With an every expanding range of home entertainment products, cable management systems are becoming more and more important to help both visually (cables always look messy just lying around) and in terms of product performance (Cat5 cables should not be ran in close proximity to power cables) and protection (sending your new PC crashing to the floor as you snag a cable). Cable management systems are also essential in larger installations where you have cabling for HIFI, PC networking, security systems throughout your home.

Todays cable management solutions include-

Cable Covers / Mats
Sometimes you have to run computer, stereo, TV, DVD, and other cables across halls, floors, or other areas where people will be walking. You risk damage to your cables, your floor, and you risk creating a very real tripping hazard. When considering your cable management solutions here you can look at light capacity cable covers or consider a faux baseboard type product into which you can run the wires.

Wire Labeling
How can you organize the cables behind your home entertainment center or PC desk? There are a lot of good labeling products out there that can help keep it simple. Cables organization can get out of control quickly so you should look at cable markers before you even start to set up your components! With well labeled wiring, you eliminate the stress of potentially unplugging the wrong wire or connector and you can make it much easier to upgrade particular components as and when they go faulty or need updating. You can buy cable labeling printers today for as little as $20.

Power management
You need to know how many Amps (current) you are drawing to make sure your set up is safe. Be wary of your power supply when you are putting your home office or home entertainment center together. Power distribution panels may be an option for your business to consider. BRC/SPC power distribution panels feature Current Monitoring with a real-time digital readout. Surge protectors should also always be fitted to ensure that you protect your valuable equipment from lightening strikes and power spikes.

Cable wiring – Baseboards for Your Home
The problem with most houses is that once the wiring is installed, that´s it. You can´t make serious changes without tearing up the place. The good news is that there are several solutions out there, from inexpensive simple cord covers to more advanced products that can mimic your baseboard. A great example of this is the WireTracks cable raceway This unique cable solution looks just like normal baseboard, except it carries wires. Best of all, you can change wires by opening up the WireTracks and adding or removing wires as needed. This is perfect for the home theater enthusiast who wants the best sound system and wiring options out there to ensure that their high tech playroom works as well as possible!

Installing Speaker Wires
Running speaker wire or some other form of cable around your house is easier with wire organizers like cable clips, cable saddles and cable clamps. For example, clips can hold one or two wires and guide them along a desired route unobtrusively, and keep your wires neat and tidy. They have an adhesive backing which means you can mount the cable clips on walls, baseboards, ceilings, desks or any other surface. By organizing your speaker wire and protecting it from being walked over, you help to keep your wires in good condition and you don´t run the risk yanking wires out of your speakers every time you cross the room. and you can avoid sending your valuable speakers crashing to the floor!

Basic cable management solutions
Maybe your office or home entertainment system is just an ordinary PC, printer TV, DVD etc. You’ve probably still got some cords dangling around both looking untidy and creating a possible hazard. Consider a simple solution like a single cable organizer or kopex (a plastic based system that brings all of your cables together into a flexible tube). Both of these products are low cost and protect your cables and wiring from the hazards of snagging, whilst improving the visual appearance.

Trunking cable management – running cables surface mount around the home or office
You can buy trunking to suit different cable sizes. It is generally made from plastic, normally square tube in shape and has a removable lid to enable you to insert cables. The back often has a sticky back to enable easy fixing to the wall or ceiling. A great solution if you do not want to drill holes in your flat or apartment.

Grommets – Cable management product
Rubber grommets enable you to feed cables through desk or pre-drilled holes, protecting the cable from the hard edges of the hole itself. This helps to ensures that no breaks or splits can occur in the cable over time.

There are many good cable management solutions that can be picked up for a relatively low cost on the internet.

Related posts:

1. Tutorial: Cable Management One way to manage your cables more efficiently. Make...
2. Case Mod: Computer Cable Management, www. mnpctech. com www. mnpctech. com Bill & Jay perform cable management...
3. Cooler Master Stacker Cable Management My Xfire: Slinkey123, add me:) This vid is about...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Used to connect:
Designed for digital audio interconnects such as those used between DVD players and digital decoders for surround sound systems.

Available lengths:
1-50 meters (3-150ft)

Typical cost:
Coaxial cable leads (1 meter) start at around £10.00 ($15) then expect to pay a further £8.00-£25.00 ($14-$40) per meter thereafter, depending on the quality required to match your hardware budget.

Cable advice:
Research the different digital coaxial cables available. Like anything else, quality varies depending on how the cable is made. Some coax cables are made with very inexpensive materials and are inexpensive to buy. Look for a minimum 75 ohm impedance. The better the cable design and manufacture, the less signal loss there will be over the length of the cable. You will typically find that higher end digital coaxial cables are made with silver and oxygen free copper.

Related posts:

1. HDMI Cables Used to connect: High definition TV’s, DVD players, Blue...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Used to connect:
DVD players, video recorders, set top tv boxes, and video game consoles

Cable length:
1-15 meters (3-45ft). If you require a longer SCART cable run then you can add relays.

Typical cost:
Scart cable leads (1 meter) start at around £5.00 ($8) then expect to pay a further £2.00-4.00 ($3-$6) per meter thereafter, depending on the quality required to match your existing hardware budget.

Cable advice:
Nearly all DVD players with SCART sockets output RGB video, which offers far superior picture quality to typical composite signals. However, many players do not have RGB output turned on by default but composite video—this often has to be set manually in the player’s setup menu or via switches on the back of the player.
High quality gold plated SCART RGB AV coaxial cable for the PlayStation 2.

The Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft Xbox and Microsoft Xbox 360 can output RGB, YPbPr, S-Video, or composite video. These consoles, except for the Dreamcast which came standard with an RGB scart cable, come with the standard composite video connector, but the manufacturers and third parties sell connectors for component video hookup and for RGB SCART hookup. Where the GameCube and Xbox automatically switch to the proper mode, the PlayStation 2 must be told via a selection in the system menu whether it is to use YPbPr or RGB component video. Also, some versions of legacy consoles such as Nintendo’s SNES and Nintendo 64 (some, modified NTSC models only) are capable of outputting RGB signals (using the same cable as the GameCube).

The signals carried by SCART include both composite and RGB (with composite synchronization) video, stereo audio input/output and digital signaling. The standard was extended at the end of the 1980s to support the new S-Video signals. In addition, a TV can be turned on from standby mode or switched to video mode through a SCART connector.

Related posts:

1. What’s an S Video Cable Used For? S-Video cables are very common nowadays and have been in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Used to connect:
PC networking equipment such as data hubs, routers, data switches, telephones, category 5 cabling systems.

Available lengths
0.5 – 100 meters (1.5-300ft)

Typical cost:
Ethernet cable prices (1 metre) start at around £ 1.00 ($2) then expect to pay a further 30p -50p (60c-$1) per meter thereafter.

Cable advice:
An ethernet cable is also commonly known as Category 5 (or Cat 5) cable. To avoid damaging the securing clip the booted versions (as pictured) recommended. Choose different colours to connect different devices. An ethernet crossover cable is a type of ethernet cable used to connect computing devices directly to one another, whereas they would normally be connected via a data network switch, hub or router. For example a crossover cable could be used to directly connect two personal computers via their network adapters (RJ45 port).

Related posts:

1. Octava-4×4 HDMI / Ethernet CAT5-6 Matrix Switch 7 Sep 2009 Octava Inc., specialists in HDMI solutions,...
2. HDMI to Ethernet Adapters Used to connect: Two HD devices to one another....
3. Ethernet Explained Ethernet – Explained By John Gibb Platinum Quality Author...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Used to connect:
High definition TV’s, DVD players, Blue Ray disc players, set top boxes game consoles and PC’s.

Available lengths:
1-15 meters (3-45ft)

Typical cost:
DVI Cable prices (1 meter) start at around £3.00 ($6) then expect to pay a further £1.00-2.00 ($2-$4) per meter thereafter.

Cable advice:
A DVI cable is a Digital Video Interface developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). A single DVI cable supports both digital and analogue video signals.

DVI cables are used to support standard and HDTV video signals only, separate audio connection cables must be provided to carry the audio. HDMI cables have been developed as an alternative, supporting both video and audio signals. It is quite common today to have the need for a HDMI to DVI cable to connect devices together. These cables are readily available.

Related posts:

1. HDMI Vs DVI Cable HDMI vs DVI, what is the difference? Which one...
2. Learn more about high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cables What is HDMI cable? It is a digital data...
3. Where Would We Be Without HDMI Cables?! We are all lucky enough in this day and...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.