What should I know about in wall HDMI?

Question

I am finishing my basement. I would like to run in wall hdmi. The length that I need to run it is 50 feet. I dont want to spend over 100 on the cable (and or hdmi booster) What are your suggestions on cables, plates, and boosters. I'm just really confused about this whole thing. I'm not sure if i should buy a 50 foot cable and some boosters or 2 25 foot cables and an extender.

Any help will be aappreciated

Thanks

Answer 1

Buy the cable from http://www.monoprice.com they have the best prices I've found and if you want the best quality just run the cable through two holes in the wall don't use a wall plate (the more connections you have the more the signal degrades)

Answer 2

First, avoid connections as much as possible. You also need a CL2 rated cable for in wall installation. While you can probably get by with a cheap cable there are at least two reasons not to try to skimp too much.

1) If you are installing in a wall you want it as "futureproof" as possible since you never know what demands future equipment might make.  Look for an HDMI 1.3 certified, CL2 rated cable.

2) HDMI is notorious for becoming problematic at longer distances. You can (and arguably should) use boosters to get cables to work reliably at over 100 ft, but you probably don't need them at 50 ft with a good cable (and assuming good quality electronics in your A/V components).

I'd suggest Blue Jean Cables as a good reputable supplier and they are a fraction of the price of Monster (or other supposedly high end brands).

See the info at the 1st link and then go to their HDMI Cable listing and look for the BJC Belden Series-1 Bonded Pair cables ($136 at 50 ft).  They compare favourably with the Gefen cables (2nd Link) ... which require a booster in most cases to pass 1080p at 50 ft and longer.