Mounting 46" LCD on brick fire place

[Alex2507]

A nice romantic fire sounds great a handful of times a year.
The other 360 days should be filled with porno on the plasma, but only if you mount it at the right height. You don't want anybody hurting their neck.

 

[unreal.freak]

A nice romantic fire sounds great a handful of times a year.
The other 360 days should be filled with porno on the plasma, but only if you mount it at the right height. You don't want anybody hurting their neck.

How high is too high? I have 8ft ceilings and the top of the set will be around 3" to 6" below the ceiling. I should say also that we will be viewing the set from around 12ft. It doesnt seem like it will be to far up but i really havent had any experience viewing tvs above 4ft from the floor. Any comments are welcome.

Peace,
Tommy

 

[Alex2507]

You're suppose to be at eye level with the bottom third of the screen.

 

[unreal.freak]

Where does that theory come from? I seen in some safety training that when using a PC you are supposed to be at eye level with the top of the screen. I dont know why that is either.

Tommy

 

[Alex2507]

Where does that theory come from? I seen in some safety training that when using a PC you are supposed to be at eye level with the top of the screen. I dont know why that is either.

Tommy

That's a good question and I can't find the source. Might have something to do with when you're at a computer you're sitting up and looking down while when watching TV you're sitting back and looking forward. By bottom third I mean that if you divided the screen by 3 your eye should be at the line in between the bottom and middle third. I haven't been able to get my TV that low but I'm working on it.

 

[TLS Guy]

Can you point me in the direction of some more reading on this subject. I am considering mounting over my gas fireplace as well. I would like to read the ins and outs of this. Do you mean its ok to watch the tv if the fireplace is not actually on fire? I would think if you did watch the tv set while burning, it would overheat the set?

Thanks,
Tommy

There was a warning against over fireplace mounting in Home Theater mag a while back.

I have personal experience with it. My son in law and daughter did it against my advice. They are on their third LCD screen in just over two years. The first one failed with smoke and flame. The location is terrible, I get a pain in the neck as soon as I look at the screen.

If you have older relatives, that location can cause a devastating brain stem stroke, and that's no joke. The reason is that the vertebral arteries supplying the brain stem are located in two canals in the C-spine either side of the spinal cord. If there is some arthritis in the facet joints, and a little atherosclerosis in the vessels, both common, then the continued neck extension caused by looking up at the TV can interrupt the brain stem circulation enough to cause a devastating problem.

There tends to be a rash of these events during spectacular astronomical events, due to prolonged periods of upward gaze.

A flat screen TV over a fireplace is a worst case location.

 

[unreal.freak]

There was a warning against over fireplace mounting in Home Theater mag a while back.

I have personal experience with it. My son in law and daughter did it against my advice. They are on their third LCD screen in just over two years. The first one failed with smoke and flame. The location is terrible, I get a pain in the neck as soon as I look at the screen.

If you have older relatives, that location can cause a devastating brain stem stroke, and that's no joke. The reason is that the vertebral arteries supplying the brain stem are located in two canals in the C-spine either side of the spinal cord. If there is some arthritis in the facet joints, and a little atherosclerosis in the vessels, both common, then the continued neck extension caused by looking up at the TV can interrupt the brain stem circulation enough to cause a devastating problem.



There tends to be a rash of these events during spectacular astronomical events, due to prolonged periods of upward gaze.

A flat screen TV over a fireplace is a worst case location.

Do you have any info that supports brainstem strokes can be caused by looking at an elevated tv!! That sounds kinda extreme to me. I have googled this and cant find anything, anywhere, stating that looking upward can cause this. Im not saying it is untrue....Im just saying it sounds extreme, and i would like to read more on it. I do have older relatives, but i would have to say they wouldnt be straining to see the tv from 10 ft away. Also just becasue the tv will be elevated doesnt mean you have to tilt your head up, you can look up with the eyes. What about when you are reclined and you have to tilt your head/eyes down. Will that casue the same thing?

Also all hospitals have the tvs mounted near the ceiling. Wouldnt that be a Oxymoron so to speak? Anyway those are some questions i have on brainstem strokes. Im not stating that it isnt true, im stating that if it is true, i would like to study more on the subject. Thanks for you input.

One last question, Did your relatives use the fireplace during the time the television was on?

Thanks,
Tommy

 

[Alex2507]

He's a doctor.

 

[TLS Guy]

Do you have any info that supports brainstem strokes can be caused by looking at an elevated tv!! That sounds kinda extreme to me. I have googled this and cant find anything, anywhere, stating that looking upward can cause this. Im not saying it is untrue....Im just saying it sounds extreme, and i would like to read more on it. I do have older relatives, but i would have to say they wouldnt be straining to see the tv from 10 ft away. Also just becasue the tv will be elevated doesnt mean you have to tilt your head up, you can look up with the eyes. What about when you are reclined and you have to tilt your head/eyes down. Will that casue the same thing?

Also all hospitals have the tvs mounted near the ceiling. Wouldnt that be a Oxymoron so to speak? Anyway those are some questions i have on brainstem strokes. Im not stating that it isnt true, im stating that if it is true, i would like to study more on the subject. Thanks for you input.

One last question, Did your relatives use the fireplace during the time the television was on?

Thanks,
Tommy

The last question first, yes they do use it when the fireplace is burning. They won't anymore though!

Now the head extension issue. Hospitals have the TV high, because people ar in bed and reclining. This issue is entirely due to neck extension and the fact the vertebral arteries supplying the posterior portion of the circle of Willis travel in two Canals in the C-spine. Now if a patient comes in and tells you he gets dizzy and or he looses limb strength when he extends his neck to look up, then if the physician is sensible he has the patient's cerebral circulation studied promptly. This symptom is one of the classic warning signs for stroke.

Now in patients with known atherosclerotic vascular disease, prolonged neck extension is something to caution them about. Now with elderly individuals you are on pretty safe ground to assume they have some burden of disease. Osteo arthritic degeneration of the facet joints is also very common in that age group. The resulting spurs, can and do impinge on the vertebral arterial canals further aggravating the situation.

Now the four arteries supplying the brain, the two internal carotid arteries and the two vertebral arteries are all connected around the base of the brain by the circle of Willis to provide redundancy to the circulation. So in order to have symptoms and a problem the circle of Willis also has to be compromised by vascular disease in some way. However because of the high incidence of vascular disease in the older population, the fact that vascular disease is seldom localized and the silent nature of the progression of vascular disease, getting the perfect storm so to speak does happen.

 

[Alex2507]

The last question first, yes they do use it when the fireplace is burning. They won't anymore though!

Now the head extension issue. Hospitals have the TV high, because people ar in bed and reclining. This issue is entirely due to neck extension and the fact the vertebral arteries supplying the posterior portion of the circle of Willis travel in two Canals in the C-spine. Now if a patient comes in and tells you he gets dizzy and or he looses limb strength when he extends his neck to look up, then if the physician is sensible he has the patient's cerebral circulation studied promptly. This symptom is one of the classic warning signs for stroke.

Now in patients with known atherosclerotic vascular disease, prolonged neck extension is something to caution them about. Now with elderly individuals you are on pretty safe ground to assume they have some burden of disease. Osteo arthritic degeneration of the facet joints is also very common in that age group. The resulting spurs, can and do impinge on the vertebral arterial canals further aggravating the situation.

Now the four arteries supplying the brain, the two internal carotid arteries and the two vertebral arteries are all connected around the base of the brain by the circle of Willis to provide redundancy to the circulation. So in order to have symptoms and a problem the circle of Willis also has to be compromised by vascular disease in some way. However because of the high incidence of vascular disease in the older population, the fact that vascular disease is seldom localized and the silent nature of the progression of vascular disease, getting the perfect storm so to speak does happen.

Yeah, but where's the proof?

 

[TLS Guy]

Yeah, but where's the proof?

I don't think any body has done blood brain flow studies of patients watching Tvs above a fireplace. However you can infer from basic anatomy pathology and a wide body of clinical experience.

Here is a study on cerebral blood flow as it relates to neck position.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10478768?ordinalpos=18&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

 

[Alex2507]

I don't think any body has done blood brain flow studies of patients watching Tvs above a fireplace. However you can infer from basic anatomy pathology and a wide body of clinical experience.

Here is a study on cerebral blood flow as it relates to neck position.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10478768?ordinalpos=18&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Just in case you didn't get it, I was being an a$$. I can't infer anything, I didn't go to medical school.

Edit: Even better! I wish I had replied with something like, "The proof needs to be in English? Duh!"

 

[Rickster71]

I don't think any body has done blood brain flow studies of patients watching Tvs above a fireplace. Here is a study on cerebral blood flow as it relates to neck position.

Thanks Doc.
This just proves that my wife is right. She says I lack cerebral blood flow.

Rick

 

[unreal.freak]

i read the article and it was somewhat informative, but it doesnt appear that they have been able to draw any conclusions without further study.

I was talking about the tvs in the waiting rooms of the hospitals and doctors offices, not in the actual rooms.

I was sure i had seen in one of the threads here that you are a Dr.

If you dont mind me asking what is your field?

Peace,
Tommy

 

[TLS Guy]

i read the article and it was somewhat informative, but it doesnt appear that they have been able to draw any conclusions without further study.

I was talking about the tvs in the waiting rooms of the hospitals and doctors offices, not in the actual rooms.

I was sure i had seen in one of the threads here that you are a Dr.

If you dont mind me asking what is your field?

Peace,
Tommy

I'm a retired critical care physician