Installation of a wall-hanging 37-inch Samsung LCD connected to a Mac Mini.
The background for this project can be found at this preceding post.
As noted earlier I began this project with an AV space already roughed out by a previous owner of my house. This created a couple of constraints for the design; the TV would need to be a 37-inch HD in order to fit easily into the space; I would have roughly 15 inches depth from the front of the display to the back of the cabinet; and there would be no direct line of site to devices other than the TV.
Samsung LN37B650
The decision of which TV to buy was fairly easy. Plasmas are more sensitive to heat than LCDs and since I was mounting it over a fireplace I could avoid that much debated question. I’ve always been impressed with Samsung TVs owned by my friends and family, plus reviews on CNET and Amazon consistently back their quality. I would have liked to get a more energy efficient LED backlit display, but at the time of my purchase Samsung didn’t offer a 37-inch model. [a quick note on the "Touch of Color": it is almost unnoticeable and looks good in most rooms.] Finally, I would recommend buying it though Amazon. The delivery service was polite, on-time, and free. He even opened the box and turned it on so that I could make sure there weren’t any display problems.
As the main video source I purchased a baseline Mac Mini (2.26 Ghz) and upgraded the hard drive (320 GB) and RAM (4GB). To minimize cluttering the area with various cords I relied on the built in 802.11 b/g/n wi-fi for network access and bluetooth 
for the keyboard and mouse. Despite the extra cost I decided to go with the Apple keyboard and the new Magic Mouse. Both look good even in a living room environment and work well from more than 8 feet away.
Apple uses a mini displayport on the Mac Mini for video and unfortunately most TVs including Samsungs rely on HDMI for digital video signal. To further complicate the connection, HDMI is both a video and audio connection, while the mini displayport only transmits video. The solution is to buy a converter. Monoprice sells a cable that connects both to the Mac Mini’s mini displayport and to a USB port in order to send both digital audio and video to an HDMI television input. The result is not only a clean look, but offers much better quality than S-Video or traditional “audio out” approaches.
Mini Displayport Male and USB Male Audio to HDMI Female Converting Adapter
During the planning stage of this project I spent a lot of time looking for other people on the internet who had successfully created a similar setup (in part that is the reason for this post). One of the best assets I found were the reviews for the Monoprice Mini Displayport Adapter. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive and helped me feel confident that I would be happy with the result of my new setup.
I also relied on Monoprice for the wall mount. Prices on wall mounts vary widely and after being satisfied with Monoprice in the past I felt comfortable using them for this crucial piece even though they had some of the cheapest prices.
Prior to installing I was particularly concerned about the geometry and placement of the mount and making sure that both the back was securely installed in a pair of studs and the front allowed the TV to fit neatly into the existing picture frame. In the end while I spent almost twice as much time measuring as installing the numerous adjustments in the mount made this less of a problem than I had expected. My only complaint has been that the stiff arms of the mount, while lending a comforting feeling of stability are really too tight to move on a regular basis.
In case the internet turns off
That completed the Mac Mini to TV hardware setup, but on a whim I also picked up a powered HD antenna at Monoprice, which I have been very happy with. We live outside of Chicago and while the reception breaks up occasionally we can pick up more than 40 different channels, many in full HD.
If you would like to continue reading about the software portion of the setup continue here.
