Anyone installed a LCD over there Fireplace? (2 Bedroom town house)

ChickenBalls

I have a 32" screen I want to put over my fireplace and it weights 22Kgs.

Because the fireplace comes out about 7inches from the wall it makes it difficult to drill that far and get bolts in that length that will support this weight.
Other thing is that I was checking for wooden battons behind the plasterboard and there is only battons at the corners.

Any suggestions? Has anybody put a screen over there fireplace?

K.

MuffinsDa

I haven't put it over the fireplace and I highly recommend not doing it that way for a couple of reasons. One is aesthetics: the TV should not be the focal point of your room, and over the fireplace it a little bit overpowering... unless that's the effect you are looking for, which is probably a desirable effect in certain households On a more practical note, the viewing angle would be way too straining for your neck. It should be placed at eye level otherwise you'll have to look upwards all the time and believe me you'll have a sore neck before you know.

I have a 27" LCD and I've installed it at almost eye level on the side of the fireplace (near the french doors). It's only over a couple of inch over ideal eyesight level and even there it kinda hearts the neck after a while...

As for wooden batons: a. don't trust those detectors, they are crap. The only way to find them is to poke the wall with a very thin drill bit and find where exactly it is. I have only one side of mine fixed to the baton (kind of half-heartedly really) and have used heavy-duty toggle bolts to fix the other side to the plaster board. Those toggle boards are supposed to hold bookshelves/radiators in place so I reckon they would be ok for a 10kg telly. The plasterboard is not as weak as you may think, it's quite thick actually.

Eoin

Not to mention what do to with all the cables, home cinema / DVD player, digital box etc. Most the adverts you see for LCDs or plasmas when they're wall mounted don't even show the power cord, let alone the accessories.

MuffinsDa

well with these hollow walls it's very easy to conceal all the cords inside the wall. Mine looks quite neat in that respect, made a hold in back of the telly and ran all the cables (loads of them: 1 scart, 1 svhs, 2 av, power) through the wall and brough them out back down behind the cabinet (where it's not visible).

Eoin

MuffinsDa wrote:

well with these hollow walls it's very easy to conceal all the cords inside the wall. Mine looks quite neat in that respect, made a hold in back of the telly and ran all the cables (loads of them: 1 scart, 1 svhs, 2 av, power) through the wall and brough them out back down behind the cabinet (where it's not visible).

This is true, but it's probably not as easy over the fireplace; especially as you can't have a cabinet directly under it.

mikedragon32

When we bought our telly we asked about mounting it on the wall over the fireplace. The dealer said that under NO circumstances should you put it over the fireplace if you intend to use the fire as the heat badly affects the circuitry.

Agree with MuffinsDa about the viewing angle also. Not very comfortable looking up at a tv for any period of time. Consider every time you've gone to a pub to watch a match and how sore you're neck has been afterwards!

In the end we decided not to mount our tv on the wall and it's on a nice cabinet in the corner now instead.

ChickenBalls

Thanks for the feedback - keep it coming as know I'm not sure what to do!

I'm now thinking of changing the wall mount for a swing arm version and hanging it directly on the wall to the left of the fireplace near the window then I can move it out to position when I'm viewing it and move it back in when I'm not.

What ye think?

Any more suggestions even?

Marcais

I spent way too long trying to do this! I was told afterwards by a guy in Petes that it is NOT a good idea and heat from a naked flame would melt the screen very easily and void any warranty.

I would certainly not put one over the small standard eye level fireplace (I installed a "proper" one having tried to design one lower than the standard 54") as the heat would be too close to the screen. After managing to mount the LCD perfectly into the wall and having sussed how to get all cables in etc. after talking to Petes I now have my LCD on a table as Durkin intended! ps. would recommend Samsung LCD for performance and value for what it's worth.

ChickenBalls

Thing is, I dont use the heater at all so that's not stopping me. The height level might so I might try putting it up on the fireplace for a few hours to see what it looks like and how my neck holds up. I got a Ambilight Philips which is very impressive, thought the ambilight was a gimmick but it helps on the eye alot.

Mullie

Heat will affect the LCD screen but the mantleplace, if you have one, will deflect the heat so it won't be a factor.
Although you will end up with a stiff neck with your TV at that altitude!
I also agree with Marcais - Samsung LCD's are good quality and great value.
An important factor is your screen refresh rate - its measured in milliseconds for LCD's I think. The lower the better. Mine is 16ms, my friends is 8ms, and you can see a big difference in quality.

leirbag

if you must put it over the fireplace cut out some of the plasterboard so you can mount the TV bracket directly on to concrete. this would also allow you to have a bracket with a cable management system and give you a cavity to run you cables through to the AV system etc. you can get nice connector boxes with av connections etc to use

word of warning about the samsung though.... i sent 3 back because the component connectors were flush to the casing and there was no way they could be connected. shame because it was a good looking box.

Eoin

Mullie wrote:

Heat will affect the LCD screen but the mantleplace, if you have one, will deflect the heat so it won't be a factor.
Although you will end up with a stiff neck with your TV at that altitude!
I also agree with Marcais - Samsung LCD's are good quality and great value.
An important factor is your screen refresh rate - its measured in milliseconds for LCD's I think. The lower the better. Mine is 16ms, my friends is 8ms, and you can see a big difference in quality.

That's the response time; the refresh rate doesn't really apply to LCD tellies because (to quote from another source):

"Much of the discussion of refresh rate does not apply to LCD monitors. This is because while a phosphor on a CRT will begin to dim as soon as the electron beam passes it, LCD cells open to pass a continuous stream of light, and do not dim until instructed to produce a darker color".

You want a high refresh rate on a CRT screen.

For what it's worth, I would also highly recommend Samsung. We got this one over a year ago and have been very happy with it.