[justbrowsingalon]

Alright so my header caught your attention. Let's do something positive with it. Today, yet to be delivered, a Panasonic 42PX20U was purchased for my hubsteir. Good news for the both of us as he will be arriving back from Bush's war at the end of this week.


So what's the problem. I haven't a clue to which cables I need. I have a series of monster RBG and S video cables tucked away somewhere. We have a progressive scan Sony DVD player and we currently have standard digital - no HD in our area, which spots us a digital cable box to inlaw.


Additionally, I have a sub woofer that accepts RCA cables to two mediocre speakers. At the moment my purse strings are too tight to allow the purchase of a decent surround sound system. My intent is to use what I have available to create a nice living area pseudo theater experience.


Keep with me now I have one more dilemma. Because we are military we move every 3 years and it is not feasible for me to wall mount. What would be the next best thing to give my setup a minimalist clean look that can be moved?


Lastly, as I am not bound to this system with its liberal return policy. Is there another system that might fit the bill better in this situation? Our viewing area is anywhere from 6-12' and as I noted we move a lot. PQ and durability is key.


TIA

joanna

 

[windwaves]

One idea and there are plenty of options out there. I am waiting for furnitures and stuff before I install mine on the wall so for now I am using Metro shelves and the plasma's stand. These are shelves that I already had and are only 13.5x35, I have three of them so that the ones below you can use for components and stuff. I actually like it, it is cool looking in its way. In my case the feet of the stand take a bit more that 13.5" but it is not at all strange or weird looking. And even if you buy them new, metro shelves are pretty unexpensive. It is very clean looking and unobstructive. Good luck and congrats on your purchase (you WILL love it!).

 

[JuiceRocket]

If you're going to be moving a lot, and want to go super cheap, with the option of even leaving your av furniture behind, check out AKIA or something along those lines. I've seen some furniture there for low prices that might work for you.


-JR

 

[wblynch]

First of all, congratulations to your hubby for survivin' and thank you to both you and him for your sacrifice.


I don't agree with this war but I do appreciate those who serve when called.


Take care, Bill

 

[Moebius]

For the lower budget side of things, look around the local BestBuy type places for a nice low profile entertainment center. You should be able to find something quite nicely priced that would accomodate the plasma and your components that you have thus far, and possible future grabs. I believe Bush and Sauder both make some decent ones.


As for cables, you would want to connect the DVD player with the RGB cables to the component input. Then for the cable box, you can either pass the coax through to the tuner input, or use the composite or S-Video output of the cable box. Either way should work pretty well.


On the speaker situation, your best bet is to compare and see if the sub and speakers are any better than the built in ones. If so, I believe the plasma will have an audio out to feed to the sub. On a side note, for a rather small chunk of change, you can grab one of the home theater in a box setups... might be something to put some pennies away for.


Finally, thank your husband for his sacrifices for us, and congratulate him on having you for a wife!!!

 

[justbrowsingalon]

Thanks all for the input! I will also relay the sentiment to my better half Moebius. Here's a picture of him doing his job; one of two pilots flying this ch47. I'm proud of him and it shows!

joanna

 

[Franchot]

I have my 42PA20u in my bedroom and all I did was put it on a pretty large end table which I already had. I used the TV stand that came with the TV and put my components on the end table in front of the TV. My components (DVD player, receiver) are pretty slim. Even though they are in front of the TV, they don't block the set because the TV sits high enough up on its stand. Since you're concerned about the cost and the ability to move the system, this might work for you, at least until you actually have the TV in your apartment. Then you could decide about the feasability and price of purchasing an entertainment stand.


Moebius gave an excellent response about all the cabling you'll need.


As far as looking at other plasmas, at this point the Pansonic is one of, if not, the best "bang for the buck" plasmas currently available.


And congratulations on getting your husband back from the war and the purchase of your new plasma.

 

[crucial]

I agree with the suggestion of using IKEA for furniture if you are near one. They have great stuff at great prices. Check their site to see if there is one near your location. IKEA

 

[windwaves]

Joanna,

Thx for the pix. Was that actually taken in Iraq ?

if you have more pics - don't hesitate to post !

 

[justbrowsingalon]

Nope that shot was taken this past year in Afghanistan. In the last year he has had two back to back tours there. After a short reprieve, home here with me he will head to Iraq for a year. Military life can very hard at times, but overall we have been so fortunate to see the world and experience life outside the traditional globe.


One last photo of a mission that took place recently.

joanna

 

[windwaves]

fantastic picture, thank you a million ! Sorry, when you said Bush's war I thought of Iraq, but of course AFghanistan is the other big one.


gio

 

[csmith]

Depending on your budget, there are plasma carts. check out mountsandmore and others on the web.

 

[JuiceRocket]

You're not allowed to make fun of me, but this is a mock-up I made in photoshop for my wife to sell her on this peice of furniture available at our local Target. It retails for $129.99, but was on sale for $89.99 at our store. Seeing it for so cheap at the store, we went home where I made this mock-up for her. She said "ok", and back to the store we drove.

Since we are probably moving from our apt. this September, we didn't want to invest money into any sort of quality furniture that might not fit in with our new place.


btw - GREAT picture of your husbands piloting skills. Most impressive!


-JR


edit note -- Panasonic pwd6uy image taken from the plasmaextreme.us site. Furniture image from the target.com site.

 

[justbrowsingalon]

Once again thank you to all those that contributed to this thread. I saw a few things via Ikea's website that caught my attention and the Target piece wasn't too shabby for the price. Actually this may be the route I go in the interim. Not bad at all JR!


My druthers would be to mount it to the wall and have the cables drawn outside rather than behind the dry wall. I would need to find a cord cover bracket to hide the wires. Just for kicks does wall mounting only the TV create that much of a wall mess?


We have a living wreath that when wet weighs in at 150lbs and I have that mounted to the wall without concern. After your umpteen move dry wall caulking becomes your best friend.


Another option is to have the following custom made for us at a later time.

laurierfurniture.com/eng/files/cinema/plasma/plasma.html


I like this particular manufacturers style but don't want to dull out 3k for the stand when I can have it made out of reclaimed teak for a fraction of the cost.


Outside of the display forum, my biggest worry is that this particular plasma is going to show all sorts of artifact swimming downstream from our service provider. I probably will want to have it calibrated but don't know how many hours I need to break it in; if any should I opt to have this done. Any suggestions on this concern?


PS: The comment on my husband's flying skills was appreciated. The second picture was not of his flying - rather a unit mission flown by a good bud of his. I have a picture somewhere on my HD of my husband flying a rescue off Mt. Rainer in WA teetering on an edge of the mountain. The picture is remarkable and shows off the capabilities of a seasoned pilot and awesome machine. If I can find it I will post it later.

 

[premierht]

I DO agree and support both these wars, and want to thank you and your husband for the sacrifice. BTW - that second picture is truly ballsy - takes great skill to put and hold a Chinook in that position. I love all copters.


I don't really understand your sub setup, so I can't be much help there? Do you have a receiver to hook the sub and speakers too?


E. J.

 

[justbrowsingalon]

Call me scattered as I am sometimes known to be. I thought that I would not need a receiver if I was only utilizing two speakers. My notion was to cancel out the internal speakers and use the sub woofer and speakers I have already.

 

[sabergo]

Hello,


I'm in the military as well. My wife and I have moved once a year in the five years of marriage, and the seven years since we've met. Got to tell you -- sheet rock repair and paint are cheap. Much cheaper than custom AV furniture (i.e. Bello). Wall mounts fit into ANY decor, including Europe and Korea. Quarters or private.


I'm at Ft. Bragg (for now), if you are in the area -- let me know and you can take a look at our setup. Whenever my wife is at home .


Wish you well,



steve

 

[justbrowsingalon]

Small world....small world! We were in Bragg not too long ago. Do you have photos of your set up to post to the forum?

joanna

 

[justbrowsingalon]

See new thread "Replace gifted with FRUSTRATED wife - please Help "