Should we opt for wall mounted TV?

twohooter_2

Hi
Building work commences on Monday to extend our kitchen/diner to incorporate a family room. In this family room we will have a new 50inch flat screen TV. We need to decide whether to have the TV wall mounted or sited on a media unit. Our style is very uncluttered and contemporary and so it seems to fit that the TV should be wall mounted . Making the decision now means we could plan for the appropriate cabling as this would need to be concealed within the wall cavity. I am however unsure of what cabling we should plan for to future proof ourselves or how it would ll be linked together. I am also concerned that if we go down this route we could end up with a TV that is not sited at a comfortable height (most I have seen appear to be on the high side). What would be the ideal height position for a TV of this size?


We will have a DVD player, soundbar and Humax so lots of cables within the wall for those I guess? Can everything be linked easily without cables showing and how easy is it to change products if they fail (replacing cables etc). As you can tell, I am very inexperienced with such matters and am starting to think we should just go for a traditional set up on a media unit. Any advice would be welcome.

SplanK

Cables are ALWAYS changing. You cant future proof it no matter how hard you try. Your best bet would be to make it as easy as possible to remove/add cables at a future date. Small bore drain pipe type thing.


Wireless isn't great an has its limits.


If you are going to be at on a sofa, then wall mounting would need to be low. Don't be daft and mount it half way up the wall, IE above a fireplace as you will only cause yourself neck ache.

Keep_pedalling

We recently wall mounted a 40 inch TV in our living room and used D-line wall trunking to hide all the cables running to the TV.

It looks neat and it's easy to make changes, more importantly it is easy to remove should we decide to move the set, having everything in the wall would be neater but would look messy if ever the TV got shifted.

We have mounted ours a bit higher than it would have been with a stand but only by about a foot, so the centre of the screen is at eye level when sitting on the sofa..

andyhop

Duct in the wall with a couple of brush plates at high and low level. If its not a straight run stick a handful of draw wires in for future connections

jcb208

andyhop wrote: »

Duct in the wall with a couple of brush plates at high and low level. If its not a straight run stick a handful of draw wires in for future connections

That's how I done mine ,I used This 100mm ducting which works very well and easy to add cables but requires a deep chase
http://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-rectangular-flat-channel-white-100mm/14118?cm_sp=Search-_-SearchRec-_-Area1&_requestid=64044#_=p

Head_The_Ball

twohooter wrote: »

..... What would be the ideal height position for a TV of this size?......

The centre of the TV screen should be at or slightly below your eye level when seated in your normal viewing position.

Any higher and you will be looking up at it and that will quickly strain your neck muscles.

Watching TV should be a relaxing experience and you can't easily relax when looking upwards.

phil24_7

andyhop wrote: »

Duct in the wall with a couple of brush plates at high and low level. If its not a straight run stick a handful of draw wires in for future connections

This or D-Line trunking would be my choice.

Incidentally I have a 55 inch TV mounted above my fireplace, angled downwards and not one visitor to my house has mentioned its high and both me and my wife think it's perfectly fine.

My mate had his mounted lower but with a flat mount and it looked all sorts of wrong, he has since upgraded to a tilting mount.

Regards
Phil

twohooter_2

Thank you all for the helpful replies. We have a blank canvas as the room is yet to be built so are keen to make the right decision and ensure the builder installs correct in wall trunking etc. should we opt for the wall mounted option.


However, having thought about it all day, we are quickly coming to the conclusion that having the TV freestanding on a media unit would be the safer (albeit not the most stylish) option. We will be viewing it from a sofa about 4m away (facing straight on) so if it was to be wall mounted low enough to be comfortable, it would need to be only slightly higher than the media unit so may look odd and create problems for the future should our setup change.

teddysmum

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

The centre of the TV screen should be at or slightly below your eye level when seated in your normal viewing position.

Any higher and you will be looking up at it and that will quickly strain your neck muscles.

Watching TV should be a relaxing experience and you can't easily relax when looking upwards.

Our stand mounted tv is on, as I type and is at just the right height for me, sitting in an armchair and angling my head as though to view a screen of the same size, directly above ours feels very uncomfortable.


However, when out walking the dogs, I can't help but notice that many houses have wall mounted sets often high over the fireplace and do wonder how they can bear the discomfort of looking upwards for long periods.

fairandreasonable

Also don't forget about the projector option.


The wife went nuts with me whilst at a Richer Sounds store. Bought a projector (Optima £450 HD version, was a year ago, much cheaper now). The quality is sublime. You can throw straight to a white or crème painted wall - no need for the screen.


Well worth the check. Also sound is great (with Sky) without a soundbar.

savemoney

I have a wall mounted tv in living room and use d-line trucking as said in post 3 you can paint it or wallpaper over top to match background. You hardly notice it there and you can easily open up trucking and change cables. I just stuck it to wall with stick like *hit as the double sided tape didn't stick very well. And stuck wallpaper with pva glue over trucking and cut a slit so you can reopen it any any time