When we first looked at buying an HDTV, our thought was to put it over the fireplace. Mostly because the fireplace is in the centre of the room. Discussions here enlightened us to the drawbacks of the idea.

In today's mail, there is a flyer from Bell Canada, for their Bell Better Home. The ideal room for a TV, as they show in the flyer, includes a TV mounted above a fireplace, with two beavers watching.

Even in the photo, it looks like something that would give on a sore neck rather quickly! My gut feeling is that whomever put this flyer together has only a tenuous connection with reality.... :)

If this ad is distributed widely, I wonder if we will see another spate of questions about mounting an HDTV in such a location.....

I would never put a flat panel over a fireplace for many of the reasons discussed here but the truth is that a lot of people are and its become "trendy"

Designers know little about a quality HT experience!

Whenever you see show homes or designer magazines, you often see a TV over a fireplace or too high on a wall. It's what you don't see that's often just as important:

- Where's the STB?
- Where are the cables?
- Where are the speakers for Surround sound?
- Where's the DVD player, game console, etc.?

Designers rarely let the reality of the Home Theatre come into play when putting together a photo spread.

People can certainly try to emulate the "designer look", but the only way is to spend a lot of money (or time) for an install that has the equipment hidden, the wires in the wall, etc.

The same often holds true for "designer computers" - there's an LCD panel on a desk, or a laptop sitting on a counter, but no router, modem, printer, cables, etc.

You'll rarely see a telephone either, unless it's a $1000 B&O phone, that's not plugged in. ;) Even cordless phones need to be plugged in somewhere and recharged somewhere.

I had a request a few weeks ago to put a 55" display over a fireplace.

Let's do the math here:

Fireplace is 53" high to the mantel.
5-6" space gap to the bottom of the display.
55" display is 43" high.

52 + 5 + 43 = 100" or OVER 8 FEET HIGH.

Most new homes have maybe 9' ceilings. If the display was mounted this high it would dominate everything else in the room.

Another issue is that many new home owners get cable jacks added above the fireplace for their displays. Unfortunately these never get used because they still need to use a digital cable/sat box in order to get their channels, and there is nowhere to mount a box above the fireplace.

Yes I know about OTA reception, but the majority of people want a digital box to watch channels that would not be available OTA.

A neighbour just put his new Plasma above his fireplace. The next day his ExpressVu box came. He then had to build a new mantle, of wood, over top of the existing one, that was wide enough to hold the box. Now he has the DVD player on it. There are wires hanging everywhere, including the power cables connected to an extension cord because the power outlet is about 10 feet from the devices.

It looks awful!

My wife thought we should mount our TV on the wall until I reminded her that we'd have wires hanging unless we ran them through the wall and then I reminded her that if we ever changed DVD players or added something new, it would be a royal pain! The TV is now happily sitting on an entertainment unit with the wires all hanging behind. You care barely see anything. And the TV is at eye level. Perfect!

Designers know little about a quality HT experience!
My wife watches the designer shows whenever she can. It never seems to amaze me on these shows how often there are attempts to the conceal/diminish/hide the TV.

To me a 50" plasma is a work of art and should have a wall to its own!

Hmm...

I broke the rules...I mounted mine above the fireplace. ;)

Since it's a custom built house, I was able to run the wires before the drywall was up.

Cheers

http://i28.tinypic.com/6ozxfn.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/k1tpoy.jpg

That looks nice. But how is it to sit and watch? I would think you'd want to be way back from the TV, otherwise your head would be tilted up to watch.

What happens if you have to pull a wire and replace it or if you connect another device? Did you create some sort of access panel to easily enable that?

And, where is the STB and DVD player? I assume it is off to the side somewhere so you have to point the remote in a different direction than you are looking.

where is the STB and DVD player?At the bottom of your browser window is a bar which will allow you to move the image so that you can see the entire picture - the equipment is shown at the bottom right.

I have my components beside me - see my signature - and I have no problem pointing my remote at them instead of the TV - it's actually easier to hold that way.

We sit about 15' back...no problem as it is titled a bit as you can see.

I'm use to looking up at the screen now so no big deal...don't even notice anymore.

I ran a set of component cables, HDMI and audio/speaker connections behind the Plasma - all using about $300 bucks in gold plated jacks.

Since you can run everything from one HDMI now I think I'm OK for the future.

You can see the home theater box (dvd) and Bell 9200 in the lower right hand side of the picture.

Cheers

Good suggestions! I'll remember those if friends want to do the same.

In a lot of homes, the fireplace is front and centre. I really have to wonder why that is still be done in new homes - it made sense 100 years ago, when that was where people gathered, and the entertainment was provided with a definite lack of technology.

Now - how often is that appropriate for real world lifestyles today?

I love our fieplace, but it belongs in the corner. The TV should be front and centre, and the option of putting seats in front of it when it is off.

After all, how many have seen, or been asked to mount, a TV over a fireplace when the fireplace was in a corner?

That would be different.....

My wife thought we should mount our TV on the wall until I reminded her that we'd have wires hanging unless we ran them through the wall and then I reminded her that if we ever changed DVD players or added something new, it would be a royal pain! The TV is now happily sitting on an entertainment unit with the wires all hanging behind. You care barely see anything. And the TV is at eye level. Perfect!
I mounted our Samsung 40" on an articulating wall mount. It sits about 6" from the wall when back, and the arm extents to 28". The arm costs about $185.00 from Tigerdirect.ca, and is rated to hold 100 pounds.

To make it look neat, I used split loom for the wiring. I think it would look even better if I had used a steel pipe on the wall, and the split loom from the top of the pipe to the TV, but it looks OK now. Since the split loom is black, and the TV is normally used in the evenings, you really can't see anything anyways.

The rest of the components (Pace STB, HTPC, UPS, JVC receiver) are in the old TV stand used for the old tube TV. It is situated right below the TV when the TV is pushed back against the wall. This means that all cabling is hidden. Where possible, I built custom cables or bought ones of the right length, so there was not a lot left over. That meant there was less to hide.

A friend did suggest using stepper motors, such as those used in a tabletop vertical milling machine CNC setup, to automate moving the arm. The jury is still out on that suggestion.....

Photos to follow, but not tonight.

rfielder, the REAL solution is to have a dedicated room for the HT.

That way you can have your fireplace in the middle room and your big TV in the middle room. That's what we did when we renovated. Guess which room we use the most?

For the last 60+ years television has been viewed at a sitting eye level. It's comfortable.

rfielder, the REAL solution is to have a dedicated room for the HT.

That way you can have your fireplace in the middle room and your big TV in the middle room. That's what we did when we renovated. Guess which room we use the most?
Rennovations to that extend to most houses would be impossibly expensive.

My comments were about the design of houses. Seems like a lot of those doing the layout of a house are not living in any of the houses they design.....

My assumption is that in a new house people would finish their basements.

I agree about new house design in general though. Lot's of the new designs I've seen have a plenty of wasted space.

We use the fireplace and wanted it were it is situated.

We have no issues looking up and now it's completely normal.


But to each their own...


Cheers

I put mine over the fireplace as well. Although it may look high up, it is easily watched from our La-Z-Boy recliner sofa. I had an installer mount the TV and run all cables behind and out the side near near the audio components. My only other alternative was to gett he rid of the fireplace but the strata council wouldn't appreciate that.

http://gallery.mac.com/westcoastman#100005

rob1, just wanted to let you know you're not alone. I have almost the identical set up that you do. Same situation - custom-built home, ran the wires through the walls. Everything looks clean.

I've grown accustomed to looking up at the TV. I had some reservations about it being too high, but I figure as long as you sit back far enough (we're about 13' back), it's not a big deal. But as you said, to each his own.

Happy viewing!