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TV for new apartment

D

danny_w

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 8, 2005
4,471
301
Cumming, GA
Hi all, complete newbie here. My wife and I are separating so I will be moving to an apartment (rented) and need some advice on what is available for a video setup. I don't need much as my wants are minimal. I will not have cable or satellite as I don't watch enough tv to make it worthwhile (it will be used primarily for movies and local news). I will probably setup my iMac (or perhaps a new Mac Mini) as a media source, and also have an Apple TV as a media source if needed. I will need to get a TV and eventually a surround sound setup (but not now). I have never owned a widescreen or a flatpanel tv before; what size is appropriate for a room app. 11 feet wide? Since this is a rented apartment wall mounting is probably out of the question (or is it?). Any ideas for running and hiding wires? Thanks for the help.
 
Our room is 12x16 and a 40" TV on a small cabinet in the middle of the short wall is a really good size, 37" would probably be more than acceptable. They may sound excessive but you can usually get good deals on these screen sizes. Depending on how much other furniture you have and the size of the TV cabinet you won't really need to wall mount the TV IMO.
 
Shuttleworth said:
Our room is 12x16 and a 40" TV on a small cabinet in the middle of the short wall is a really good size, 37" would probably be more than acceptable. They may sound excessive but you can usually get good deals on these screen sizes. Depending on how much other furniture you have and the size of the TV cabinet you won't really need to wall mount the TV IMO.
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So you have a 40" tv and sit 14'-16' from it? That sounds small to me, but then I have been used to a house where we had a 50" (non widescreen) at about 18', so that translates to about a 65" widescreen. I was thinking that a 42" or so would be about right for viewing from 10'-11' away. Is this large enough or too big? would a 37"-40" be appropriate? I really need to go to Fry's or somewhere with a tape measure and experiment.
 
:D I guess it depends what you're used to and the layout of the room. We had a 29" non widescreen before. I think anything much bigger than 40" would be too big for our room layout, though I'm sure the wife will one day try and convince me we need a bigger one:rolleyes:, so obviously YMMV.
 
i got a 52" samsung widescreen in my apartment. living room 13' by 20'. i sit bout 9' to 10' away and think its sweetness :D. its on the wall btw fwiw. and if i was u i would proly just get a refurb mac mini or new and hook up an elegato eye for news and movies or sumthn. jus my opinion. o yea for cables i reran them down the wall and setup a new wall plate with access for sat.,hd antenna ( in the attic), and phone jack for sat. box./ reran another electrical box for power and got a surge protector plugged in and its all behind the tv and there is no wires showing at all :D. got the sat box below it on a wall shelf setup so nothing but wall all around it :) Me and my Dad did it btw, he's a carpenter so that helped. hope this helps in neway
 
KT MONEY said:
i got a 52" samsung widescreen in my apartment. living room 13' by 20'. i sit bout 9' to 10' away and think its sweetness :D. its on the wall btw fwiw. and if i was u i would proly just get a refurb mac mini or new and hook up an elegato eye for news and movies or sumthn. jus my opinion. o yea for cables i reran them down the wall and setup a new wall plate with access for sat.,hd antenna ( in the attic), and phone jack for sat. box./ reran another electrical box for power and got a surge protector plugged in and its all behind the tv and there is no wires showing at all :D. got the sat box below it on a wall shelf setup so nothing but wall all around it :) Me and my Dad did it btw, he's a carpenter so that helped. hope this helps in neway
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How did you do all of that stuff to an apartment (unless it is a purchased apartment)? Apartments around here won't let you do anything to the walls or counters, not even installing under-cabinet lights (which my apartment sorely needs).
 
danny_w said:
How did you do all of that stuff to an apartment (unless it is a purchased apartment)? Apartments around here won't let you do anything to the walls or counters, not even installing under-cabinet lights (which my apartment sorely needs).
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my dad does work for the guy that owns them on occasion and plus the deposit is already gone long time ago cuz of my sister deciding to start a fire on the living room floor :mad: (ruined carpet) so it really didnt matter once i got the tv and plus we left the original outlet and cable plate down below it so we didnt alter too much so to speak. and if memory serves me right i think my dad asked the guy/owner if it was legit and he said go for it, dont think he really cared :) and if it come down to it my dad and i could fix it back original in no time. :cool:
 
KT MONEY said:
my dad does work for the guy that owns them on occasion and plus the deposit is already gone long time ago cuz of my sister deciding to start a fire on the living room floor :mad: (ruined carpet) so it really didnt matter once i got the tv and plus we left the original outlet and cable plate down below it so we didnt alter too much so to speak. and if memory serves me right i think my dad asked the guy/owner if it was legit and he said go for it, dont think he really cared :) and if it come down to it my dad and i could fix it back original in no time. :cool:
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Well, that explains that, but I'll be running any wires/cables along the wall or baseboard (hopefully I can find tracks to run them in). I have seen tv stands in the past that have a vertical track to mount the tv on, but they seem sort of rare these days.
 
Since your not going to have cable why not just purchase EyeTv hook it up to your Imac and watch it on it? Thats what I do...
 
PcBgone said:
Since your not going to have cable why not just purchase EyeTv hook it up to your Imac and watch it on it? Thats what I do...
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I may get EyeTv for my iMac or mini, but would prefer something bigger I think for movie viewing. I'll have to see once I get moved in I guess.
 
I would go with something in the 42-48 range. I used to sit 11 feet from a 57. I liked it, but for the first week I was trying to back away from it more. Now we have a 42 in the bedroom and I sit about 14 or 15 feet away. It's a touch on the small side, so I suspect it would be about right at 11 feet. Never hurts to go a bit big though. ;) I've got a 61 in the living room that we sit about 20 feet from. And the back of the house is all open, so you could be watching it from the kitchen about 40 feet away. I wish I had gotten the 67. As for mounting, look into the stands that have an equipment rack/table and then some posts going up to mount a flat panel to. That way you hide all your wires in/behind the posts and it should look nice.
 
To be completely honest, i would get the biggest screen you can afford. You can get a 50" panasonic plasma as low as $900. Those are great TV's and you can't beat that price.
 
basesloaded190 said:
To be completely honest, i would get the biggest screen you can afford. You can get a 50" panasonic plasma as low as $900. Those are great TV's and you can't beat that price.
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I basically agree, but I don't want anything that will make my apartment look too crowded. I already have some quite large furniture, so I guess I'll just have to see how it looks once I get moved in.
 
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