You may find someone has extra routers they would be willing to give away or sell cheap, I have probably 4 extra old ones packed up in my office. Local pc parts and builder shops may carry used ones too. But there really are some inexpensive ones around. this is an area on one of the other forums I am on where users buy and sell and trade. Here is a link that might be useful: forsale

@ace_tx From what I've read a lot of people are suggesting what you said, so I'm thinking that would be a good idea.... can you just help me understand it a bit more? Would I run all four of those wires to where the tv would be in the room? or only 1 rg6 quad coax and 1 6pr cat5e/6 lines to where the tv and they other 2 would be at a different location in the room? (Then of course all those wires would run to the central location, right, and plug into what?, I'm not sure - guess I can figure that out later) Are there any other cables I should have behind my TV in the main viewing area (assuming my dvd player and stuff are in a separate cabinet)? THANKS!

A network switch really isn't much different than one of these: Yes, it's grossly oversimplified but the concept pretty much holds true. You're just splitting the signal just likes one of these adapters splits the power. It probably don't much matter which switch you buy and frankly you might be do better with a router. A router is basically an advanced switch but you can use it as a switch too. They're far more common and therefore generally cheaper. You might look a eBay or Craigslist for used ones. As for cables, buy the cheapest you can find. Local brick and mortar stores are generally the most expensive places to buy cables. Online at Monoprice or Amazon is far more economical. As for more places to plug things in. One of these are any of the numerous variations are available at your local home center:

I wired my network in a way the pros say shouldn't work very well, but it does. One of the ports in my router (which is in the basement) has a cable (Cat5) about 50 feet long going through a plastic tube all the way to the third floor (attic), where it is connected to an 8-port switch (10/100/1000). At that location is my AV system, Apple TV, and other AV stuff. Another cable goes about 20 feet down to my computer room on the second floor, where it's connected to another 8-port switch, to which are connected my computer, printer, external hard disk, and Verizon cell phone enhancer. Everything works fine.