Plasma wall brackets

[ThA tRiXtA]

Hey guys, as you may have read previously, I am in the midst of building a dedicated home theater room and I have come to the decision I am going to get a new plasma display because of the recent price drops and it's low footprint in the room.

I am not going to be purchasing the TV for a while, however I have a question for all you flat panel owners out there... I need to know how and where the mounting device is going to go on my wall in the room and I figure the best way to do that is to go ahead and buy the mounting bracket so I can adequately beef up the section of wall it will attach to. It will be at least at 50 inch display, preferably 60" if I can afford it, so I am hesitant to wait to buy the mounting bracket and attempt to mount it after the dry wall is up with just a couple of studs to screw into.

So if I buy the bracket now, but wait say 3 to 4 months to buy the TV, will they still be compatible together? I went in and looked at the plasma wall brackets, they are quite expensive for the bigger ones, so I don't want to waste my money buying one now that I can't use later.

On a side note, has any one who uses these noticed if the angle locks on them ever come loose on their own at all? Just curious.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Halon451]

Hey guys, as you may have read previously, I am in the midst of building a dedicated home theater room and I have come to the decision I am going to get a new plasma display because of the recent price drops and it's low footprint in the room.

I am not going to be purchasing the TV for a while, however I have a question for all you flat panel owners out there... I need to know how and where the mounting device is going to go on my wall in the room and I figure the best way to do that is to go ahead and buy the mounting bracket so I can adequately beef up the section of wall it will attach to. It will be at least at 50 inch display, preferably 60" if I can afford it, so I am hesitant to wait to buy the mounting bracket and attempt to mount it after the dry wall is up with just a couple of studs to screw into.

So if I buy the bracket now, but wait say 3 to 4 months to buy the TV, will they still be compatible together? I went in and looked at the plasma wall brackets, they are quite expensive for the bigger ones, so I don't want to waste my money buying one now that I can't use later.

On a side note, has any one who uses these noticed if the angle locks on them ever come loose on their own at all? Just curious.

Thanks in advance.

Most mounting brackets are universal design - and henceforth most plasma TV's are designed with universal compatibility in mind. You should be fine if you buy a bracket now, just make sure it's rated for the weight of the TV you will eventually buy.

If you are doing a dedicated HT, you should be fine with a standard bracket that comes in three main pieces (the wall plate section, and two sliding hook brackets that actually attach to the back of your TV). It is extremely simple to put together, and these designs allow for a tilt outward, which improves the viewing angle for higher mounting options. The brackets come with a wide variety of bolts and spacers to accomodate any number of TV's on the market. This is not likely to change in the forseeable future.

As for the wall section - of course center mounting is assumed, unless you have some other room placement issues that would mandate off-center placement of your TV. For any TV up to a 50" you should be fine with mounting the bracket directly to the wall studs. The bracket also comes with an assortment of lag screws for this purpose. Anything above a 50" TV, you might want to consider adding some plywood backing to that section of the wall just to be on the safe side. The good thing about these universal brackets is they have slotted screw holes which will allow you to attach them to the studs, and keep the bracket (and TV) centered in the room even if the studs don't line up ideally for this purpose.

Good luck!

 

[ThA tRiXtA]

Thanks Halon,

You're correct, it will be mounted at the center of the wall.

I am going to go ahead and guess that optimal height placement for the TV would be that the middle of the screen should be at the height your eyes would be at seated position, so you have 50% of the screen lower than your eyes and 50% of it higher than your eyes?

Cheers.

 

[Davemcc]

Check the brackets at monoprice. I got one of theirs and it's good quality, very sturdy, yet a fraction of the store bought brackets.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10828

 

[Halon451]

Thanks Halon,

You're correct, it will be mounted at the center of the wall.

I am going to go ahead and guess that optimal height placement for the TV would be that the middle of the screen should be at the height your eyes would be at seated position, so you have 50% of the screen lower than your eyes and 50% of it higher than your eyes?

Cheers.

Well, not necessarily - if you were to stand mount the TV on a credenza, then this would be okay, but if you're wall mounting it, it's perfectly fine to give it a little bit of a higher residence and use the tilt ability of the bracket so that you are able to view the TV on-axis and without straining your neck in any way. Remember the whole key is to be comfortable while you enjoy your system, and to be able to see everything clearly. All of this is dependent on your main seating location, and how far away it is from your TV.

For normal seating, to get a 50/50 split on the screen at your eye height would require a pretty low wall mount.

 

[ThA tRiXtA]

Hmm, I was just figuring it would be perfect at the same height my LCD rear projection sits currently on it's stand...

I don't think it could get any less effortless to view a display if it were to be at your eye height when seated... but I guess I have some time to think about it.

Thanks again guys, I appreciate it.

That monoprice site is awesome, the price for the brackets at regular stores here is like $300+.

 

[Halon451]

Yeah, sounds like you've got some time to figure it out. Placement is subjective when it comes down to it - there are general guidelines to follow, most of which involve screen size vs. distance from viewing surface, etc.

When it comes to height a good rule of thumb to follow when wall mounting (as opposed to the 50/50 method) is mount it so that the bottom of the screen is at eye level when sitting, and the top of the screen is at eye level when standing (or a close enough approximation thereof). This shouldn't make the TV appear too low when standing, but also won't put it too high to strain your neck when sitting.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Halon is correct on the fact that a wall mount at proper height looks funny but that's still where it goes, the tilt only helps a little.

Monoprice is the right store for brackets.

If your drywall is not up yet, I would add a big piece of plywood to making mounting easier.

 

[Phil Taylor]

With a quality wall bracket for a plasma you should be able to hit three studs width which is important with a plasma as they are much heavier than LCDs. Using the supplied mounting screws that come with the mount place your mount where you can hit three studs. With three studs I can hang from mounts I have installed and I tip the scales at 250.

Amazon is another source for relatively inexpensive mounts. Peerless makes some very good quality tilting mounts for plasmas (and LCDs) and you can find them at Amazon for under $100 although the ST680-S which can hit three studs is about $130.

 

[bandphan]

yep pivot pitch brackets are the way to go, since your pre const just reinforce the wall if your going larger than 50 if you want to over do it

 

[solomr2]

I went with this Peerless ST660S from Amazon. It will hold up to 200lbs, 63" panel. It was easy to mount, and the system works well. I can tilt the panel forward by hand. Fortunately for me, the wall I mounted it to was an outer cinderblock wall, so I just got some tapcons and mounted it up real quick with just a hammerdrill.

 

[Halon451]

I went with this Peerless ST660S from Amazon. It will hold up to 200lbs, 63" panel. It was easy to mount, and the system works well. I can tilt the panel forward by hand. Fortunately for me, the wall I mounted it to was an outer cinderblock wall, so I just got some tapcons and mounted it up real quick with just a hammerdrill.

Good point - I forgot to ask if this was an exterior wall or not. At least most of the structures down here are built with tight clearances between the drywall and the cinder blocks of the exterior wall; many times I've had to do exactly this on installs - I still have my con-drive set, an assortment of tapcons and my 18V Dewalt hammer drill. I'm not longer an installation tech, but the last TV I had to mount was putting in a videoconferencing system at my new job (told the boss he could save some money if he let me do it).

Mount a TV that way and that wall will have to come down before the TV ever does.

 

[Davemcc]

Mount a TV that way and that wall will have to come down before the TV ever does.

Florida??? There's a pretty good chance that might just happen.

 

[solomr2]

Florida??? There's a pretty good chance that might just happen.

LOL!!!

Yes, florida is prone to some strong winds, but most of florida has much higher building code since Andrew. Bear in mind Flrorida had at least 4 hurricane hits in 2004, and we also had a direct strike from Katrina before it went north to visit Miss and Louis. And very few houses were wrecked (trailer parks excluded).

I actually watched my house being built, and I was very impressed with the way they reinforced the structure. They use a minimum 8" thick poured foundation, with rebar throughout. Every 4ft they ran rebar from the foundation up through to the rafters and encased them in poured concrete through the CB cells from top to bottom. The top 18" of the outer walls are also poured concrete with rebar reinforcement and the rebar running up through it from the foundation. Then running the full length across the front and the back they have a solid steel I-Beam to reinforce the front and rear overhangs. Finally, after they set the roof in place, they bent the rebars from the foundation up and over the trusses along the outer walls to keep it from lifting. And this is all just standard building code.

During Katrina my house saw 90+ mph gusts and sustained winds of about 80mph. Most of our trees were uprooted right out of the ground, but there was no structural damage at all to the house. In fact, the only damage to the house was 5 or 6 of our concrete roof tiles flew away.

 

[Davemcc]

WOW, sounds like you guys are building bomb shelters down there. I can just imagine Florida's real estate agents. "Well sir, I can sell you this NORAD bomb shelter or this deluxe double-wide."

 

[Halon451]

Florida??? There's a pretty good chance that might just happen.

Hehe... right right. Well, true building codes have gotten much stricter in the wake of such storms as Andrew and Katrina, but there are still thousands of homes who have less than "bomb shelter" hurricane strength - even my own house (built in 1985) has the standard hurricane straps that attach between the top of each wall and lower trusses (to hopefully prevent the roof from flying off in a storm).

I suppose if the wall ever DID come toppling down in a storm I would have much more to worry about than a TV set though.

 

[solomr2]

Yeah, building codes have improved a lot. Andrew was the wakeup call, but even then it wasn't until mid-nineties that they really got serious about it. They have actually slackened some of those codes a tad since my house was built, but they're still pretty solid.

Ironically, as tough as the outer structure of the house is for wind protection, the inside is built with those silly metal studs, which I hate! The damn things are a joke and you can't hang anything on the inner walls.

 

[Halon451]

Yeah, building codes have improved a lot. Andrew was the wakeup call, but even then it wasn't until mid-nineties that they really got serious about it. They have actually slackened some of those codes a tad since my house was built, but they're still pretty solid.

Ironically, as tough as the outer structure of the house is for wind protection, the inside is built with those silly metal studs, which I hate! The damn things are a joke and you can't hang anything on the inner walls.

Metal wall studs in your home? Yikes. I didn't realize they had started doing that. Most of the A/V work I've ever done has been in commercial buildings where the metal studs are the norm. I hated them there as much as I suppose I would hate them in my home. However, there are ways to use them to your advantage.

 

[The Clam]

I just installed a Peerless 660. Very easy and secure. Recommended.

 

[solomr2]

Metal wall studs in your home? Yikes. I didn't realize they had started doing that. Most of the A/V work I've ever done has been in commercial buildings where the metal studs are the norm. I hated them there as much as I suppose I would hate them in my home. However, there are ways to use them to your advantage.

Yeah, I'm sure there are advantages, I mean you certainly have less concern with termites and less kindling for fires. But I'm not so sure those advantages outweigh the disadvantes.