Here's my dilemma--my 42 inch just died and I have to get a new one. My wife who is an interior structural designer designed a wall unit (custom wood) 5 years ago with a 42 inch screen in mind and there is a square cutout for it. A 50 inch won't fit. So I can get a carpenter to re-do that (probably will be expensive) or just put another 42 inch in there. I see a guide like this:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/259608.html

that says 5 to 15 feet for a 42 inch but other say at 10 to 12 feet, 50 inch is the ideal size.

Does it make THAT much of a difference?

Yes it does. At 12ft you could go with a 60in and it would be perfect. 50in is small at that distance but will work.

With more +50 displays available, that would be my choice at any distance over 10ft. 55", 58", 60" 63", 65".

Whatever you get, if you rebuild the entertainment center make it big enough for 60".

Whatever you get, if you rebuild the entertainment center make it big enough for 60".

Good idea. I think the easiest thing is to fill in the space with a wood insert of some type to bring the panel flush with the wall rather than recessed. See the picture. The insert is 45 x 30. It would be difficult to cut it larger and keep it consistent with the design. Any ideas would be welcomed.

Here's my dilemma--my 42 inch just died and I have to get a new one. My wife who is an interior structural designer designed a wall unit (custom wood) 5 years ago with a 42 inch screen in mind and there is a square cutout for it. A 50 inch won't fit. So I can get a carpenter to re-do that (probably will be expensive) or just put another 42 inch in there. I see a guide like this:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/259608.html

that says 5 to 15 feet for a 42 inch but other say at 10 to 12 feet, 50 inch is the ideal size.

Does it make THAT much of a difference?

If you enjoyed your 42" why not just drop in another? If you're going to start reconstructing, why not 60" as mentioned?

Wouldn't an articulating mount be the perfect solution for this entertainment center? Wouldn't need to modify anything and could hang a tv of your choice (if you can find a strong enough mount).

If you enjoyed your 42" why not just drop in another? If you're going to start reconstructing, why not 60" as mentioned?

Well, it was fine, but I always felt like if it were just a little bigger it would be perfect. I found an articulating Plasma mount on E-bay which may be the answer at least in the interim--that allows you to mount the Plasma away from the wall some so I could have it come out just enough to clear the sides of the present indent for the 42 inch.

Wouldn't an articulating mount be the perfect solution for this entertainment center? Wouldn't need to modify anything and could hang a tv of your choice (if you can find a strong enough mount).

LOL--you posted the same time I was posting--read my last post! ;)

Any suggestions on articulating mounts?

Even if you do not find an articulating mount that will handle the weight, block out a regular mount with spacers. You will never see them back there anyway.

Gorgeous wall by the way.

anything from chief. i have done many of these without ever having any sag.

Yes it does. At 12ft you could go with a 60in and it would be perfect. 50in is small at that distance but will work.

It's not small, but I would say at 10-12" it would be the minimum size I would go wtih.

At that distance a 50 incher would be a waste of money,, REALLY !!!!!!!

Plasma's shrink very very fast.

If you get anything under 58 inches your will regret it much sooner than you think.

Davyo

If you have the budget definitely go 58-60", I view 57" from 8.5' and plan to move up to 65-70" in the future - provided that you'll maximize HD Source Content like I do with both HD DVD and BD and 90% HD Channel viewing.

Went up from a 45" and the impact was significant and positively rewarding. The screen shrinks to your eyes within about a week but forget about a 42" from that distance - that is small and the darned things are so inexpensive today I don't understand why more people even consider a 42" unless it's for a very small room or even a 50". My SD comes in pretty good on the 57" BTW also. If your going for HT immersion go large if your budget can accomodate it. :)

Any suggestions on articulating mounts?

Omnimount UCLL or UCLX. We use these on all our installs. (Tweeter). Very well built articulating brackets. The UCLX for anything (mostly) above 42", it's a a work of art and a helluva well built bracket.


http://omnimount.com/consumer/product.aspx?ProductId=1cb677fc-879d-40ce-a1c9-cde15c17b785&CurrentId=1.4.3.3

Just want to throw something in on the 50 v 58 considerations.... I went with the 50 knowing in 1-3 years I'll buy another when prices have dropped and move the 50 to another room.

For the price delta between 50" and 58 "top of the line" models, and all the competition in this market, next time around I'm betting 70" 5200p models will be around $2000. Or maybe even holographic projectors :D I'm just making sure my mount is strong enough to hold almost anything so I'm buying a Premier AM3-B (as soon as I can find a good price on 1 in black)

at 12-15 , 42 is too small. trust me - i made that mistake.

Funny--I showed my wife this thread and she says that all "us" men equate these screens with out penises, LOL--she refuses to allow me to get anything bigger than 50 inches!!! :D

To reiterate what Steve said, the price of the 58 or 60 inchers is very high compared to 50. In 3 or 4 years, I'll move the 50 to the bedroom and get a bigger one and have two for not much more than I'd have to pay for 60 right now.

Omnimount UCLL or UCLX. We use these on all our installs. (Tweeter). Very well built articulating brackets. The UCLX for anything (mostly) above 42", it's a a work of art and a helluva well built bracket.


http://omnimount.com/consumer/product.aspx?ProductId=1cb677fc-879d-40ce-a1c9-cde15c17b785&CurrentId=1.4.3.3

Thanks, I'll check them out.

Whatever size you choose, you may want to consider giving up some aesthetics for proper ventilation. You may be reducing the life of the display - especially hot running plasmas - if it's vents are blocked or somewhat restricted in the wall recess.

On a side note, I'm thinking of the Panny TH-50PH9UK because right now Panasonic if offering a 5 year warranty through 6/30/07 on their professional models. They have them at a great price at NewEgg. They also have the TH58PX60U at a very good price, but no 5 year warranty.

I'm a bit gunshy because I spent over $3,000 for a FUJI 4 years ago and it just burned a Main Power Controller Board (it still works fine but it will randomly turn off between every 10 minutes and a few hours. The part is $500 alone so its not worth fixing. I'll probably sell it on E-Bay for Parts, unless one of you has a better idea.

Whatever size you choose, you may want to consider giving up some aesthetics for proper ventilation. You may be reducing the life of the display - especially hot running plasmas - if it's vents are blocked or somewhat restricted in the wall recess.

I thought about that to--the articulating mount will bring the screen closer and provide much better ventilation.

Omnimount UCLL or UCLX. We use these on all our installs. (Tweeter). Very well built articulating brackets. The UCLX for anything (mostly) above 42", it's a a work of art and a helluva well built bracket.


http://omnimount.com/consumer/product.aspx?ProductId=1cb677fc-879d-40ce-a1c9-cde15c17b785&CurrentId=1.4.3.3

That's nice, but kind of expensive--I really just need something that will move the Plasma out from the wall--they have some for $70 on E-bay from Imount that articulate.

Any suggestions on articulating mounts?
Start with companies, such as Peerless, Omnimount, Chief, Sanus, and Premier Mounts. This will give you a great start and idea of which articulating mounts that you like. However, my choices would be the:

#1. Premier Mounts AM3
#2. Chief iC IC-LP-FA2

These would be my first two choices...

Now as far as distance, most of the guys here had some great suggestions. From 10 to 12 feet a 50" would be more than plenty. Anything from 12 to 15 feet you may want to consider bigger.

Chris
MountAVision.com

Well, it was fine, but I always felt like if it were just a little bigger it would be perfect. I found an articulating Plasma mount on E-bay which may be the answer at least in the interim--that allows you to mount the Plasma away from the wall some so I could have it come out just enough to clear the sides of the present indent for the 42 inch.
A 50" TV will be much bigger than a 42" TV; it will be 41.7% bigger when showing 16:9 programs.

[QUOTE=cmulder]Funny--I showed my wife this thread and she says that all "us" men equate these screens with out penises, LOL--she refuses to allow me to get anything bigger than 50 inches!!! :D

Your wife likes small penises????

Your wife likes small penises????

No--she wouldn't have married me if that were the case!!! ;)

A 50" TV will be much bigger than a 42" TV; it will be 41.7% bigger when showing 16:9 programs.

I'll bite on this--by my math, its about 19% bigger--how does it jump to 41.7% bigger on 16:9 programs? Which is basically all of them for me because I watch just about everything in 16:9. Or do you mean only those programs formatted for that size such as the High Def channels?

It's not small, but I would say at 10-12" it would be the minimum size I would go wtih.

Agreed. I just moved up from a 42" to a 58" at 11 feet. The 42" was sufficient, but the 58" is perfect. I highly recommend a 1080p display, even at this size/distance.

I'll bite on this--by my math, its about 19% bigger--how does it jump to 41.7% bigger on 16:9 programs? Which is basically all of them for me because I watch just about everything in 16:9. Or do you mean only those programs formatted for that size such as the High Def channels?

The outer dimensions of the display are only 19% bigger...

However the AREA of the display is

1.19 * 1.19 = 1.41

I'll bite on this--by my math, its about 19% bigger--how does it jump to 41.7% bigger on 16:9 programs? Which is basically all of them for me because I watch just about everything in 16:9. Or do you mean only those programs formatted for that size such as the High Def channels?

The DIAGONAL size is only about 19% bigger (50 vs. 42), but the viewing area is a rectangle. Bust out some pythagorean theorem, figure out the areas of a rectangle that has sides in a 16:9 ratio and a diagonal of 42" vs. 50".

42" diagonal = 36.6" wide x 20.6" tall = 753.8 sq. feet

50" diagonal = 42.6" wide x 24.5" tall = 1068.2 sq. feet

1068.2 divided by 753.8 = 1.417 = 141.7%, or 41.7% larger

No--she wouldn't have married me if that were the case!!! ;)

Since you give her somthing big it seems unfair that she will only let you have something small.

You should really try to get the wify to re-think the larger than 50 inch size.

As you say you will want to up-grade to a bigger size which will happen much much faster than you think, you might remind your wife that if you get a 58 incher now you will not need to up-grade size anytime soon.
Henceforth you will save money.

A Panasonic 58 inch plasma can be had for a very cheap price these days, not that much more than a 50 incher.

Myself and Im sure many others on this forum cant stress to you enough how much and how fast a 50 inch plasma is going to shrink after you buy it.

We have all been there.

I started out with a 42" then went to a 46" then a 50" and now have a 60" Pioneer.
All those plasma's shrunk very very very fast except for the current 60 incher.

Davyo

The DIAGONAL size is only about 19% bigger (50 vs. 42), but the viewing area is a rectangle. Bust out some pythagorean theorem, figure out the areas of a rectangle that has sides in a 16:9 ratio and a diagonal of 42" vs. 50".

42" diagonal = 36.6" wide x 20.6" tall = 753.8 sq. feet

50" diagonal = 42.6" wide x 24.5" tall = 1068.2 sq. feet

1068.2 divided by 753.8 = 1.417 = 141.7%, or 41.7% larger

That's bigger than most city apartments!

A Panasonic 58 inch plasma can be had for a very cheap price these days, not that much more than a 50 incher.

Which 58 inch model can be had cheap and where? I want a good high quality model.

The problem also is that Panasonic is offering a 5-year warranty on the the Professional Plasmas FREE to June 30, which is damn hard to beat.

I'll bite on this--by my math, its about 19% bigger--how does it jump to 41.7% bigger on 16:9 programs? Which is basically all of them for me because I watch just about everything in 16:9. Or do you mean only those programs formatted for that size such as the High Def channels?
The diagonal length is 19% more, however, the sq. inches are always much more with any of the common aspect ratios used, usually ~2x the diagonal difference, in this case, they all yield a 41.4 - 42% difference.

I didn't calculate it myself, I used the commonly posted screen calculator site:

http://www.cavecreations.com/tv2.cgi

That's bigger than most city apartments!

Ha! Don't you know when you multiply inches by inches you get square feet? :o

The problem also is that Panasonic is offering a 5-year warranty on the the Professional Plasmas FREE to June 30, which is damn hard to beat.

cmulder, if you're going to get the Pro model, just be aware of all the compromises involved in this set, such as lack of tuner, limited inputs, and no stand/mount included. Depending how you want to hook it up, it may be a good choice, but you should definitely price out the extra features you may need (i.e. HDMI board) before deciding to go that route.

cmulder, if you're going to get the Pro model, just be aware of all the compromises involved in this set, such as lack of tuner, limited inputs, and no stand/mount included. Depending how you want to hook it up, it may be a good choice, but you should definitely price out the extra features you may need (i.e. HDMI board) before deciding to go that route.

The HDMI board is the only thing I'd need. I have surround sound and Cox HDTV tuner so I don't need that.

Ha! Don't you know when you multiply inches by inches you get square feet? :o




Jus' havin' sum fun at ya... :D