Need help w/ coaxial cable problem -- need ultra thin cable to go around door frame.

[GadgetGuru72]

I hope somebody here can help me.

My wife and I just moved into a new apartment. Unfortunately, the location of the cable outlet on the wall is nowhere near where we actually want to put the TV. We have an HD cable box from Comcast Cable if that makes a difference.

We need to run the coaxial cable from the outlet, down along the floor, and then over and around a closet door frame, and then further along the floor, until it ultimately reaches the location where we're putting out television.

With standard coaxial cable, it's going to look thick and ugly. We asked Comcast if they have thin cable that would be less noticeable, but they said no. I tried doing some Google searches, but all I can find are slightly thinner cables, and they only appear to be about 12 feet long. Also, the thinner cables I'm finding all appear to be black, which would be even more noticeable wrapped around the door frame.

Does anybody know where I can find ultra thin, white coaxial cable? Or, for that matter, if such cable even exists.

Thanks in advance!!!

[~tl]

I've seen flat coaxial cable, specifically designed for that sort of thing or running under carpets. I'll see if I can dig out a link.

TOM

[~tl]

http://www.21st-century-goods.com/pa...OD/FW/FWT75-12

That's 12' worth, they also do 25' rolls if you need more than 12'. You could probably run this stuff all the way along the floor... it'd probably go under the closet door.

TOM

[Jesse Hollington]

The nature of coaxial cable makes it unlikely that you'd find anything much thinner, but standard cable provided by the cable company is usually RG-6/U, which is around 8mm in diameter. You can also use RG-59/U which is 6mm, and in fact used to be the standard used by the cableco's prior to switching to RG-6 for the better signal quality (over long distances).

Also, for short runs you might get away with using RG-179/U, which is 2mm in diameter. Due to the smaller diameter, the attenuation rate is much higher, but if it's just running around your living room, it probably shouldn't be too bad.

Another option would be to get a set of telephone-wire extenders (normally designed to use your internal telephone wiring to extend your cable to other rooms in your house) and just run RJ-11 (telephone wire) between the two points).

[GadgetGuru72]

Originally Posted by tomlevens

http://www.21st-century-goods.com/pa...OD/FW/FWT75-12

That's 12' worth, they also do 25' rolls if you need more than 12'. You could probably run this stuff all the way along the floor... it'd probably go under the closet door.

TOM

Thanks! I bookmarked that as a possible option. It looks like it would be a good option for along the floor, but the adhesive backing is 1" thick, which may not look that good around the door frame.

This seems like the best option I've seen so far, but I'll hold out a little longer in the hopes that there are better options.

Originally Posted by jhollington

Another option would be to get a set of telephone-wire extenders (normally designed to use your internal telephone wiring to extend your cable to other rooms in your house) and just run RJ-11 (telephone wire) between the two points).

I hate to admit this, but you kind of lost me on that explanation. Can you elaborate a little? Thanks.

[Jesse Hollington]

I don't know how common these systems are anymore, but there were a few manufacturers (Terk's Leapfrog system comes to mind) that produced extenders designed to use your home phone wiring to pass your cable TV signal to other rooms in your house.

The results when passing signal through actual live home phone lines were mixed depending on the quality of the lines, but the same technology could be used with a simple phone wire (RJ-11 cable) between two leapfrog units. This would essentially be just like running phone wire. In fact, you could run it on the same line as your telephone if you have to run a telephone wire along the same route.

I don't think the telephone-wire leapfrog unit is manufactured anymore, but you might still be able to get them cheap on somewhere like eBay. I think it was the Terk Leapfrog LF-10 that I had looked at before.

[~tl]

Originally Posted by GadgetGuru72

Thanks! I bookmarked that as a possible option. It looks like it would be a good option for along the floor, but the adhesive backing is 1" thick, which may not look that good around the door frame.

This seems like the best option I've seen so far, but I'll hold out a little longer in the hopes that there are better options.

Hmm yeah, but as it's only 1/8" thick then you should be able to run it straight along the floor, in front of the door, without too many problems.

TOM

[neb]

Is placing the cable under the flooring an option?

[~tl]

Originally Posted by neb

Is placing the cable under the flooring an option?

Or even under carpet... that flat cable is ideal for that.

TOM

[neb]

Originally Posted by tomlevens

Or even under carpet... that flat cable is ideal for that.

TOM

That's what I meant. I didn't expect him to thread it under the floor boards!

[GadgetGuru72]

It's all hardwood ... no carpets.

[Macromedia]

You could try and route the cable behind the wall. A lot of work however. Could be used as a last resort however..

[papayaninja]

Depending on how much you are willing to spend there's always wireless cable.

[Jesse Hollington]

Unfortunately, my experiences with these have been less than stellar... They're probably acceptable for a small remote TV in the kitchen or on the deck, but I couldn't imagine using them for my primary TV, particularly in an apartment.

Most of these run in the 2.4GHz spectrum, which is the same frequency used by 802.11b/g access points, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, and even microwave ovens. Further, even if you're not running any of that gear yourself, in an apartment it's still highly likely that somebody above, below, or beside you is.

[~tl]

Plus it has a built in SD cable tuner, so Brett's HD cable box will be no good... and he'll loose the advantage of having HD cable!

TOM