Plasma or flat panel cabinet question

[wallace chapman]

Has anyone built or seen any good flat panel TV cabinets, stands or wall mounting from wood?

I might be acquiring a 40" plasma and would like to see if you guys have done any interesting things with these yet?

Wallace

[Mario Lucchesi]

I have not seen any, but from my experience with the plasma units I have at work is to make sure that you have vents on the top as they put out a lot of heat. and you will need to disapate it to prolong the life of the unit.

[Barry Beech]

Hooker furniture has some good looking units that don't look to be too hard to build. Working on one myself.

[Jim Becker]

The trend is away from putting these new flat screens "in" a cabinet. (and the ventilation comment is right on) Rather they go on the wall and lower cabinet generally takes care of storage needs and auxillary equipment. The units can also sit on their stand on that same lower cabinet if you prefer. Getting rid of the "really big" piece of furniture also makes the room feel so much bigger. 'Just something to consider...

[Jason Tuinstra]

Here are a couple that I like from a place called The Joinery.

[Mike Deschler]

I second the coment on plasma displays running hot. I would avoid enclosing one of these units unless you can provide some positive ventilation through out the cabinet. Plasma displays degrade rapidly over time at elevated ambient temperatures. I'm personally waiting for LCD prices to come down further and then going that route because of the differences screen temperatures. Otherwise, if you need a room heater, plasma may be the way to go.

[Jim Becker]

Jason, those are very nice...but what's wrong with that second picture???

[Jason Tuinstra]

Jason, those are very nice...but what's wrong with that second picture???

I give up.

[Jim Becker]

You'll need a good chiropractor if you watch that nice flat screen from that chair!! Furniture advertising is such an art...

[Jason Tuinstra]

You'll need a good chiropractor if you watch that nice flat screen from that chair!! Furniture advertising is such an art...

Ahhhh.... I with ya' now. I figured it had something to do with the chair, but my guess what that it had to do with the chair not facing the TV.

[Jamie Buxton]

An odd thing about the flat TVs is that they are much thinner than the associated components that people want to include with them -- cable boxes, DVD players, amplifiers, and the like. With the older TVs, the display and the electronics all were the same depth, and fit nicely in one cabinet. Now you need a different solution. One approach is to hang the TV on a wall, like Jim says, and to put the electronics in a separate cabinet. Remember the stereo racks, which used to be popular a while back? They'd be 20Wx 18D x whatever tall. They'd stack electronics, and sometimes they'd include drawers for media storage. This approach now works well near flat screen TVs. You can put the TV on the wall where you can see it easily, and stack the electronics boxes in a corner.

[Harish C. Mathur]

I agree with some of the previous posts on the plasma TV's giving off alot of heat. I have a 50" Panasonic that gets pretty toastly after a short period of use. BTW, they are also heavy. Your HT components have the same issue and need good ventilation... I don't have anything fancy, but my Denon receiver was getting pretty hot in my old enclosed cabinent.

For myself,

I plan to build something like this.

http://www.dynamichometheater.com/st...&Category_Code=

I really like their use of ventilated panels. With my stereo components and the MythTV PC I am building, I want lots of ventilation. BTW, there is a PDF on the page with dimensions.

I mounted the TV on the wall and ran the cables behind the drywall. I like the clean look. The best deal on a mount, that I found at the time, was at costco.com. They had a nice tilting mount for less that $100. I would recommend going with a tilting mount.

If you have not purchased yet, I would recommend looking at the LCDs. They are lighter, produce less heat and IMO have a much better picture.

good luck, , Harish

[Dave Avery]

Jamie is right-on. Unless you hide the auxillary HT components over in a corner, the flat screen that plasma provides is not that useful from a space point of view. We have a Mits DLP TV that provides 99% of the picture quality in HD that plasma does at 1/2 the price. It weighs less than 100# for a 52" screen and is about 15" deep. Something to consider - particularly after seeing the pictures posted by Jason - the flat TV sitting way inside the cabinetry just looks "odd" to me. Dave.

[Sam Blasco]

Here's some interesting options. http://www.auton.com/content/gallery/plasma.html

[wallace chapman]

I agree with you guys, the depth on a normal enclosure would definetely take away from the point of getting a flat screen.

Sam, I really like the cabinet on the link you provided, very thin and functional. I may go with something of that style.

Would have gone the DLP way myself but got a super deal on the plasma, so I'm Stuck (relatively speaking).

The mounts seem so plain, especially given the artistry of the furniture I see posted on this Forum.

Seems like an unexploited market??

Wallace