Just bought a home (built circa 1991), did some basic improvements prior to moving in (carpet, paint) and am now looking to figure out how to get set up for the football season ahead! Up until now, I've been a bit of a caveman -- sticking with an old SD CRT (which I just ditched). I'm now looking to join the world of HDTV and mounting whichever one I choose over the fireplace seems like the best bet for my family room area.
If you reference the attached picture you'll see my current setup. Mantle itself is about seven feet wide with the total area between the edge of the mantle and the wall behind it being about 8 feet. There is a single coax run and power above the mantle. The coax terminates at the circled area to the right.
It's about 10 feet from the front of the fireplace to the couch where I'll typically be watching TV.
I obviously have a couple of problems to solve:
Cables for TV - I really don't think the single coax run will be of much use to me. I either need to try and pull HDMI plus Cat6 through the existing hole by taping to the coax, or go with some sort of HDMI to Coax converter (would that even work with only one coax cable though?). Other option would be some sort of wireless solution, but I'm not sure what I sacrifice quality-wise there if anything. Other options to consider is if I want to try doing this (depending on the difficulty of fishing the wire) or pay someone to just open the wall up and get a nice setup done. Looking for thoughts from those of you out there who have tackled mounting a TV above your mantel in an older home. I'd like for all this to look neat and tidy and be easy to work with. I didn't yet mention that I'll be doing DirecTV.
Which TV? - I haven't done a ton of research, but am leaning towards the Sony Bravia XBF-55HX929. Expensive, so perhaps there is something "close" for a bit less? For other rooms in the house I'm looking for 32-34" TV's and don't need anything super high quality. Just a way to watch a game or news from another room. Thinking LG or something.
Mounting - I have not yet checked with a stud-finder above my fireplace, so am not sure how challenging it will be to get the TV mounted. This may be something I get someone to do for me, but not sure who even to ask? Guess an A/V store, but perhaps even an electrician or carpenter could do the trick.
Speaker Issues - I am storing the speakers I have for a friend who doesn't have space for them in his condo (nor neighbors who would tolerate). They are pretty huge (including a giant sub), so one option would be to downsize. I obviously would have to move the center speaker down to the floor level if I were to stick with the current speakers.
I actually also need to check that my Denon receiver (also my friend's) handles HDMI in. I don't think it does, so I'd need some other way to get audio from the TV into the receiver (perhaps a converter or another type of cable I'd have to fish behind the wall).
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
family_room.jpg 356k .jpg file
Edited by rayvd - 9/5/12 at 8:11am
If you reference the attached picture you'll see my current setup. Mantle itself is about seven feet wide with the total area between the edge of the mantle and the wall behind it being about 8 feet. There is a single coax run and power above the mantle. The coax terminates at the circled area to the right.
It's about 10 feet from the front of the fireplace to the couch where I'll typically be watching TV.
I obviously have a couple of problems to solve:
Cables for TV - I really don't think the single coax run will be of much use to me. I either need to try and pull HDMI plus Cat6 through the existing hole by taping to the coax, or go with some sort of HDMI to Coax converter (would that even work with only one coax cable though?). Other option would be some sort of wireless solution, but I'm not sure what I sacrifice quality-wise there if anything. Other options to consider is if I want to try doing this (depending on the difficulty of fishing the wire) or pay someone to just open the wall up and get a nice setup done. Looking for thoughts from those of you out there who have tackled mounting a TV above your mantel in an older home. I'd like for all this to look neat and tidy and be easy to work with. I didn't yet mention that I'll be doing DirecTV.
Which TV? - I haven't done a ton of research, but am leaning towards the Sony Bravia XBF-55HX929. Expensive, so perhaps there is something "close" for a bit less? For other rooms in the house I'm looking for 32-34" TV's and don't need anything super high quality. Just a way to watch a game or news from another room. Thinking LG or something.
Mounting - I have not yet checked with a stud-finder above my fireplace, so am not sure how challenging it will be to get the TV mounted. This may be something I get someone to do for me, but not sure who even to ask? Guess an A/V store, but perhaps even an electrician or carpenter could do the trick.
Speaker Issues - I am storing the speakers I have for a friend who doesn't have space for them in his condo (nor neighbors who would tolerate). They are pretty huge (including a giant sub), so one option would be to downsize. I obviously would have to move the center speaker down to the floor level if I were to stick with the current speakers.
I actually also need to check that my Denon receiver (also my friend's) handles HDMI in. I don't think it does, so I'd need some other way to get audio from the TV into the receiver (perhaps a converter or another type of cable I'd have to fish behind the wall).
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
family_room.jpg 356k .jpg file
Edited by rayvd - 9/5/12 at 8:11am
