Moving a big-screen TV to a new house

[burniebrewer]

My parents recently bought a new TV for the basement and asked me if I wanted their old one, a 52-inch high-def big screen. It's not LCD or plasma, is 3-4 years old and works just fine.

 

My problem is moving it to my house. They live about an hour away, so it will take some effort to do this. After measuring the TV, it will not fit vertically in a full-size van. I really don't want to rent a 10-foot Uhaul to move one item.

 

So, the big question: Would it harm the TV if I moved it by laying it on its back? I would wrap it in bubble wrap (or something), so I'm not worried about that, but would placing a TV in this position have any potential effect on the picture quality?

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice.

[bullox]

I'd rent the U-Haul just to be safe. Consider it insurance. The TV was free anyway, spend a little money to make sure that you don't have any problems.

[zingsheim]

I too would prob. get the u haul. It'll prob. only cost you a hundred bucks, and It would be well worth risking the tv.

[Invader3K]

My understanding is that rear projection (big screen) TVs really aren't supposed to be laid down...it's not that the TV will be damaged, necessarily, but you're really going to mess up the alignment of the tubes inside the TV. You'd either have to spend a ton of time recalibrating the picture (it's not as simple as tweaking a couple knobs)), or hire a professional to do it.

 

I'd hire a U-haul, if you have no other alternatives. When we moved from our apartment to our house, a friend helped me transport my 48" Mitsubishi in a moving truck he owns. The TV arrived safely. Yeah, it took some extra effort, but it was worth it.

[pretendastronaut]

What type of tv is it? It sounds like its flat panel as you're able to lay it flat, but you said its not plasma or LCD. I'd always been told not to set a flat panel on its back.

[1992casey]

I get the impression that this TV is one of the monster rear projection units.

 

I don't think the truck would turn out to be very expensive. You wouldn't need a very big one.

[jlau20]

We have a 52-inch big screen, big projection type. When we bought it they highly recommended not laying it on it's back so we ended up borrowing a trailer and strapping it in there nice and tight.

 

We had to slide ours down our stairs to our rec room because of a somewhat low slanted ceiling going down and even then it made some funny noises inside but still works fine, but was somewhat nervewracking doing so.

 

Like others have said it would be worth the investment of the U-haul just to be safe since the TV is free for you anyways.

[Paul77]

Agreed, get the uhaul. How far are do you have to move it.

 

I recently had to move one large item and rented a uhaul. I got the 14 footer. The total was $89 to go 73 miles.

[mattsr0625]

i used to sell big screens years ago, and you will ruin the tv. the color "guns" that display the picture will fall out of line and your colors will be out of wack. rent the truck.

[1992casey]

Would pulling it in a covered trailer be safe? They're only about $20.

[burniebrewer]

Yeah, I figured the U-haul would be the obvious way to go. I just hate driving those things and it seemed like such a big truck to haul one item.

 

I figured it would run about 100 bucks, but thought I'd ask.

 

Thanks everyone.

[dadofandrew]

You can get a Ryder or U-haul for $20 plus miles, especially just for the day.

[Paul77]

Don't forget you are responsible for filling the gas tank back up also. If you don't they charge you some outrageous price per gallon. Make sure to ask how big the gas tank is. If they give you a truck thats half full you'll want to know exactly how much more to put in at the end of the day.

 

When I did it a few months ago their fee was over $4 per gallon. Ouch.

[brewcrewreview]

Before you rent a moving truck, stop at your nearest post office. Grab a change of address kit. Inside there is a coupon for a Budget renting truck. When I moved a month ago, I found Budget's prices to be way less as is, but the coupon only made it even better.

[mothershipconnection]

Rent a u-haul trailer instead of a truck and hitch it up to the van - much cheaper.

[Diskono]

I did the same thing for my dad's old TV. It cost me about $100 to rent a U-haul and move it from Hartland to Madison. Not a bad deal.

[burniebrewer]

I did the same thing for my dad's old TV. It cost me about $100 to rent a U-haul and move it from Hartland to Madison. Not a bad deal.

 

That's similar to what my trip will be. I'm moving it from Oconomowoc to Madison.

 

Is it a better idea to rent the truck one-way? I could always rent one in Oconomowoc and drop it in Madison, but I'm guessing there's some sort of charge for that.

[burniebrewer]

My friends, the TV has arrived and I haven't moved out of my chair all day.

[pretendastronaut]

Hail to your new God!

[Invader3K]

So the move must have went pretty easily?

 

I was suprised when we moved our 48" Mitsubishi rear projection...I figured I would have to do at least some tweaking of the alignment, or adjust the video settings, but it turned out perfect. We were pretty careful with it, though, and our move was only about a 15 minute drive.

[Menotti80]

Why didn't you just strap it to the roof?
Sounds like the perfect solution to me...

[burniebrewer]

So the move must have went pretty easily?

 

Oh yeah, we went with the UHaul. We backed it right up to my front porch and thankfully, the TV has wheels, so we rolled it right down the ramp onto the porch. We only had to lift it about a foot to get over the step into the front door.

 

Baseball never looked better in my living room. The Brewers are 1-0 on my new TV!http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/smile.gif

[pretendastronaut]

Soon to be 22-0 no doubt.

[hawing]

Couldn't you have moved that TV to Madison sooner?!

[burniebrewer]

2-0!

 

I'll admit, I flipped to NFL during commercials, but I watched more Brewers than anything else today.

 

 

So, I'm off for a week....are expectations high for me and the TV?http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/smile.gif