@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!

Legally - not that the cable industry is actually interested in doing anything legally - you have a *right* to receive local broadcast channels at their native, HD resolution, no matter which cable plan you have. If you are paying for any cable plan, you should be able to get the Clear QAM version of local broadcast channels, on as many TVs as you want, too. Granted this might mean you have to switch to a different input on your TV to see them instead of through the converter box, and use a splitter to divide the signals. Also, they might move them around in the Clear QAM slots and not supply any metadata, so you'll have to program the channel names yourself. When I switched to OTA it was something of a revelation that not only did my TV auto-program channel IDs, but the name of the current program also shows up on the screen information. This could explain why the cable company seems (?) to be telling you 2 different things.

Hang it on the wall. To avoid wires being visible, run power up the wall to behind the final location. Install mud ring to run COAX/HDMI or other AV cabling to whatever device you run the inputs from. Some cable boxes can be strapped to back of hanging bracket. Locate framing to install bracket.

Connections either work or don't work - it's binary. The only difference between the result could be which route uses the better DAC or which uses the better amplifier or which of the two better compliment the particular sound source. In that you don't seem to be dealing with even mid-range equipment alternatives, I can't imagine it would make much of a difference. Connecting devices like these shouldn't be difficult nor should the means used matter much. I remember when I bought a new TV and replaced component analog connections from my DISH box with an HDMI cable, hoping to see an improvement in the picture. It made no difference at all. A question you asked above was about the "quality" of cables. Electricity flows where it can flow. If the length is not tens and tens of feet long, the connections are secure (almost always are with new cables), then nothing is gained by spending more on cables. I've seen silliness in stores like "directional cables" (with an arrow to show intended signal path), "oxygen-free cables", "high speed", and more, all of which is bunk. I've bought both HDMI and ethernet from Cables for Less online, and also basic level stuff from Amazon. It all works and it all works fine. No need to spend more than $10 for any short-ish length of cable and all work fine. I'm still using bare bones cheap RCA analog lines that are more than 30 years old - they get connected and then just work, no issues. "Speaker wire"? Buy simple electrical wire at a hardware or Home Depot type store, don't scrimp on the size. Larger (smaller number gauge) is always better, and the longer the run, the large the gauge to use. I haven't bought any lately but I want to say nothing smaller than about 12 gauge.