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Popular Flat-Panel TV Models

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How to Wall-Mount a Flat-Panel TV

How to Choose the Right TV for Your Home

When choosing a specific flat-panel TV, it’s important to keep in mind the space in your home where the TV will be placed. The TV’s surroundings can influence the size and design of the TV that you choose.

Viewing Distance

Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to flat-panel TVs. Rather than set your sights on the largest TV in the store, take into consideration the size of the space that the TV will occupy in your home—which will directly affect your desired viewing distance. The larger the screen, the farther away you’ll need to sit for optimal picture quality.

If you sit too close to the screen, you may see minor imperfections or focus on individual pixels rather than the larger picture.
If you sit too far away from the screen, you’re not taking advantage of the amazing detail that makes flat-panel TVs so spectacular.

Manufacturer recommendations vary, and there’s no measuring personal preference. But the general rule of thumb is to multiply the screen’s diagonal measurement by 1.5 to 3 or so, and then sit that far away. For example, if you have a 42" TV, you should sit 63–126" (5.3–10.5') away from it. Use the following tables to determine the best viewing distance and screen size for your space.

Standard Screen Viewing Distances

4:3 TV Diagonal Screen Size (inches)	Minimum Viewing Distance (feet)	Maximum Viewing Distance (feet)
13"	2.6'	5.2'
19"	3.8'	7.6'
20"	4'	8'
24"	4.8'	9.6'
27"	5.4'	10.8'
32"	6.4'	12.8'
36"	7.2'	14.8'
40"	8'	16'

Widescreen Viewing Distances

16:9 TV Diagonal Screen Size (inches)	Minimum Viewing Distance (feet)	Maximum Viewing Distance (feet)
26"	3.3'	6.5'
30"	3.8'	7.6'
34"	4.3'	8.5'
42"	5.3'	10.5'
47"	5.9'	11.8'
50"	6.3'	12.5'
55"	6.9'	12.8'
60"	7.5'	15'
65"	8.1'	16.2'

Height

When deciding how high to place your TV, figure that the middle of the screen should be at eye level when you’re seated.

Other Placement Considerations

Whether you set your TV on a piece of furniture or hang it on the wall, there are a few considerations to keep in mind:

Place the TV so that most of the seating in the room faces it head-on. Otherwise, people will be straining their necks for a view. Swivel chairs are ideal, or you can place a few chairs on castors for flexibility.
To minimize glare and make sure that the picture doesn’t look washed out, avoid placing the TV in the path of direct sunlight or artificial light sources.
Consider where your electrical outlets are and how many you’ll need.
Locate the TV away from areas prone to moisture, dust, and debris.

How to Design Around the TV

There are two ways to decorate around your TV: either hide the TV or accentuate it.

How to Hide the TV

If you’d like the TV to blend into your room rather than act as a focal point, consider one or more of the following camouflaging techniques.

Paint

Get the TV to blend into the background by painting the wall behind it just a shade lighter or darker than the TV casing itself. If you have a black-framed TV, for example, you can paint the wall charcoal or eggplant. For a silver-framed TV, a light blue or pale gray paint would work well. The color you choose should also depend on the tones of the furniture and other accents in the room.

Frames

Placing a wall-mounted TV within a picture frame is a great way to soften its effect and help it to sync with your decor. Pottery Barn’s Chadwick Flat-Panel TV Frame® fits most 37", 42" and 50" flat-panels. It comes in a deep espresso stain and costs $399–599. See www.potterybarn.com.

Mirrors

You can take a sneaky approach to hiding your flat-panel TV by hanging it behind a specially coated mirror that seems to disappear when the TV is turned on. Media Decor’s Media-Mirror® accommodates TVs up to 60" wide and 30" high and comes in various frame styles. See www.mediadecor.com.

DVDs

If you don’t want to stare at a big black box when the TV is turned off, pop in a DVD that displays various screen saver–like images on your screen. Choose from impressionist paintings, NASA space shots, or tropical island vignettes. You can even turn your TV into a wood-burning fireplace, waterfall, or ocean. Plasma Window’s Plasmaquarium® DVD transforms your screen into a virtual aquarium that loops through nine designs, from freshwater fish to sharks. See www.plasmawindow.com. Vat 19’s Ambient® DVDs include Ambient Calm, with 14 soothing visuals, such as passing clouds and fluttering butterflies, and Ambient Party, featuring 19 colorful images and eight original music tracks. See www.vat19.com.

Artwork

Another option is to make your TV look like a painting, placing it behind a piece of canvas (imprinted with a decorative image) that rolls up like a blind into a frame when you press a button on a remote. VisionArt® by Solar Shading Systems allows you to choose among various photographs and fine art prints, plus picture frames of numerous styles and finishes. See www.solarshadingsystems.com.

Lift Consoles

Some manufacturers have created pieces of furniture designed to hide flat-panel TVs. Lift units, or pop-up units, house your TV within a console when it’s not in use. When you turn on the TV via remote, the TV rises up from the furniture. Hooker Furniture features consoles of various styles and finishes that can fit flat-panels up to 50" wide and 30" high. See www.hookerfurniture.com.

Entertainment Armoire

Just as you may have stashed your bulky old CRT TV in an armoire, you can conceal your flat-panel TV too. Look for units made specifically for widescreen TVs, and make sure to have about 2" of clearance on either side so that the TV receives proper ventilation. Try one from the Kathy Ireland Southampton Oyster Collection® at www.officefurniture.com.

How to Accentuate the TV

If you’d rather display your new flat-panel out in the open, try one of the following.

Mount the TV Over a Fireplace

A fireplace is often already the focal point of a room, so mounting a flat-panel TV above a fireplace draws quite a bit of attention to it. Depending on how high your fireplace is, though, when seated you may need to strain your neck to view the TV properly. To minimize this, consider investing in a TV tilt. These pieces of hardware connect to the back of the TV and allow you to tilt it down (or up) about 20° for more comfortable viewing.

Some fireplaces, especially wood-burning ones, may burn too hot for you to safely mount a TV above them. Over time, high heat shortens the lifespan of flat-panels: even though they have built-in cooling devices, they’ll be forced to work overtime to cool themselves off and will eventually wear down. To measure the heat in the area above your fireplace, build a fire and tape a thermometer in the spot where you’d like to place the flat-panel TV. Ideally, the temperature should remain below 90°F.

Cabinets, Consoles, and Credenzas

Furniture designed to hold flat-panel TVs runs the gamut from simple stands to full-featured consoles with built-in swivels. Design options range from sleek stainless steel for a contemporary look to wood with detailed molding for a traditional feel. Look for furniture made specifically for flat-panels; it will offer features that standard furniture may not. Bell’O’s PR-10C Cherry-Finish Wood Home Entertainment Cabinet, available at www.audiovideocomponents.com, accommodates most flat-panels up to 65" and hides six components behind dark-tinted glass cabinets that allow for remote-control operation. For smaller units, Bell’O’s Asian-styled PR-25 Real Wood Lattice Front Home Entertainment Cabinet holds TVs up to 44".