What wires to run? It depends on your video sources, OTA, STB, games, etc. The best thing to do is run conduit (2") from the TV to the area for the video sources. Then you can add and remove wires whenever.

If you know the size/type of the TV you plan to purchase, buy the mount now. You can then determine how it will fit and where you can run the electric and other cabless. Most mounts are fairly flexible with the mounting requirements.

Just put a recessed clock receptacle behind the TV. You can't just run the cord behind the wall.

I think a better alternative is to set your TV on a credenza piece with cabinets below to house your CD player, XBox, etc with glass doors so the infrared works. They also have nice furniture pieces that have a nice wood panel on the back you can hang your TV from. It may seem like the "in thing" to do is to hang it on the wall, but I think there are better alternatives that avoid all the issue of behind the wall wiring.

In this day and age, all you need is an "HDMI" cable to run to the TV. It transmits both the picture and sound. You can run it through the conduit as someone suggested.

Then you get a Audio/Video receiver which then switches which source (DVD player, Game box, cable box, etc.) gets routed to the TV. These things cost around $400 to whatever you are willing to spend. All major companies make these but if you need a recommendation, Onkyo makes nice units that are very low priced relative to their quality. Circuitcity and such carries them.

The advantage of the above setup is that all the cables go the receiver where it then gets converted to one HDMI cable to go to the TV. So if you want to make changes in the future, they are where the sources and the receiver are, not behind the wall. HDMI connection is here to say so there is no worry about having re-do that part.

The advice you got by the way, is very old and would do you no good for modern equipment.

The only reason you would want to hang your TV on the wall is if your equipment is located elswhere. What are you gaining by hanging a TV and running the wire in the wall, only to have a cabinet of sorts several inches below with equipment. I think the trend is towards a credenza cabinet with a TV on stand on the top. No?

If your budget allows, go with a Bose lifestyle system with VS2 router. Sleek and simple. Can handle all inputs with one HDMI cable to the TV.

"I think the trend is towards a credenza cabinet with a TV on stand on the top. No? "

Yes, I believe it is. The correct viewing height when sitting on a couch is really a TV sitting on the electronic component credenza.

Although a TV hanging above a mantel seems cool looking and trendy, it is not good. When we moved into our house, we had a bracket and hook ups above the mantel, but removed everything after we found we could not stand looking up at the TV. Playing games and viewing TV should be straight and level to your eyes when sitting. We reinstalled on a credenza and love it now.

"Wall mounted" is over-rated in my opinion. No need to jump on the band wagon on hang any TV over the fireplace. I spent a fortune having wires ran to install over my mantel, but like the prior post, I removed after 6 months. Could not get used to it and had neck pains. Tried repositioning my couch, etc, with no luck on improving. And then I had to repatch my wall because I did not want an electric box there. Now I have my mirror back there which should never have been removed in the first place.

Indeed. The TV should be mounted sightly above your eye level. Anything higher and unless you sit far, far away, is going to cause discomfort. Home designs needs to change to put the fireplace in the corner as to leave the center for the TV. :) Otherwise, folks are tempted by fashion magazines and TV shows touting this poorly thought out idea.

You guys are bursting my bubble. I thought a TV above the mantel was the dream layout. Oh well.

Amirm states it right on. We just completed install. There are many things to consider before doing this. Room size, picture height, what you are using tv for, etc.

We usually view tv all cozy in the sofa, perfect for viewing. It is a little bit of a look up when sitting at sofa while eating. But that is what the kitchen table is for and it is just across the room. I actually think we will spend more time at the table, then move to the sofa after dinner, like normal folks do.

We did a fireplace demo so we had ability to rethink the room. We are leaving the hookups for a tv on a console in case we, or future owner, want that. We ran 2" conduit behind tv wall. We ran HDMI cable down to the baseboards and through wall to office on other side. We will house the components in the office and use that fancy infared? remote, they are not that expensive. Yes, you have to go in there to put in a disc, but you have to get up to do that if components were in same room, so no biggy there. I do think that the angle for games would be better on a console, but we have a playroom and that tv is on a console or will be hung low on the wall if we really wanted to. I prefer the games not be played downstairs as it is, so win-win for me. I do not have lots of guests to watch games or anything, so I am not concern about anyone elses comfort.

Technology is not my favorite thing and having a black monster on my wall was not very exciting to me. I stood firm on my demand that this not be distracting. My kitchen has black appliances and this actually looks good in the large room. Again, careful planning makes this sort of thing work.

Not everything is appealing to everyone. My thought in my own house is do do things that please me, but can also please a future buyer or be easily converted back. My entire house is done with this idea.

As for your situation. You have the ability to prewire, do it now. It will be harder to do later. Also, consider running speaker wire. There are some really, really affordable sites that sell all this stuff, and many forums out there that give super information.

Good luck. I will eventually post my results when it is done.

I guess I am not normal. I closed off my open kitchen floorplan to stop the view to the family room. Me and my wife grew up eating dinner every night and with family discussions. We had a NO TV rule in the kitchen or bedrooms. To avoid the TV thing, a wall went up in our home. Everyone thinks I am crazy, only one TV in the house, and no personal computers or TVs allowed in the kids bedrooms either.

tomppa- Good for you! I am willing to bet your kids have a broader education/social skills than the idiot kid who comes home from school, plays computer games, eats dinner while watching tv, the watches more tv, then goes to bed. Repeat again every day. I am willing to bet they are in better physical shape than the majority of kids also. Am I right?? Tv and computers do not raise children- parents/family do.

I am also looking to mount the TV over our corner fireplace. I have two S-Video Connections and two component connections for my TV. Initially when I looked at the Bose Lifestyle VS-2 it looks like just what I needed. But upon checking the reviews online it seems that it has several problems that I was hoping people could address. One is that the highest resolution you can use is 480 and it doesn't switch the audio just the video. Does anyone have any input?