Recently Filed in Cables, Wires and Tools

In the spirit of Halloween (OK, maybe it’s because you guys just love terrible wiring jobs), we’ve rounded up seven more horrific (scary) wiring jobs. These entries were sent in by some faithful CE pros who have come across their fair share of wiring nightmares. We have more terrible jobs from cable guys and, sadly, from installers who just don’t care. Make sure to check out our previous roundups of awful wiring jobs: 10 Ways Not to Wire Your System and 10 Wiring Messes Cleaned… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • Info and Answers • Slideshows

Update: Sears is offering a series of “Black Friday Now” deals that will be available every Saturday between Oct. 31, 2009 and Christmas from 7 a.m. to noon. Due to Halloween, doorbusters sales will start on Friday, Oct. 30 at 5 p.m. Not to be out-leaked by OfficeMax, the Black Friday ads from Sears have been posted on BlackFriday.info. Black Friday is on Nov. 27, 2009, and Sears has some great deals on consumer electronics and DIY products, including TVs, Blu-ray players, home theater systems,… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • DVD Players • Cables, Wires and Tools • HDMI • Displays • Flat Panel • HDTV • LCD • Plasma • Furniture • Gaming • Games • Deals

Ten years ago, the big talk in the home electronics industry was structured wiring. The prepackaged bundle of wire offered us a quick and easy way to get our homes prewired for all kinds of fabulous systems. A novel idea at the time, prewiring was preached as being the best thing since sliced bread. Fast forward to 2009: We still hear a lot about wire—what with HDMI and fiber hype—but sadly, the frenzy over structured wiring packages has fizzled. The companies that pioneered the concept,… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • Structured Wiring • Info and Answers

Never have the right cable when you need to integrate a new piece of equipment into your setup? I always have the right cable ... mainly because I’ve bought the wrong cable so many times that they end up being the right cable somewhere down the road, but also because I jump on deals when I see them. For example ... Today Buy.com has the Belkin My Essential HDTV Cable Kit on sale for $9.99 with free shipping. The kid contains 6-foot lengths of the… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • Audio Cables • HDMI • Video Cables • Deals • Product News

After showing you the worst wiring jobs on the planet, we’ve tracked down photos of what those same jobs looked like after a custom electronics professional (CE pro) cleaned up each mess. Now, don’t be fooled, some of these jobs belong to and were done by CE pros themselves. That’s why you need to map out exactly how you want your system to look, and dictate your vision to whoever (you or a CE pro) and wiring your system. You certainly don’t want to be… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • Structured Wiring • Info and Answers • Slideshows

Have you ever tried (unsuccessfully) to wire your own system? What about hiring a CE pro to come out and tackle a complicated wiring job? While CE pros almost always do great work, there’s always that one installer who just doesn’t care. Either of those scenarios could leave you with a rat’s nest of wires in the basement or a bird’s nest of wires under the stairs, possibly affecting system performance. And fixing such a mess is no easy task. We’ve rounded up 10 of… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • Structured Wiring • Info and Answers • Slideshows

You’ve just invested a huge amount of time and money on having electronic systems installed into your home. Everything seems top-notch and is humming along nicely … until you press that mysterious button on that beautiful rack of audio/video equipment. Suddenly, your home theater isn’t working right. No matter how carefully your custom electronics pro design (CE pro) and install the gear, glitches are going to happen. To save homeowners the hassle of calling in a tech every time there’s a snafu, most CE pros… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • Software • Info and Answers

Q. Our HDMI cable was installed with the input and output on the wrong ends. Can the ends be reversed? - Noemi, Glen Cove, N.Y. A. AVGuys Houston provides these tips via CE Pro: [There are] 2 ways to answer this post: 1) NO, the cable will have to be removed and re-run to gain optimal use of the directionality of the wire. 2) It will make no difference if the arrows that are printed on the wire do not point the same way as… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • HDMI • Ask a Pro

Q. What AV cables should I run in-wall for my wall-mounted LCD HDTV? I was thinking power and two HDMI. S-video and component should not be needed since I plan to use a modern HDMI-switching and upscaling receiver and a PC hooked up by DVI-HDMI. Maybe Cat6 Ethernet and USB? - Jon Graves, Seattle A. Rob Schultz of Inspired Electronics offers these tips via CE Pro: Assuming this wall is currently open, and will be closed up and inaccessible, here’s what I would recommend: One… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • HDMI • Video Cables • Displays • HDTV • LCD • Ask a Pro

Q. If money did not matter, what is the best TV on the planet that’s 50 inches or more? - Matt Ubel, Minn. A. The easy answer is the Pioneer Elite Kuro plasma, but Pioneer is phasing out of that product. So if you’re going to buy one, you should do it now. You should also look into products from Runco and Panasonic. Many people these days, however, are investing into projection systems (projector and screen). These have larger screen sizes and the ability to… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Receivers • Cables, Wires and Tools • HDMI • Video Cables • Displays • HDTV • Plasma • Ask a Pro

Wiring isn’t sexy. But it’s necessary. Here are seven vital wire/cable runs you should ask your custom electronics pro to install to ensure that your plans for technology are up-to-date and your modern lifestyle at home is well in hand. Category 5 structured cabling. This is a must. Also, make sure the phone locations are wired with the same cable that is used for data. This makes future conversion of phone locations to data locations a simple task. Terminate Phone Locations as Data using RJ45.… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • Structured Wiring • Wall Jacks • Info and Answers

Q. What is the best way to wire up my theater room? Should all equipment be on one circuit or should the monitor and projector be on their own dedicated circuits? - Anonymous A. If you can, go ahead and break it up on two circuits. If you are in the prewire stage it is simple and not that expensive. Today’s projectors and displays typically do not need to be separated from the A/V gear because of the reduced size of their wattage needs. While… View this story
Cables, Wires and Tools • Home Theater • Ask a Pro