are easy to run in the space between the plasterboard and block work. So long as its dot n dab. And I am not sure on the legalities of it

You could use dental floss with a washer and a cheap cable access kit and magnet to fish.
Doable with one. Easier with 2
It's how I hid the speaker cable for my front sound stage

 

[Rony28]

I'm sorry I feel so dumb, but I don't know what a media plate. But looking at the sockets, there is a large plate with like 4 plug outlets, like a few Ethernet outlets? and some round (female) and pokey (male) outlets. Is that what you mean by a media plate?

I also have no idea whether it is dot and dab, and I haven't bought the place yet, so I am only relying on photos atm, but can test it when I move in.

The Currys people said that I just need to buy some TV plug things from B&Q due to the plasterboard being a bit weaker, these plugs will strengthen the mount.

So I will buy those plug things and then just gt a handyman to set it all up.

What do you mean legalities? Do you mean with the fire safety, or with the freeholder? But surely loads of people living in leasehold flats have this set up?

Thanks!