My buddy spends $4000 on a plasma screen TV and then puts in on a stand on top of the same TV stand he had placed his 37" tube. Great, he gains ZERO space in his house (unless he wants to pose some Star Wars figures around the base of his plasma or something). He claims he cant mount it on the wall because you need to have special wiring for a mounted plasma...otherwise you will have this cool TV with wires hanging everywhere. I'm possibly moving to NYC in a few weeks, and will be downsizing to an apt in Manhattan. I had planned on using some of my signing bonus to buy a nice wall mounted plasma to save some space....but now I am wondering: if I am renting a place, will I be able to make my AV setup the way I want it?
Why plasma? Save some money and get an LCD. They can be wall mounted, too. Some of the better plasmas will run you more than $4000. For $4000 you can get among the best LCD's. You'll have to drill into the drywall to run the wires if you want to hide them and mount the tv on the wall. At least that's the only way I know of to do it. I don't know what your rental agreement says about punching holes in drywall.
You just need to have the wires hidden somewhere if you mount it on the wall. This probably is not too easy in an apartment since you usually cant go running wire behind walls. You might want to look into the smaller DLP or LCD RPTV models. The are probaby at leat as small as the setup you friend is using and are not quite as pricey. Also if your are going to use some HT speakers then they may not look too good with the Plasma.
If you don't have the cash, I'd recommend just a widescreen RPTV. I live in a fairly small NYC apartment, and my Toshiba RPTV fits perfectly: In fact, I've never had a space problem with my TV in any of the 3 NYC apartments I've lived in. (But hey, if you can afford a plasma TV, more power to you, I guess...)
Just an FYI. My boy put in a wall mounted plasma screen in his Apt. We just put a dollar coin hole in the wall and fed the wires to another hole we made at the bottom where the plugs go. It's what the professionals do, and nothing some spackle can't cover up when you're moving out. Your friend is an idiot.
Plasma...LCD....I just dont want this giant box the size of an oven in my living room when I could have something on my wall. Yeah...my buddy is an idiot....especially since he bought his TV in FEBRUARY and let it sit in his house for 6 months before he "installed" it this week. I think he could buy the same model TV for 600 bucks less this Labor Day weekend.
Depending on how big "too big" is, 46-56 inch DLP tv's can be as thin as 18 inches deep. They cost less than plasmas (generally speaking), too.
....and thats how, in the middle of the Superbowl, my dog was crushed to death by a 37" Sony. Handy I am not.
no no no.... wait, that DIDNT happen!!!!! However if I took Fatty's advice, and created a shelf for my behemoth of a TV, I think it would happen.
funny thing, me and some buddies were at best buy earlier today looking at sets. my friend was hell-bent on getting a plasma, but one of the employees told us straight up that they arent worth it. they have a limited life-span and once they go out, that's it....... they're done. forever. we were most impressed with the DLP's.... those things are freakin sweet. they're much cheaper than plasma sets and they're not even all that big - depth wise. the picture on those things are spectacular and they'll last a hell-of-a-lot longer. for your money, DLP is the way to go. DLP! DLP! DLP!
Yeah plasmas have a really limited life span and once they do go out they are out and that is not covered under any warrenty you buy extended or not. We bought a plasma for the bar about 6 months ago and they are so sensative...the thing already has problems after 6 months and we have to take it to get fixed... one whole side of the screens pixels are completley out.
You guys have LCDs there? Oh, and thanks for putting up with us Vandy alums during the tourney. Live Sports was a great place to watch NC State get upset.
The limited life span of plasma TV's is a misconception. They should last as long as the average standard CRT TV's. Or roughly 15 years. They should also maitain there brightness better than a CRT. As for LCD flat pannels they seem to be more expensive than plasma. A 32" LCD retails for around 4k. They also have a problem with low black levels. You may want to check out http://www.avsforum.com They have a nice subforum on plasmas.
