Carpentry and Woodworking - Framing LCD Wall Mount TV

I plan on wall mounting our 32" flat panel LCD in the master bedroom, and would like to hide the bracket, cables, etc. I was thinking of constructing some sort of frame around the TV using trim, crown molding, etc. Is this the best way to do this? I also wanted to recess a shelf inside the wall (24" stud spacing) for a DVD player. Wall is 4" deep so the shelf would protrude about 8" from the wall. How should a construct this shelf? Using MDF? Particle board?

I'm no expert but have mounted a 42" LCD in the bedroom on a bracket I bought online at monoprice. If you haven't had the LCD in the room before, I suggest you put up a temp shelf at the height you want the TV to be and set it on the shelf to see how it looks. Your plan to mount the TV flat on the wall in a recess will not allow you to tilt it down for optimum viewing. If you watch TV from bed and it is mounted up high, you may wish it would tilt down.

If you choose a tilting bracket, you could fab a shelf under it to hold the DVD player and run the cabling through the wall and may need a electric outlet installed. Depending on your HDTV source, you will need room for HDMI or RCA cabling to the LCD.

All the electronics depend on air circulation to keep the gadgets working correctly. If you try to make an enclosure around the TV, you could stop the natural convection cooling and shorten the life of the equipment.

Just my 2¢ worth.

You can find recessed boxes that do just what you propose, with little work. You just cut a hole in the drywall behind the TV. Check big box, TV stores, etc.

I had the same problem but got lucky and found this solution
WALLSCAPE ONE Flat screen tv furniture shelves in Oak on eBay (end time 06-Dec-09 20:52:51 GMT) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200403041952&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_4704wt_1165)

Took me less than an hour to put together and fit around my TV