Short TV Stand?

M

mryerse

2[H]4U
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Jan 29, 2005
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My Samsung LN46A650 is setup in the cut-out above my fireplace. The cut-out is 48" wide, and the TV is 44.5" wide, so there is not much room on the sides. In fact, with an xbox 360 standing vertically, there is like 1/8" on each side of the TV.

That means I cannot add anything else to the TV. No STB, no PS3, no HTPC. However, it would be nice to have a short TV stand that could fit maybe 1-2 more items than I have now. Unfortunately, it seems all TV stands are at least 30" high. That would put my TV near the ceiling. It's high enough as it is.

So do any of you know of any short TV stands?

I suppose I could move the TV but I already have coax and cat5 run to where it's at and would prefer to not re-run the cables, or make my own.

Thanks.
 
Whip up something using some 2x4's. If you prime and sand them then spray them gloss black they will look perfectly normal. $50 tops for everything.
 
Have you tried Ikea?

The Home Depot or Lowes route as suggested above work great too.
 
Yeah I might end up making something. Maybe I'll check out ikea if I find the time. It's about an hour away. Thanks. Maybe I'll move the TV away from the fireplace to it's own place. Thanks.
 
Yeah, i would make a shelf custom. That way it fits like it was built for the spot... because it was.
 
was going to chime in and say build something yourself, looks like that is the general consensus.
 
If you have an Ikea about an hour a way, that would be worth it IMO. Most of their TV stands look pretty nice and they won't cost you an arm and a leg. It would certainly look better than something you throw together with 2x4's and spray paint. :p
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/living_room/10475/
^-- Here's their recent stuff, so I'd check it out before you make the drive. If you see anything, call first to make sure it's in stock. I've done that before where I drive 45 minutes to get there and find out it isn't in stock.

Oh, and to save cost, you can always buy random pieces from other stuff and hack them together. That's always a fun project. ;)
http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/
 
I had this similar problem at my house, couldn't find a stand that could hold my lcd and all my components and still have everything fit in the cut-out beside the fireplace. Finally found this one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7971867&type=product&id=1153998433330

It's 22" high, not sure if that's still too high for you or not. I manage to cram in a Denon 3806, Monster power 3500, Wii, 360 and PS3 into it.
 
Can you wallmount the tv to the height you want ? You may have to reinforce the unit that its in, or something.
 
w1retap said:
Maybe take a look at the Lack tv unit too. It's very short, and even cheaper.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40105340

I have one in the front of my theater. If you need exact dimensions, I can measure for you.


edit.. nm, it looks like it's too wide. :(
Click to expand...

It's too wide. The cut-out above my fireplace is 48" wide. The Lack is 58" wide.

ambientZ said:
Can you wallmount the tv to the height you want ? You may have to reinforce the unit that its in, or something.
Click to expand...

One idea I had was to fill in the cut-out above the fireplace with sheet rock, texture and paint it to look like there was nothing ever there, wall mount the TV, and leave recessed space below the TV where the cut-out used to be for the xbox/ps3/thpc/stb.

My plan is that when I can afford a 55" LN55A950 and some furniture, I'll move this 46 into my garage and wall mount the 55 in a different room than the current 46 is in. One option is to move the 46 to where I plan for the 55 to go, however, I am not ready to buy the furniture for that room which I would need.

My two main motivations right now are to get a blue ray player at the 46, and an htpc that plays mkv (converting to mp4 with xenonmkv works well, but requires more time managing files than I'd prefer). An htpc would fill both those needs. I don't need a ps3 or stb in the foreseeable future.

No matter how I look at it, I just don't see the xbox as adequate for my home theater. It's nice and all, but not enough.

I think finishing the wall and wall-mounting might be the best option for now because it allows me to adjust the viewing angle and provides room to add devices.
 
If you're still checking out TV stands, hit up Target.com's TV stand section.

Here's a few i found on newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882712076
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882166066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882166042
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882166064

Remember if newegg's prices are too expensive for ya then plug the model # into google products to see what the competitors are selling them for.

And as mentioned prior, you can always mod/build something to your liking, including cutting another piece of furniture down to size (just posting an example).
 
Thanks. One of those is narrow enough to fit. However, at 18" high, the top of the TV would be less than 18" from the ceiling.

I just had another idea. I'm new to HDMI, but it sounds like it can be run in quite long lengths (to me anyway), like 30'. I could leave the TV where it's at, and have a stack on the floor near the fireplace with 4 HDMI runs to the TV for xbox/htpc/ps3/etc. I should be able to do this with maybe a 12' run. Thoughts?
 
Buy a receiver and only run 1 hdmi. Do you not have a surround setup in this room?
 
Good call, no surround though, just using TV speakers. Maybe the receiver can still be justified though. The main goal here is to add a blu ray player, preferably in the form of an HTPC rather than a PS3, due to better codec support (MKV container).
 
Getting a reciever that can do HDMI switching is a good option but finding one that has 4 inputs might be hard. You can buy a manual 4 port HDMI switch for about $40 though.
 
Yeah I was noticing a lot of them only have two, even bose $3000 systems.

Edit: Pioneer has some for $1000 and up with 4 ports. Outa my range.

I think I'm okay with 4 hdmi runs for now. Not like I can't add a receiver and sound system later.

Would like to find a wall plate with 4 hdmi ports.
 
4 inputs actually is easier to find these days, even the Sony DG820 has 4. Personally the cheapest one I would go with would be the Onkyo SR606. Still, it would be hard to justify buying a receiver for only HDMI switching...
 
Thanks, $400 is much more reasonable. I do plan to have a sound system, just haven't got one yet. So it's not such a bad buy. Although I'd like to get it when I get the speakers cause if I get it now and speakers later, chances are something better will be available for the same price.

One question about switching HDMI with receivers. Does this interfere with HDCP at all? Do I need to be concerned about this?
 
With the Onkyo 606, it's rated for HDMI 1.3a, so yes, it also passes HDCP. It will also pass 1080p24 perfectly, whereas some other receivers have a flawed HDMI switcher that won't allow it (or just crappy firmware).. Earlier this year a local friend with a Harman Kardon (255 model?) couldn't get his to pass 24hz and we called up the manufacturer and they said he had to send it back for an update.. so he did and it still didn't want to allow 1080p24 from his HTPC when we received it back 3 weeks later. We ended up just returning it and going with an Onkyo 606 which worked perfectly.
 
Instead of an HTPC or PS3 I'm thinking of picking up the popcorn hour a-110 and this for Yut (sig). Then I would rip blu ray to .m2ts for streaming to PCH. I think PCH is small enough to fit under the TV stand as it is now. I was reading about m2ts and it said that "some" blu ray use m2ts. That means not all to me. I am concerned that there may be some blu ray discs that when ripped PCH couldn't play from a stream.

Edit: nm looks like they all work just a little different per movie. No menus or extras though. Would be nice if there was iso support. Oh well close enough.
 
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