Where to place the cable box? - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Cache · 12-01-2008, 06:03 PM

First off, my skills are in carpentry. I'm an idiot when it comes to electrical.

It is my understanding that a cable box works by line of sight. In my own home we have installed a direct vent fireplace with a recess in tha wall above for a flat panel TV. This is great for cleaning up the area and eliminating the need for an entertainment center, but I still have to have the box somewhere for DVR, channel guides, etc. Any ideas on where to locate the box?

rbsremodeling · 12-01-2008, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cache

First off, my skills are in carpentry. I'm an idiot when it comes to electrical.

It is my understanding that a cable box works by line of sight. In my own home we have installed a direct vent fireplace with a recess in tha wall above for a flat panel TV. This is great for cleaning up the area and eliminating the need for an entertainment center, but I still have to have the box somewhere for DVR, channel guides, etc. Any ideas on where to locate the box?

Build a shelf, slab or granite under the tv and put the Cable box on it. Or on the side of the tv built some nice shelves and but the box on that.

the cable box does not have to be by the tv it can be positioned somewhere else as long as the remote can hit it. I have put them up to 20' away from the tv in some unique instances, think a bit and be creative

Kgmz · 12-01-2008, 08:22 PM

I am assuming that this is a direct vent gas fireplace that vents straight out the back.

In some of the homes we have built, we have done something similar. The hole for the TV is full depth or same depth as the fireplace framing. We usually put in a 40" LCD on a custom mount that allows the TV to swing out and tilt in either direction and allows access to the components behind it. The mantel goes all the way to the ceiling and boxes the fireplace and the TV, The center, left, and right front speakers are built into this surround. And then there are doors with flipper door slides so that the doors disappear, or cover the TV when you don't want to see it.

Now to control all the components behind the TV we use a Infrared repeater. I usually put the infrared sensor for the repeater behind the speaker grill on the center speaker, or sometimes we just mount it in the gap around the TV.

Cache · 12-02-2008, 02:36 AM

Ah, an infrared repeater. Great idea! That's perfect. Thanks