Prewire the wall in the nook with whatever types of cables are needed for your equipment. Put electrical boxes in the wall at the right heights. Install the correct cover plates for whatever connectors you need. All the stuff is in the electrical aisle at Home Depot or Lowes.

If you know where the shelf is that you want the cable box and DVD player, then a conduit is a good idea (hole to pull wires through). The electrical boxs and jacks add up in cost and are not necessary - it does make for a cleaner install however. The problem with the prewired is that technology changes and the variety of tv connectors is crazy. First we used coaxial cable, then composite video, moved onto S-video, upgraded to component and then the SVGA morphed into HDMI. That is about 10 years and 6 different cable types. I will say that there is only incremental improvement from component to HDMI but if you are doing 1080i from bluray - you probably want HDMI.

Now - we are probably done with cable changes for a while but try pricing out a HDMI connector - I can tell you that I don't think Lowes carries it. Also - last I heard (1 year ago?) was that HBO and others will not let HDTV signal out of a cable box to HDMI secondary to piracy concerns. So you might have HDMI from bluray and component from your cable box. Don't care about all this fancy HDTV stuff - well someone in your household might in the next few years and a buyer someday might.

Take home points - you can't(code rules) run the power cord for the TV in a "hole" - so put in an outlet. The slickest look is cable box and dvd player in a cabinet/closet so plan for a IR repeating system (to get the remote signal into a closed area).

The company that installed all our electronics suggested exactly what david_cary did. We actually have an extra conduit run (empty) in our wall running down alongside the existing one from the TV to all the components which are in a cabinet. The empty one is there for future use if technology changes and it becomes necessary. Our neighbor has all the components in a media cabinet on a completely different wall from the TV-no wires showing and he also has extra conduit run for future use.

What kind of conduit are you guys using/suggesting?

The equipment is normally much deeper than the TV. If the equipment is placed above or below the TV, there can be a space behind the backwall of the TV for wiring. This space can be reached from the adjacent room or by removing a panel (or panels) in the backwall behind the TV. The wiring from the equipment up or down through holes in the TV backspace will not be noticeable if the equipment is placed low enough or high enough.

Alternatively the equipment can be placed behind darkened glass doors or behind a solid door if a remote radio signal system is added to active the infrared system.

We have the remote system-they call it "the red eye" around here. I didn't want to be forced to keep all the cabinetry doors open if someone wanted to watch TV or use the CD system. It cost about 250 dollars 2 years ago

We have a "red eye" too. It's underneath the TV, which is hanging in a recessed area. All the equipment (DISH DVR, DVD, surge protector, remote) are in a niche to the right of the TV in a built in cabinet. We do open the cabinet door so heat can escape when in use, but it's not necessary and can be closed up when not in use. There is enough room in our niche/cabinet to hold DVDs too.

The wiring was run during construction. We ran an extra set of cables to dish in case we lost one to lightning. Easier now than later, all though it could be done later also.

I found an old shutter and had it made into a door for the niche.

Before:

After:

This TV is on a double scissor bracket so it can be pulled out and turned.

I had an outlet wired in to the TV area, and a 1" conduit run to the Sat receiver/dvd area. That way, I can change out the feeds when/if needed.

I choose the location for the dvd etc. based on layout of the room, but if I'd had a closet handy to hide it all it, I'd have gone that route. As is, the architecure left only a couple viable options, and I choose the one that would allow me to move the television to my second favorite spot if #1 doesn't work out.