Alright, I am a cheap ass, that is first and most important.

Although this may collide with that fact I am purchasing a Samsun 46" LNT4671f (http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LNT4671F-1080p-120Hz-HDTV/dp/B000U9ZCS6******pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video&qid=1199354606&sr=1-1) and want to mount it on my wall, I already purchased a cheap ass mount from Monoprice (yea its dangerous) and now I want a cheap ass way to conceal the cables.

With these facts:

1. Will not run in through the wall
2. $20 or less...
3. I just repainted my room so I still got some paint left over
4. its a simple TV straight down wall arrangement. 30-40" from TV bottom to entertainment stand.
5. Will be running an HDMI cable, power cable and component cable (connecting to my receiver)

SO I was considering just doing those cable highways but they are all to expensive or to small.

Whats a guy to do!?

Cut out as needed to two low voltage open back remodel boxes and save the two cutouts. Fish wires down then install boxes. Make people think the room came pre wired for the wall mounted wall screen. Down the road, you can easily patch the two holes with the pieces you saved. You may end up spending $10 for patching materials, spray texture in a can and you already have paint.

As easy as it is to do, as nice as it would look, then as easy as it would be to make it look like it was never done, I can't imagine an easier solution.

Huh?

The CM30 from Wiremold (http://www.wiremold.com/www/consumer/products/tv_cord_center.asp) was $18.99 at Menard's (same price at Fry's / outpost.com) Will be putting it up in mom's house this weekend. Seems to meet the requirements, I think.

Perfect, could you find me a link at Fry's website?

How long is it?

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5239417

They say it is 30" long.

Check the big home improvement stores in your area to save on shipping, use the dealer locator on their website.

Ooo, thank you man.

What looks better with a Olive painted wall? The plane white wiremold cover or should I paint it to match the background?

On some HGTV show they painted it (I have no idea how I saw this, must have stopped when I saw the LCD install).

Huh?

What CVanMeter was talking about was getting two of these (http://www.smarthome.com/2552.html), which you can probably find at any large hardware store. They provide an opening the same size as a regular electrical box but are backless and clamp directly to the wallboard. He was suggesting that you cut holes in the wall behind your equipment and behind the TV, insert these frames, then just feed the cables through the holes within the wall. If you keep the rectangles that you cut out of the wallboard, then when you decide to move the equipment later on you can use them to patch up the holes.

The catch is that it's probably a code violation to feed the power cord this way since it would be running a fair distance inside the wall without being physically tacked down.

Put it up in mom's house yesterday. She has light tan / off white walls and it doesn't look toooo bad. I do think it'd look better painted though, which she'll probably do at some point. Offered to cut in to the wall, and it would have just required one hole because we ended up mounting the TV over where the wires for her in-ceiling speakers run, but she still didn't like the idea.

The one she got from Menard's was 40" long, the one at Fry's is 30" long. Same price. We ended up trimming off about 10", so the extra length wasn't really needed.

don't run the power cord through the walls. It is against code in most places and if a fire occurs it will give the insurance company a reason to deny your claim.

A wire 'track' painted to match the wall seems the least expensive way to go.

don't run the power cord through the walls. It is against code in most places and if a fire occurs it will give the insurance company a reason to deny your claim.

A wire 'track' painted to match the wall seems the least expensive way to go.

There is a good selection of cables that are CL3 rated, including longer versions of power cords which replace those that came with the display. Designed just for the typical equipment and power source just below the display mount application. This is what we use for all installations.
In a retrofit installation, the "securing cables every 4 feet" rule would not apply when fished in a wall, only accessible areas such as attics, crawl.

The insurance story sounds good but not a reality. Insurance / fire marshal would be concerned if you had installed wiring and utilized it beyond its amperage rating. Most importantly if it was shown to have been the cause of the fire.

So how bad is it to have your TV's power cord running along side your video input cords? Like since I am running it down the wall, the cords are basically going to be hugging each other. I heard its bad to do that, but I really don't have much choice.

There is a good selection of cables that are CL3 rated, including longer versions of power cords which replace those that came with the display. Designed just for the typical equipment and power source just below the display mount application. This is what we use for all installations.
In a retrofit installation, the "securing cables every 4 feet" rule would not apply when fished in a wall, only accessible areas such as attics, crawl.

The insurance story sounds good but not a reality. Insurance / fire marshal would be concerned if you had installed wiring and utilized it beyond its amperage rating. Most importantly if it was shown to have been the cause of the fire.

Interesting, I can only go off of what my uncle (master electrician) tells me is the code in Texas. Does it possibly vary state to state? For my install, it was a phone call, and a few beers for the Uncle when the job was done :)

So how bad is it to have your TV's power cord running along side your video input cords? Like since I am running it down the wall, the cords are basically going to be hugging each other. I heard its bad to do that, but I really don't have much choice.

Over a short distance as in your case, you should have no issues. What your trying to avoid is the low voltage audio / video cables picking up voltage from the near by AC power cable through inductance. With dirt cheap non shielded A/V cables you might have reason to worry.

Over a short distance as in your case, you should have no issues. What your trying to avoid is the low voltage audio / video cables picking up voltage from the near by AC power cable through inductance. With dirt cheap non shielded A/V cables you might have reason to worry.
How do you tell if its affecting it? Will the screen be distorted? Or loss in quality?

It can be concerning if you are not certain your display is giving you the best image from the selected source because of cabling issues, try this. Grabbing a good quality cable and just doing a quick replacement test can help answer any doubts. Use the cable, running directly from the source to the screen, temporarily replacing the cable that is installed in the wall / track. Then just use your own judgment if you see any improvement / difference

If you can find a pal that knows how to tape and mud there's an easy way to do it. You simply cut V channels into the sheet rock, staple the wires down in the channel and tape over it like you would a seam. I fit as many as 3 12 guage wires per channel and managed to make a perfectly clean install of an existing room with 7.1 and 2 thick HDMI cables running to a ceiling mounted pj.