hiding power or data cables outside

I'm curious as to what can be used to hide data and power cables outside. Some type of channel that doesn't make the job look bad.

Search the forum for conduit...this will give you an idea of what folks are using...if you have vinyl siding, you can often run the cable behind the siding (you will need a siding removal tool), above the siding where it meats the soffit, below the siding where it meets the foundation...
If you run conduit you can spray paint it before mounting to better match the exterior...

thanks fenderman... what an ingenious tool for unhooking the sliding... never saw one before and I'm a bit of a tool nazi... took me a minute to figure out how it works, actually saw a you tube vid on using it... did the conduit search... getting ideas from some posts. Can I rack this one up as a simple brain fart?

Hey, no problem, we are here to help, so ask away, brain fart or not

ok I still have a question. can you run the POE inside the conduit along with the electrical wire? I realize that you can get power from the POE for a lot of situations but rather than get a POE+ device for my coming PTZ I'm wondering if I can do it for one camera. The two cables power/data would run parallel for about 8 feet in close proximity to each other. I don't see a way around it unless I run two conduits...

You will be fine because its low voltage running through the cable...if you want added protection you can use shielded Ethernet cable... its basically the same as the power running through the actual cable via poe...

I should have explained this better my apology... The unit is suppose to come with a wall wort or transformer that drops 120ac down to 12volts dc. On the other end of the transformer is a two prong plug that you plug into ac... I plan to put the whole power unit into the wall-mounted camera bracket. So i had planned to run three wires in the conduit power/neutral/gnd... btw Is there a grounding lug inside these PTZ cameras that you can use?

I see what you're saying I'm now wondering if on the low voltage side of the transformer I should maybe cut the jack off extend those low voltage wires sort of following what you said...

I don't know how much you'd loose over 10-15 feet of run. It's the power supply that comes with the camera. I also saw they listed the same unit a 24volt ac style transformer as an option. I'm wondering if I should have got that because I'm wondering if the 12volt dc unit is going to be powerful enough to drive the camera, wiper, heater in cold winter?... and if I lengthen those wires?
thanks

I do not believe that running 120v through the conduit is a good idea...it is probably not allowed by electrical code anyway (not sure)...if it were me and the camera is poe+ switch or injector and not hassle with it...
http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Gigabit-Ethernet-Injector-TPE-115GI/dp/B00BK4W8TQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417228232&sr=8-1&keywords=injector+POE+
http://www.amazon.com/Fanless-Managed-Desktop-Switch-GS1900-8HP/dp/B00GU1KULM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1417228296&sr=8-4&keywords=switch+POE+

thanks looked at references... the Trendnet is already on the list... giving up on the 120v and going low voltage as you suggested, took me a night or two things that make sense come slow...

This may not be of interest to our advanced installers here but for newbies like me it sort of answers the question I had about how far I can run low voltage cable and still get it to work with normal security cameras. I was originally going to run 120ac power to the camera through conduit but changed my mind after getting some feedback.
http://www.cctvcamerapros.com/AC-DC-voltage-drop-cable-distance-s/846.htm

Alternatively you could consider the colour of the cables you are using - grey against concrete, brown against a wood fence etc.