Routing HDMI cable???

[Rick Vyncke]

2005 Beaver Marquis

I had a Winegard Trav'ler satellite dish installed and also replaced the old plasma TV (in the front) that was housed in a lift unit that drops down from the ceiling.  All went well until I tried routing the HDMI cable from the satellite receiver to the TV. 

I successfully routed the cable from the satellite receiver through the right side of the dash and up the right side pillar post.  This is the same route taken by the older coaxial cables. 

When I reached the top of the pillar post I had assumed that the cables would feed into the cabinetry behind the old satellite dish controller which is located just above the entry steps (left of the Xantrex controller cabinet).  The cables are not accessible from there and am hoping that somebody here has done this and can provide some guidance on how to finish routing that cable from the top of the pillar post into the drop-down TV lift unit.

The old cables exit the drop-down TV lift unit from a hole located on the right-hand side of the forward (windshield) edge of that unit but I cannot access or see where they go from there.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

Rick

[Edward Buker]

Rick,

Where did you install the satellite receiver? I installed mine in the rear closet at the back of the coach and routed to the swing down TV from there. I was able to route another cable from the from the side cabinet over the couch going forward. I can share my game plan but I do not know where you are starting from.

Later Ed

[Rick Vyncke]

The satellite receiver is located in the front center cabinet that originally housed the receiver as well as the Bose lifestyle.  I'm not concerned about hooking the rear TV up... only the front.  Using HDMI makes all the difference in picture quality and there must be a way to get that cable into the lift unit but I'm struggling within finding how.

So... I am trying to run and HDMI cable (20' length) from the center cabinet, inside of the right side of the dash, then up the right pillar post (all of that is done) but than I cannot figure out how to get from there into the lift box.  The original configuration simply ran a coax cable to the TV and if I could follow that same patch that would work... but, I can't seem to figure out where those coax cables go after they reach the top of the pillar post (ceiling) nor can I figure out where the coax cable goes after routing out the front (windshield) edge of the lift mechanism.

To summarize... the old coax follows the route that I describe above.  When it reaches the top of the pillar post it disappears above the headliner and below the roof.  It then comes into the lift unit through a hole (windshield side) inside of the lift unit.  If I could access that path I could run the HDMI the same way.  I can't use the coax to pull it as the coax seems to be anchored or tied somewhere.

[Edward Buker]

Rick,

My 2002 Marquis is different and has a cabinet to the right of the swing down tv box that I think I could access from.

Post some photos of the top of the pillar post, the tv box wire entrance, and what is to the upper right of the TV box. That may jog some memories of others that may have done some work. I would also call BCS and see what they have to offer. Usually if you cannot get there you need to start pulling things apart or find a creative way to cover the wiring with a molding that you fashion that covers from point A to Point B.

There are also some forum members that do upgrades as a business that may be helpful either by hiring their services or be willing to share.

Later Ed

[William Jordan]

While this may not apply I'll add my take.
Bcs wanted a fortune to re route cables ( hdmi ) and the tech actually discouraged it. I asked about wireless and he had no answer . Said they didn't work . so I looked into  what I could do. I discovered wireless was the way for me to go as my receivers are in the slide out so the routing was extremely difficult and long.  I bought a iogear wireless transmitter off amazon. Problem solved. Great picture and the only downside is one more device powered up. I hid the receiver behind the tv and the transmitter sits on the sat receiver  in the slide out electronics cabinet. It has two inputs one for the sat and one for the blueray .  The range is limited ( about 20-30 feet) so it won't reac the bedroom  and the unit isn't cheap 189.00 but the pict quality is  Hdmi !!!! BCS was correct judging from  reviews online for all but the iogear wireless unit. I took the risk and it paid off in my case

[Rick Vyncke]

Thank you Ed - If I continue with trying to hardware the HDMI I will post pictures.

Thank you too William!  I am intrigued about the wireless option which I had not considered.  Does that system broadcast it's own wireless signal or would I need a separate wireless access point. 

I had originally said that I didn't care about connecting the bedroom TV but it looks like the wireless can transmit up to 100 feet and now I have to consider getting one transmitter and two receivers.  We only watch one TV at a time and so broadcasting the same to both receivers would be fine with me.  How far away from the transmitter is the TV?  Do you have any experience broadcasting to two TV's?

Thanks again for the suggestion... this has opened possibilities that I hadn't considered.

Rick

[William Jordan]

Rick it's a  stand alone system. I don't know what it  uses to transmit.  In my case the walls and obstructions  , and the fact the transmitter was inside a cabinet caused it to break up in the bedroom if you have a more direct line of sight it would probably work better.  I only tried it to see if I wanted to buy an extra receiver and I eventually went With a separate satellite receiver for the bedroom so it didn't matter.  In the confines of the living area however, only a few feet , it works great! I had (still have) a spaghetti of useless and repurposed wires from the old systems that people had changed over the years all unMarked and a real mess! so this was an easy solution for me . Spendy yes but no wires to mess with. Good luck with whatever you do !

[Roy C Tyler]

William and Rick
There are also "repeaters" that just plug into an AC outlet and re-broadcast the wifi signal.  I use them in my house to cover the whole house with a strong wifi signal.  Just plug them in about half way between transmitter and receiver.

[Edward Buker]

Rick,

The wireless solution, there are many, is likely it work well given the close proximity of your TV and your Sat Receiver. I am not so sure about the bedroom application, these frequencies like line of sight antenna to antenna. Any wall or closed doors in the RV is likely an issue. If you test this option have the extra bedroom receiver as part of the test. This is a good article overview of the technology.

http://www.portablehifi.com/wireless-hdmi-transmission-protocols-products/

If I chose to do wireless, I would probably buy from Amazon or a local Best Buy with a good return policy and see if the solution worked, and if not try another. There is a little gamble in that the RF environment around our coach changes and you may end up parked in an area with interference issues.

One last option (which I chose) is to use some amplified Balun converters that allow transmission over Cat4 ethernet cables. The advantage is the ends can be put on after you push the cables through openings, long distance, no rf issues, and they can pass through a 1/4 inch hole. Disadvantage is you still have to run and hide the cables. I have used a small home made cherry molding with a small channel cut out of the backside to get around for a short run between cabinets for a different ethernet cable application. For my cable run from the rear closet where I located my sat receiver to the front tv, I loosened the ceiling center panels and tucked the wire behind it. You can drill the metal box that houses the swing down tv and enter where it best works for you. My ceiling panel butted the box so I came in from the living room end. This solution is 4K tv compliant which may be a future issue seeing the movement to 4K, some wireless solutions may handle 4K also, not sure.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019MADOS8/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944687442&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00OZV04BK&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=J4KBG3NAFSF8R2XRDTMR

Good luck with this, we do love the 4k tv and the hdmi solution with Dish 1080P. It is worth the struggle to get there from here...

Later Ed