Above Fireplace

[Zonker]

I am interested in putting an HDTV in a nook above my fireplace. The nook starts about 5 ft above the floor. I am interested in a 60" Sony LCD. Should I angle the TV a couple inches to be parallel with couch viewing levels?

 

[BMXTRIX]

If possible, I would.

Also, sit on your couch and look above your fireplace for a while and see how your neck feels. You will have to be doing that for hours... So, be ready for it.

 

[JJMP50]

A word of caution

I bought our house last year and it has a great fireplace. I wanted to do the same thing but was talked out of it. My fireplace is brick all the way to the ceiling. The concern was heat. Is your fireplace wood or gas? If it's gas you probably won't have a problem. If it's wood, build a fire and tape a thermometer half way between the mantel and ceiling. If you run above 85 degrees, I would reconsider.

 

[soundjunkie]

Zonker,
BMX is right. Our house came with the TV niche above the firplace too. My current CRT is there now, and the trick to making it work without neck strain is to have a couch, or other seating with the back tilted slightly reclined. Our couch we brought from the old house had a back that very little recline to it. That didn't last long. The recliner however works great and the location of the TV isn't an issue. Ultimately, I would have put it down on floor level, but there are pros in the space category which my wife liked. It came that way, so that's the way it is. A reclining sofa, or a seating arrangement with a reclined angle back will make all the difference!

 

[ricwilli]

Zonker, Im also in the same boat as you are. I'm getting my fireplace put in next week and puting my plasma above it. I will be sitting 10' away. I was told in other threads, that by me doing this, my veiwing experience will not be good. As my neck will hurt after awhile. After the fireplace gets put in, I will have no choice but to the plasma above it. So this is someting that I have to live with. Just for this reason, I will be buying a tilt plasma mount. Hopefully it will make my viewing experience better. I will be putting the pioneer 5050 above it.

 

[Audioholics]

I have yet to see a vertical swivel mount. They have ones that go side to side, but it would be good to have one that actually allowed you to put the plasma down in front of the fireplace - obviously only when the fireplace is not in use.

This would relieve a lot of that neck strain. Make sure you have comfy chairs that tilt back and can align your head/neck to look at the screen - that will help.

 

[ricwilli]

WOW!!! Clint, thats a good idea. I was just talking about tilting the top of the plasma down a little. But your idea would be perfect.

 

[grd4spd]

i too am putting the monitor above the FP.....however i dont think that view angle will be an issue as the mantle is rather low and the distance is ~15'. the mantle is of old french origan and i will install the monitor in the "over mantle"......here is an actual pic of the FP and overmantel which i will be intalling...

i will build into the overmatle a sliding panel which behind will hide the monitor when not in use.....im looking at 40-50" monitor......any thoughts on the hardware?

here are some things i have come up with....

http://www.auton.com/content/invisotrak.html

http://www.inca-tvlifts.com/



Which Plasma?

im at 5000+ft elevation, i understand that may be a factor.

thanks in advance for your thoughts and feedback!

regards,
terry

 

[tvent2]

I have yet to see a vertical swivel mount. They have ones that go side to side, but it would be good to have one that actually allowed you to put the plasma down in front of the fireplace - obviously only when the fireplace is not in use.

This would relieve a lot of that neck strain. Make sure you have comfy chairs that tilt back and can align your head/neck to look at the screen - that will help.

I am writing to see if anyone has found a wall mount or solution, for placing a large lcd/plasma aprox 50in above the fireplace, that would allow you to put the screen down infront of the fireplace at eye level when the fireplace is not in use?

 

[Ryzer]

I've heard a number of people I know talk about doing this now, but I just don't think it's a good idea. Where are you going to put your cable box, DVD player, etc? Also, it forces you to constantly look up, which is eventually going to cause neck pain.

 

[njedpx3]

I have yet to see a vertical swivel mount. They have ones that go side to side, but it would be good to have one that actually allowed you to put the plasma down in front of the fireplace - obviously only when the fireplace is not in use.

This would relieve a lot of that neck strain. Make sure you have comfy chairs that tilt back and can align your head/neck to look at the screen - that will help.

Clint,

Excellent suggestion. I hope you have a wonder year in 2010. Thanksfor allthe support Audioholics provides.

Peace and Good Dound,

Forest Man

 

[sawzalot]

That height would only seem right if it were in a game room and most of the seating would be bar stool height and a lot of standing up. I think from a normal HT seating position you would grow tired from the constant need to look , well , some what up, at an angle. I know in some cases this is the only option for a panel mount but if there are other options I would consider them instead.

 

[njedpx3]

Cool Above the Fire

Concerning heat. In one of my previous houses, I had a double sided fireplace.

On one side there way a retangular box directly above the fireplace with TV cable feed and electical. I was concerned about the heat and measured it several times while the fireplace was on full blast. Actually, it was so well insulated that the temperature was never above 80 degrees. And I am not so sure that wasn't caused by the increased ambient temperature rising from the front of the fireplace, because the bottom of the TV box never increased in temperature.

Good Luck , Good Sound, and Keep the Temp Low

Forest Man

 

[PBMax]

I have had our 50" panny plasma mounted above our fireplace since Jan-2005 and have not had any problems due to heat. I have had several very hot fires in that fireplace since that time. Our home inspector was the one who suggested the solution, and my first concern was heat. He said he'd recently inspected a home in Big Bear, California (elev. 7,000 ft) where a similar tv was mounted above an absolutely huge fireplace. No problems. Most well designed fireplaces project heat out, and it rarely rised directly up the wall.

I have never noticed an issue with viewing angle, but maybe that's a problem for some. In the homes I've been in where TVs were mounted lower, I've noticed more problems with people walking in front and not being able to see the screen during gatherings like super bowl parties.

I would love to see a full motion arm that allows for the TV to be lowered, but I can't recall the last time I saw an aperature that did something like that that didn't completely fail over time. At some point, I'm sure the arm just wouldn't hold the TV in the "up" position anymore.

Our biggest issue was finding a spot for a relatively large TV, while being able to still fit a 5' long fish tank and reasonable seating into an oddly shaped room. We basically have a rectangle with bay windows on one end that the shape of bay windows on the other, where the fireplace is at an angle and the entry to the LR is the other angle. Our couch faces the angle with the fireplace and fish tank on the opposite wall and two chairs sit in front of the bay window. All cables have been run through the walls, so the set-up is pretty clean (There is space between the wall housing the fireplace and the brick chimney - thankfully).

I feel pretty good about how we solved the viewing issue, but we are left with another issue I haven't been able to solve - creating any semblance of a surround sound environment. To achieve that at all, you have to sit on the ottoman in the middle of the room. Not comfy for any length of time.

 

[son-yah-tive]

It's time to invest in a reclining couch and or chairs. The neck PAIN will come.

 

[Halon451]

You have any pictures of the room to post? Maybe there's an option hidden there somewhere that you didn't think of and someone else around here with a keen eye and a creative mind might spot... just a thought.

EDIT: Wow... never mind. Should have noticed the OP's inquiry was from 2005.

 

[PBMax]

You have any pictures of the room to post? Maybe there's an option hidden there somewhere that you didn't think of and someone else around here with a keen eye and a creative mind might spot... just a thought.

EDIT: Wow... never mind. Should have noticed the OP's inquiry was from 2005.

Yeah, turns out this was all about the mount...

 

[davidtwotrees]

I have mounted the display above the place.

I've recently mounted my plasma above a fireplace in my fiance's tonwhouse where I now live. It is a small room, and we were limited to only three spots for the tv, and the other two were just really, really bad from a seating point of view. So above the fireplace it was. I had checked the temps above this fireplace, and it never got above 82 with the gas fired fire going. I also checked at my old place, a wood burning fireplace where I burn oak pretty gosh darn hot, and it never got above 85 above the fireplace. That's the heat issue. The height issue is the second hurdle. My fiance' wanted the tv ever higher, saying I was compromising the mantle and over mantle that I will build shortly from Cherry urban lumber. The center of the tv is currently 5'9" from the floor. The viewing seats are about 10' away. It is a pretty healthy viewing angle. I do have a tilt mount, which helps a bit. We watch maybe three movies a month, and some very, very, light ota tv watching, mostly news. My display is mostly to stream Pandora and for the osd of the music server. We have noticed no neck pain from watching a full length movie. I will say that if I was a heavy tv watcher, or watched three movies a week, it could be a strain. If your seating reclines, or your couch allows you to kick back, it really is not a strain, imho.
Attached you will see the rough in for pulling wires to the display and around the fireplace. I did find some of the wire pulls to be very tough! Electrician's earn their keep and I was cursing a number of times as I struggled to pull the runs of wire through, around, and up into the attic. I am hooked up for whole house audio, zone 2 with a small speaker selector. I am very happy with my display as it is. A classic tough room. Not for the faint of heart as the wiring is a bear. Hth. Pm me if you have any questions about my experience.

 

[bandphan]

depending on the room height and budget...


http://www.chiefmfg.com/productdetail.aspx?MountID=249

 

[davidtwotrees]

depending on the room height and budget...


http://www.chiefmfg.com/productdetail.aspx?MountID=249

Well, my fireplace is on an outside wall, and the roof slopes to zero right above it. I didn't see a price, but those things must cost more than my display?!

I used 2 1/2 " pvc for my wire chases and of course the one side is full. I have a BJC belden Hdmi, two analog (tv sound), a coax (fm antenna), a composite(music server osd), one subwoofer cable (input to active speaker), and two Ethernet cables for the blu ray and the server. It is getting tight in there. If I had room I would recommend bigger pipe. The downside is that I have one running up into the attic and I have to stuff insulation in the openings to keep the drafts down...........