How can I hook a DVD player to my dad's television?

Maheriano · 05-04-2009, 11:29 AM

My dad just did crazy renovations at his house, tore out the entire fireplace and the wall to put in a marble surround, a new mantle and a few days ago he just bought a 42 inch Sharp Aquos 1080p television for above the mantle.
The problem is that he ran all the coaxial and HDMI cables through the wall before putting the finishing touches on and then hung the television there and hooked it up. Now after the entire room is finished he realized he needs to hook a DVD player to it for entertaining guests (it's not really a television room). How can I do this? If I can lay out the room for you, it's rectangular with the fireplace at one end, marble all the way to the floor with no ledge, wooden mantle all around it and the television above the mantle.
He doesn't want wires run everywhere up the fireplace, probably wouldn't even want the one wire at all, so what's the best way to do it? Looks like the television has a USB port but it's only for firmware upgrades. Any ideas?

skeet2331 · 05-04-2009, 11:41 AM

Can you take a picture of the mantle to get a visual of the setup. If he ran HDMI from through the walls why not tie into it with a blu-ray or upconvert dvd player.

Bugbyte · 05-04-2009, 12:46 PM

Can you connect an HDMI switcher inline with the wiring through the wall?

highfive · 05-04-2009, 01:34 PM

your easiest solution is run an hdmi switch like mentioned above.

here are some more:

If you have a AV receiver the inputs to the tv just run the video into the receiver first. Would have a remote control access and possible a better upconversion.

Radioshack has boxes that combine rca and coax so they may sell boxes that convert hdmi or companent. RCA would have poor video quality.

Wireless hdmi

Add wires through the wall

Maheriano · 05-04-2009, 01:39 PM

I can upload a picture of the finished piece tonight but for now I am pointing him towards a HDMI switcher. Problem is he's running basic 480i cable into the television from a regular coaxial cable right now. They've never owned anything but box televisions before so this is a first for them. If I can get him on some sort of high definition cable box with HDMI output then I can just use a switcher but for now I need something to switch between coaxial and HDMI.

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