Do not put a tv above a fireplace. Do not put a tv beside a fireplace. You want a tv in room? See where I am going? NO fireplace. What a waste of money. you can move a tv. You cannot move fireplace. I have a corner fireplace. Hate it.

This seems like an odd comment. Did you inherit the fireplace or did you build it? If I keep the fireplace I'll be replacing it with a very nice linear, contemporary unit that I will not hate.

When my room is done the TV will not be very movable. It will be integrated into the wall design and that will be that. And honestly, there really isn't anywhere else in the room to put the TV since there is only one contiguous wall. The only question is how high or low to put it.

That being said, I am willing to sacrifice the fireplace for the sake of the TV. The dilemma I have is if the TV is going to look silly if I mount it to the wall at the optimal height. If I do that a fireplace won't be an option.

Re: "That being said, I am willing to sacrifice the fireplace for the sake of the TV. " -- how often do you USE your TV. I barely use mine, and it is mostly for guests. I'd keep the fireplace. In cold weather, at least, I'd be USING it.

Oh wow, we are on totally opposite sides of the spectrum. My guess is that the fireplace will get nearly zero use. However, my TV is used daily. And typically for several hours a day. I won't miss the fireplace for one minute, as far as I'm concerned it's almost completely decorative.

uscpsycho,

I have an eight year old 60" Pioneer Elite PRO-150FD in the living room of my 42 year old home - arguably one of the best consumer displays under $10,000 ever made.

With the TV off it is a solid black appearing mass.

The bottom of my display is 26" above the floor. My wife and I used the cardboard that the set came in to simulate the TV screen while we determined the wall mount's final height.

We wanted the vertical center of the display to be slightly above our eye level while we were seated in our normal viewing positions.

My wife and I are aware that our display height is lower than most other folks, but we've never had a guest say that they were aware.

Props to you for a great TV and the smarts to properly mount it. The last generation of Panasonic plasma TV's surpassed Pioneer with all the bells and whistles that didn't exist when Pioneer was making plasmas. I also have a plasma that I will use for as long as I can because it's still better than anything I can buy today. So sad that the plasma era has ended. Too many consumers buying what the manufacturers want them to buy instead of what is truly best.

Anyway, I'd love it if you would be willing to share what the TV wall looks like with the TV mounted that low.

Thank you for sharing. Unfortunately, it's not directly applicable to my situation. Your TV looks fine on that narrow wall and it actually looks like it's more than 26" up. My TV is going to be in the center of a 16 foot wide wall. I'm afraid it's going to look very bottom-heavy & imbalanced if I put the TV at the correct height.

Also, I think it's great that a 73 year old retired Navy submariner is cruising the Houzz forums! :-)

Bottom of the Bezel is at 26" exactly. Bottom Bezel is 2 1/2" so your're correct, bottom of display panel is like 28 1/2" up... not 24".

Enlisted in the Navy at age 17 in 1960. Finished up Electronics Technician School - all Vacuum Tubes, no transistors or such. Congressman subsequently appointed me to Annapolis, graduated in 1965 with Roger Staubach of Dallas Football Fame. Admiral Rickover took me into his program. Lots of fun and lots of work - occasionally interrupted by moments of stark terror. :-)

Beat Army.

The optimum viewing hight is to have the height of your eyes land somewhere between the bottom of the image and the center. That being said, that's not practical for wall mounting in most situations as it looks out of place. This is where you have to find a happy medium. High enough to look right, but not too high so as you would have to crank your neck to watch it. It's going to depend largely on the height of your couch and the distance away you are sitting.

Er, thanks. lol

We have a 70" and we recessed it into the wall at just a couple inches above optimal viewing height It's a very clean look.

We have a more minimal aesthetic, though. I suppose if someone wants their TV surrounded by shelves and millwork and a fireplace, that will be a much more complicated design. If you see your TV as just integrated into a wall, I think it looks great.

Heres the only pic I have of our TV. This is what you see when you enter the room. To the right of frame are picture windows with a view that are the main attraction in the space,. By design, our TV is not on a focal wall.

I'm very reluctant to do what you did and recess the TV into the wall. It looks nice but what will you do when you replace the TV? It's unlikely that you will find another which is has those exact dimensions.

The mount is centered and the niche is about 8" greater in width and 8" greater in height than the present TV. When this tv is replaced, it won't bother us if the margins are not equal all the way around. The room is fairly small, so I don't think we'll want anything bigger.

the inspiration for the recess was my dislike seeing the sides of wall mounted tvs. I thought a protruding wall mount at appropriate height would look strange. The recess has done its job because guests walk in and don't notice the tv until they sit down. It didn't cost us anything extra in framing and if we change our minds someday it's easy to frame in and drywall.