Need advice on mounting new 46" LCD

Hi all,

Thanks in advance for any advice/help. I have just purchased a Samsung 46" Series 6 TV, and am struggling with myself on where (and how) to install it.

It will be going into our family room, which is only 13' x 13'. The "front" wall has a fireplace with bookcase/shelving on both sides. (Our current very old TV is on a pull-out "shelf" on the right side of the fireplace). The "wall" on the left side of the room is really a railing next to stairs going down to the lower level. The wall on the right side of the room is an outside wall, with a large window. The back of the room is really open, into the kitchen and "sun room".

My primary location for the new HDTV is above the fireplace, but I have a couple of concerns. First, the fireplace (which is gas fired and rarely used) has a mantle, and then a wooden panel set back about 12" from the front of the fireplace--which goes across the width of the fireplace, and from the top of the mantle to the ceiling. There is dead space of about 18" behind this wooden panel before hitting the real wall. This panel is 3/4" finished plywood, and there are no studs behind it. The mantle is about 5 feet off the floor, which means the TV would be at about 63-64" off the floor.


My concerns for this location are two-fold:

1. Will the TV be too high for comfortable viewing? I will mount it with a tilt mount--and the sales guys at all the big-box stores say above fireplace mounting is not a problem with the tilts. Yet, I read that the ideal height is, of course, eye level at the center of the screen. Considering the room is small, some of the seating will be only about 6 feet from the fireplace wall. Will this work?
2. I've talked with the people that built the fireplace, and they think the 3/4 plywood should be strong enough to hold the TV and the mount. It would be a huge problem to try to get behind the panel to install studs. Looking at the various mounts, it seems the load could be distributed by installing many (8 or 10) screws holding the mount to the wood. I would like alternate wood screws with toggle bolts. Any thoughts on whether this would be adequate. The set weighs about 50 pounds.

Another alternative would be to mount the TV as above, but find an articulating mount that would allow the TV to be lowered as well as tilted. While that sounds like the solution, so far I have not been able to find any mount that will do this (I can find mounts for computer monitors up to 12 pounds). Is anyone aware of a mounting bracket that allows both side-to-side adjustment, as well as up-down adjustment?

Yet another alternative would be to mount the new TV basically where the old CRT TV was. It would angle from the edge of the brick on the fireplace to the right wall. It would "just" fit before bumping into the window on that wall. I'd need an articulating mount with at least a 22" reach to make this work. This is the worst solution relative to the number of good locations in the room to watch the TV.

Lastly would be rearranging the room so the TV would be on a floor stand, in front of the railing. We'd lose seating, and the TV would be facing a south window (which does have shades and drapes).

Any advice; the TV will arrive next week, and I'll likely try it in each of the locations before drilling lots of holes and managing wires.

Again, thanks in advance for any advice/help. If it would be useful, I will try to post a picture of the room.

Denny

Thanks for the suggestions. I just got called from the shipping company--the TV will arrive on Tuesday! I will shoot some pictures and post them (if I can figure out how) tomorrow. I don't plan to install until I check the unit out and get a sense of the size relative to the room.

Again, thanks for the help. I'll be back . . .

Denny

Hi again,

Mike, thanks for the great idea. I was thinking I wanted to keep the plywood panel intact as much as possible for strength, but the studs would spread the load, as well as providing a good anchor for the bracket. And access for the wiring would be a great plus.

Here are the pictures of the room and the various options. The furniture in the room in the photos is not in it's usual place--wife and I were moving it around to see what might work for the TV.

Picture Room 1 is the family room, as viewed from the main access point, a hall--more about that in a moment. Note the fireplace was built into the room after the home was built. The existing very old CRT TV is in the right corner, behind the solid doors, on a pull-out swivel tray. The length of the hypotenuse of the triangle from the fireplace edge to the drape edge is about 45"--so the TV could fit there on an articulating bracket. But there would be few good viewing locations in the room with that option.

Picture Room 2 is a view from the other far end of the room. Here you can see the wooden railing to the stairs going down. One good options--which sounds like what Mike did, would be to put the TV on a stand in front of the railing. We'd have to get some new furniture, since the stuff we have is too large. This would give several good viewing options (with a 2 or 3 person couch along the window, and a recliner/swivel chair where the back of the couch shows in this photo.

Note that where the flooring changes from carpet to wood is basically an artificial boundary to the room. It is the end of the railing, but going further behind the red couch is the kitchen, and a sun room. (BTW, wife caught the 220 lb yellowfin that's on the wall!!)

Picture Room 3 is the view from in the family room, out toward kitchen and sun room. Note that the couch was not normally where it is in this photo, and that is (was?) an open area.

Picture Room 5 Fireplace is a close up of the other option--placing the TV on a tilt bracket on the plywood panel. Note that there is dead space behind the panel and before the house's wall.

Not showing well here is an angular wall, that runs runs "behind" the kitchen and creates a hallway to the steps and the family room. This prevents any furniture of being placed toward the kitchen by the railing. (Just means we could not put anything that would go beyond the railing and still have adequate access to the kitchen).

We have the TV up and running. I'm having some problems with the SD channels (see other posts), but my plan is to just set it on the mantel above the fireplace in a day or two (once I finish testing inputs and all), just to see if the height would be an issue. Wouldn't be able to tilt it, but the mantle is just wide enough to support the base. Then, if it works as far as viewing and not having a stiff neck, get to work and install the bracket. If it doesn't work, back to plan B--whatever that might be!

Thanks again for the ideas, and looking for any other suggestions.

Denny