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[HD] Flat screen TV's, Cablecards? What do you do?

Good luck in finding a TV with a CableCard slot anymore.

You will still need to power the TV so there will be wires unless you want to get someone to make 2 holes in your walls and put in wallplates to hide the wires behind the TV.

reply to Synnex
The only problem with going the cable card route is that there are very few TVs out there that support the technology and you'd be limiting your choices significantly by going that route. And you would still have the issue of running the coax to the TV.

Also, Verizon's HD box is pretty large. So it wouldn't fit behind the TV.

One option, if you want to do it so it's nice and neat, is to just run the cables from the TV, into the wall right behind the TV (not sure what this means if you're putting it over a fireplace, though - I don't know how much empty wall space you have to work with) - you can get a wall plate that will support all the interfaces you need. Then run additional cabling from the back of the wall plate, fished through the wall, and to the HD box, whereever it is. It doesn't have to be next to the TV, or even in the same room. A co-worker runs everything out of his entertainment closet in the basement. You can have the box in a totally different room. You would just need to get an RF remote, or some kind of IR repeater, to get your remote commands to the STB/DVR.

reply to Synnex
Getting your fist flat screen HDTV, go with the biggest you can afford. you will be glad later, after your use to it and love it that you did.

Shop around..great deals can be found on pricey TV's. For budget think Insignia, or Westinghouse, Panasonic Plasma is probably the best bang for the buck there at the large box stores like walmart or kmart, but know that SD TV for the most part does NOT look as good on a HiDef TV that is does on old CRT TV's. Your buying a HI Def TV, plan on using it for that. The exception again might be plasma's some do great SD conversion.

As for cable cards, you will be hard pressed to find a TV with a cable card slot these days. Plan on using some type of STB/DVR, if you havnt used a DVR..trust me here, your gonna love them!!

Pro installers can do a great job of hiding wires, i do my own work and use a 7.2 sound system with my HDTV and there's not a wire to be found, think in walls, behind walls and under floors, under carpet, behind molding etc.....it can be done and the DVR STB does not have to sit next to or on top of and even near by the TV.

One tip, seeing that you are not planning on having a sound system, the extremely thin TV's come at a price. Decent sound quality. The thinner the TV the less room there is for any type of speaker placement within the TV itself, wider TV= better sound, thinner TV= not so good sound, super thin TV (i have one) = sucky sound.
Remember to audition the TV's speakers as well as the picture it gets!!!
If a TV is set up so you can not hear its onboard speakers, there's probably a reason for it.

Good luck

One thing to be careful of. Depending on where you live and who does the instal, it may not be quite that easy. I had Best Buy install my flat screen. Installers arrived and said that I couldn't run power cables in the wall and had to buy expensive HDMI cables. This is because of local code requirements (no power cables in wall and data cables have to be fire retardant). So I got cable raceway (something like this: »www.amazon.com/Wiremold-CMK30-Sc···0&sr=8-6). It was paint-able so blends in quite well.

reply to Synnex
I'll echo what others have said on here. Take a look at the plasmas if you're looking to keep it under $500. I just picked up a 50" Panasonic (1080p) for $650. LCDs tend to be more money than plasmas (LED lit LCDs are more expensive still).

I will also echo CrobertGauth - don't get taken by a place like Best Buy when buying your cables. I very recently got 2 6' HDMI cables for $6 (total) - with no shipping and no tax, from amazon (from one of their retailers on their marketplace site - the company was called Eforcity). I used those for my older HD TV when the new one replaced it, and they work great.

An in-wall install can up your price considerably - if you're looking to get it installed, e.g., plus you'll have to pay for the mounting bracket. I would probably recommend getting the best TV you can for the price (use the full $500 to buy the TV), and use your current TV stand (assuming it can handle the size of the new TV, that is) and then in the future you can mount it.

reply to Synnex
Great advice so far everyone... thank you.

As I think about this more and more, being above the fireplace does limit my ability to go in the wall based on what I remember seeing when the mantle was replaced. That means I'll have to decide though on the path the mold should take. Decisions, decisions.

I have heard the newer boxes (Cisco maybe?) are a little bit smaller, but probably still not enough to allow me to mount it behind the TV. The whole reason we are going this route is to free up all the space that we've had taken up by the TV Hutch. I suppose we could put a small table next to the fireplace that could hold the HD STB. I don't have a basement to run it to nor are there any closets anywhere near it and for me to run cabling through the wall for an RF remote (assuming i's wired), would be quite a task.

reply to Synnex
one thing to consider in placement, especially sitting 9' or 10 feet away. How LOW will your backside be? OR how much will you have to tilt back your head to watch TV?
Try it, sit 10 feet back and stare at a place where your TV would sit, if its remotely uncorfatble, imagine doing it for an entire movie..ouch
Depending on the quality of the TV viewing angle is another thing to take into consideration, when you get off center of some Flat screen TV's the picture quality gets worse then if sitting straight on. That varies by make and model, basicly you get what you pay for!

Like the others have said, DO NOT be taken by people selling you cables. HDMI cable can be found cheap, so can wall mounts, look at monoprice on line or the others mentioned.

Someone mentioned Best Buy, a great place to BUY a TV from at a decent price..thats about it though. Any of the big name stores you will be able to find a good price on a decent TV if you shop around. If your looking for pro installation, use a pro installer, not someplace that sells TV's.

You bring up a great point about viewing angle. Not only will looking up through an entire movie be somewhat painful, but with LCD TVs, the picture starts to suffer when you're viewing off angle. The better LCD TVs do a better job of it, but they all suffer from this effect. And intro LCDs are just horrible at it. Just some more food for thought. I'm betting the OP is starting to regret posting this thread .

Not at all... this is great info. There seems to be a good selection of mounts though to give the tv a tilt, but I understand the angle of viewing from the neck kinking perspective.

reply to Synnex
the best viewing angle would be to have the center of your screen at eye level..quality of viewing off axisis will depend on type and quality of the TV chosen.

I like Sony's..but the higher end Sony's LED lit LCD's, they get pricey. Panasonic has nice offerings on several level Plasmas. Plasma has advantages and downsides but cost a little less. You will have to use your own eyes and wallet to decide. Everyone has an opinion as to what you should buy, its your money, buy what YOU like.
At first it seems easy to get one to big, but after you get use to it its not big enough so get as big as you can afford, you'll thank yourself for it later on and enjoy the hunt for HiDef!!

Yeah, the hunt is the fun part. Like I told my wife after we ordered our new plasma 'once we get the TV... it'll be nice... but it's a TV... it's the hunt that makes it so much fun.'

I can't tell you how many family and friends will buy the first thing they see that looks good. My in-laws asked for my help on helping them pick a TV. Based on my first round of research, I narrowed things down (based on their requirements) to a 46" Samsung LED-lit LCD. I told them 'this is the first one I would look at...' I also gave them a couple other recommendations. Again, this was a first round of research. I fully expected to do more for them. I told them 'these recommendations are based on what I'm reading - go to the store and take a look... you will get a better idea about the TV, and you may see something else you like better.' I don't think they even waited more than 48 hours after I gave them that first reco before buying that Samsung. It's a great TV, but still...

If I did it like that I would have ended up with a very different TV. I only got the one I did becaues, after reading lots of reviews on how good the PQ was, I saw it first hand at a local store. I actually found myself saying 'wow!' when I saw it. I never intended to buy a plasma, but my eyes told me what my eyes told me.

reply to Synnex
For me, i have always liked Sony TV's and last year at Magnolia Sony had Eye Candy running on their HX line of TV's, that just blew me away. I researched TV's for at least 6 months before i bought one, spent more in gas going to look at them then i saved on my purchase im sure. I ended up going to the Sony Outlet in Wrentham MA, i got a great deal on a 46 NX 810 led/lcd 3DHDTV, (my first ever Sony TV) i didnt even care about 3D. Now almost a year later the only thing im sorry about was i didnt spend the extra money and get the 55 or 60incher. I even really enjoy 3D content but what i think i enjoyed most was the hunt..shopping all those TV's.

Happy Hunting!

tip, with todays tech, get the extended warranty!!!