TV mounting on fire place above mantel- must haves

[cyhiphopp]

Here's a tip:

If you're running your HDMI and possibly your speaker cables through your wall, make sure you make the conduit big enough that you can rethread new cables through at some point.

We bought our house last January. The guy who owned it before us was some kind of stereo and entertainment nut. He wired it up pretty nicely, but the HDMI cable crapped out. The cables were so tight in the wall that I couldn't thread a new one though. Got caught about a quarter of the way in. So outside of ripping into the drywall to replace it, I'm screwed. The HDMI is just running down the wall and around the fireplace mantle.


I'm looking into a wireless HDMI transmitter. Some are as cheap as $150, but I'm worried about the picture going to crap. Might be worth it to not have that cable needed. Then you only have to worry about power to the TV.

 

[3GenClone]

Here's a tip:

If you're running your HDMI and possibly your speaker cables through your wall, make sure you make the conduit big enough that you can rethread new cables through at some point.

We bought our house last January. The guy who owned it before us was some kind of stereo and entertainment nut. He wired it up pretty nicely, but the HDMI cable crapped out. The cables were so tight in the wall that I couldn't thread a new one though. Got caught about a quarter of the way in. So outside of ripping into the drywall to replace it, I'm screwed. The HDMI is just running down the wall and around the fireplace mantle.


I'm looking into a wireless HDMI transmitter. Some are as cheap as $150, but I'm worried about the picture going to crap. Might be worth it to not have that cable needed. Then you only have to worry about power to the TV.

Look at HDMI extenders over CAT6. You can transmit 4K video over CAT6 up to 300ft, assuming you have the right extenders - but they can be pricey. You should be able to hack off the end of your HDMI and pull 1 or possibly even 2 CAT6 lines in it's place.

 

[DeereClone]

The other thing I don't like about mounting the tv over a fireplace is most times you are covering up one of the most expensive finishes in your house - the fireplace brick. Why spend money on the fireplace brick then cover most of it up? Just let the brick and fireplace be used like they were supposed to and be a good centerpiece of the living room, and put the TV somewhere else.

 

[Gorm]

Being an AV nut myself, I would never mount a TV that high that was my main TV. However, I understand why most people do it. Usually the fireplace is in the central location in most living rooms.

 

[0u812]

i put my 60" tv above my fireplace, but the brick/stone is below the juniper mantle. I had to remove some brick, do some drywall, and install hd lag bolts to secure the tilt mount. Works fine, and has enough room for a decent sized Klipsch center channel (dual 6.5" and horn) on the mantle.

I like it there, and its line of sight in my living room works quite well....wouldnt change that part at all. Routing the wiring, etc, yes should have been planned better. I have a sub, dish network box, and AV receiver just sitting next to the hearth....doesnt look the best, but not completely obvious or horrible either.

 

[ccruzen]

Not a huge fan of the above the fireplace mounting myself but recently I've seen these fireplace mounts that you can move the TV down to a comfortable viewing location when watching that seem intriguing to me.

 

[Stewo]

Not a huge fan of the above the fireplace mounting myself but recently I've seen these fireplace mounts that you can move the TV down to a comfortable viewing location when watching that seem intriguing to me.

That's awesome. I checked different prices on these things and wow. Some of those companies are proud of their product. $400-$600 for a t.v. mount is asinine.

 

[3GenClone]

That's awesome. I checked different prices on these things and wow. Some of those companies are proud of their product. $400-$600 for a t.v. mount is asinine.

Then you don't want to see what it costs in the commercial AV space.

 

[Stewo]

Then you don't want to see what it costs in the commercial AV space.

I can only imagine. My t.v. mount that extends out nearly 2' and swivels ~120 degrees each way cost $50 from Amazon and it works perfectly. I get that it's a new product/idea, but come on now.

 

[MNCYWX]

TV Mount, cables, other a/v stuff...

Monoprice.com

You're welcome.

 

[jkclone]

How close to the tv are you guys? You definitely want it tilted down but unless you are right in front of the tv it should be a good line of sight.

 

[NickTheGreat]

The viewing angle this is WAY overblown. I did these two AutoCad sketches for my room

Above FP




Now, if you're talking about proper height with eye level at 1/3 of the way down the set, then yes. But most people don't do that either. I'd rather look slightly upward than slightly downward. And I'm not a particularly optimistic fellow . . .

To the OP, whether you have a good place to put your components or not is the big question. Like a shelf or something off to the side. It doesn't really need to be all that close, necessarily.

 

[JY07]

I think it definitely depends on the house: When we had our house built we specifically went with a more modern low-height fireplace w/ a slim mantle so the TV would be at a normal height.

I think if you can run electrical for an outlet, and a tube to go from there to an area where you'd actually have your components (cable/satellite receiver, etc), you should be golden.

If you have the tube instead of running the specific wires (hdmi/cat#/etc), you can always fish the wires back out if something else comes along: a lot of the newer TVs are so thin you don't even connect anything to them, they just have a slim wire that connects to a hub where you plug everything in. So in that case you'd end up with just that hub wire in the tube.

 

[AgronAlum]

Currently building a house and we are putting in two outlets near the TV (wall) and the mantle where we plan on keeping our components and putting a box with conduit from the recessed mantle to the rear of the TV. Should be able to fish whatever connection we need through the conduit and not have wires hanging. We are also running ethernet from the basement where our router will be located to the back of the recessed mantle for a wired connection to the components.