Mounting a Flat Screen TV above fireplace - pros and cons?

[Antonia]

In our new house we have a gas log fireplace with a mantle. To me the logical place to put a new flat screen tv is above the mantle. DH thinks this is crazy - his reasons: that seems "too high" and "it is above a fire". It seems to be a popular place to put a flat screen. He wants to put it on a wall and to me that it just gonna take up wall space and limit our furniture placement.

Anybody else had this dilemma and where is your flat screen and how do you like where you put it?

 

[beck0321]

The cabin we rented in Tennessee had the flat screen on top the fireplace. We didn't use the fireplace since we went in the summer, but the fireplace is used in the winter apparently.

I would see how hot it gets around the wall and on the wall when the fireplace is on, but I would think it should be fine.

On the other hand, my parents have theirs mounted in this huge antique buffet type thing on the wall next to their fireplace and that looks really nice as well. And it has a lot of storage so it isn't wasting space.

 

[Colleen27]

We have ours over the fireplace and love it. The height is perfect for the room (10' ceilings with the sofas set quite a ways back) and because of the way we installed our fireplace, it doesn't get too hot there at all. I really like having the TV over the fireplace because then they aren't competing focal points and I'm not stuck trying to arrange the furniture to face both.

 

[karibritt01]

I'm not big on it because I like the fireplace to look more "formal." We have a large mirror over ours with candles and family pics on the mantle. The TV we have on a side wall. BUT... our fireplace is directly opposite our foyer, and clearly the focal point when you walk in the front door, so I think a TV would be very out of place there.

 

[DrCavin]

Im not a fan of mounting them over a fireplace, it is too high normally. I don't like sitting far away from the TV, 6'-8' away from the set is perfect for me.

 

[barkley]

we have several neighbors who have their flat panel tv's above their gas fireplaces. honestly, the only one i am comfortable viewing is one where the neighbors paid quite a bit to get an electronicly controlled tilter on the tv (the rack that holds the tv actualy moves out from the wall and tilts the screen downward)-it's the only one i can watch without having to crane my neck up.

this said-i think this would only work well if the hearth was well below the screen, b/c with the tilting, if the fire was near it you might end up with the flames reflecting off the screen.


we bought a new flat panel about a year ago-and did the thing (can't remember the term for it) where a month or so into owning it a technician comes out and runs tests on the set to track and adjust the picture performance after the unit has been used and exposed to the different types of light and shadowing in the room in which it's placed (the set we got auto adjusts). the quality of our tv's picture is very good, but i have to wonder what affect might occur if it had to continualy adjust if it was over a fireplace and the gas flames were flickering (we have a gas fireplace in another room and there is kind of a natural "stuttering" of the light from the flames).

 

[Micca]

Probably too high, possibly too hot. I think the over-the-fireplace position is mostly popular in photos in magazines.

 

[bicker]

In our new house we have a gas log fireplace with a mantle. To me the logical place to put a new flat screen tv is above the mantle. DH thinks this is crazy - his reasons: that seems "too high" and "it is above a fire".

Your husband is correct. Televisions are made to be viewed at eye level, not lofted high into the air, so that you're essentially viewing the screen at an oblique angle. If you mount a television above the mantle, you'd have to angle it down about 15 degrees... it'll look like it is about to fall on you all the time.

It seems to be a popular place to put a flat screen.

Popular among decorators, perhaps, not people who watch television. If you want a television just for show, you don't need to pay for a good one -- you can get one of those boxes that look like a television, that they have in the furniture showroom.

He wants to put it on a wall and to me that it just gonna take up wall space and limit our furniture placement.

The question you need to ask yourself is whether or not you want to make this room, in part, about watching television. If not, then find another room for the television.

 

[moburg]

It works for us. We have a ventless gas fireplace, and the TV sits on the shelf above it. Heat is not an issue. Its the best (really only) place for us to put the TV.

 

[bicker]

Dr. Calvin alluded to another consideration. If you loft the television above the mantle, that puts it even further away from your eyes, so you're essentially wasting some of the money you paid for the television because you'd need a larger television to get the same quality viewing experience that way: http://hdguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/hdtv_distance_chart.pdf

 

[SpecialK]

My BIL mounted his tv over the fireplace and I find it very uncomfortable. Always having to look up puts a strain on your neck and eyes.

 

[Antonia]

Well, we bought the tv tonight, but we have not mounted anywhere as of yet. Right now it is on its stand sitting atop a swivel tv cabinet.

Still undecided about exactly where we are putting it. I am taking all your advice into consideration. And, yes, it is definitely a room for watching television.

 

[MouseJunkie]

I have this very problem right now. I can add a shelf above the fire place and put the tv on that or find a corner tv stand. I'm still debating. So, right now my tv is sitting on a crate and a board. Now that's decorating skills at their finest. ha ha

Truthfully, I'd really like to put it on a shelf above the fp. I'll decide one day or else I'll just have to learn to live with my decorative crate.

 

[Buckalew11]

We built & moved in last October and mounted the TV above the fireplace. I have 8' ceilings so not a massive FP or anything. A concern of min was it being too high but nope, it is perfect! No craning your neck at all. We also mounted the bedroom TV.

FP heat is not a problem. Ours is ventless gas logs. Just make sure that the mantle comes out far enough so the bottom will not get hot.

 

[sunshine girl]

Your husband is correct. Televisions are made to be viewed at eye level, not lofted high into the air, so that you're essentially viewing the screen at an oblique angle. If you mount a television above the mantle, you'd have to angle it down about 15 degrees... it'll look like it is about to fall on you all the time.

Popular among decorators, perhaps, not people who watch television. If you want a television just for show, you don't need to pay for a good one -- you can get one of those boxes that look like a television, that they have in the furniture showroom.

The question you need to ask yourself is whether or not you want to make this room, in part, about watching television. If not, then find another room for the television.

The above sounds right to me based on my experience and what I've heard.

For what it's worth, I saw a doctor on one of the morning shows who said that you should put a TV at eye level -- you should not have to look up (angle your neck upwards) at all to see it, to avoid long-term cumulative stress on the neck area. Even if you angle the tv downward, you'll have to angle your neck upward to see it if it's above the fireplace.

 

[MzDiz]

You're going to want to think about wires too, where to run them, where to hide them, etc. Also, if you mount if relatively flush, you're going to end up kinking some of the cords in back, and you don't want to do that.

Since this is what I do for a living, and I see these set ups all the time, I can tell you from experience that it rarely ends up looking like it does in the decorator magazines. I can almost guarantee that you'll end up saying "darn, didn't think of *that*" at least twice.

 

[DisneyDayTripper]

I've heard some individuals complain that when they mounted their LCD tv above the fireplace that the angle causes the TV to be very dark. DW and I noticed this on the LCD TV in our bedroom because we had it sitting on a dresser and our bed was very low because we hadn't set our bed up yet when we moved. Like everyone else has said you'll want to make sure you have room enough to sit decently far back from the TV.

 

[bicker]

For what it's worth, I saw a doctor on one of the morning shows who said that you should put a TV at eye level -- you should not have to look up (angle your neck upwards) at all to see it, to avoid long-term cumulative stress on the neck area. Even if you angle the tv downward, you'll have to angle your neck upward to see it if it's above the fireplace.

To be fair, if you do loft the television up into the air, and angle it down at the proper angle, you could overcome the orthopedic danger by buying recliners that recline all the way back, and watch television that way. A lot of people, though, feel strange essentially lying down while watching television.

 

[Antonia]

So I am pretty sure we are going for a wall mount more at eye level. The main deciding factor for me is thinking of my little grandson's neck having to strain to look up that high!!!

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Our TV is mounted above the fire place. It is a 46" LCD tv. We have a stone fire place. The stone goes to the ceiling. Our room is very large, and the sofa is a good distance from the tv. Our ceiling is 16 feet at the center, and a little lower by the wall where the tv is. The bottom of our tv is about 5 ft up. Our sofa is far enough away that I don't crane my neck at all to watch tv. Its perfect. I don't think it is too far away either. I don't recline to watch tv. The screen doesn't seem dark at all.

Our fireplace is wood burning, and it doesn't get too hot. The stone is thick. The only thing I worry about is some smoke coming out and getting on the TV, but it hasn't happened after 2 winters so I'm not worried about it now. The cords are another issue, but we have them hidden pretty good.

I was so happy when we did this. It really opened our room up, and looks great. We used to have the tv on the wall opposite the fire place. So our room never felt right to me. It felt like it had 2 focal points. I wanted the fireplace to be the focal point, but DH wanted the tv. I would rather not have a tv in the living room at all, and just keep it in the basement. This is our compromise. I would never go back to the way we had it before.