I don't think the placement of the fireplace is good, so I suggest dismantling it completely and placing the TV normally in the center of the wall. Then proceed from your needs: if in principle the presence of a fireplace is necessary for you, then find another place for it. A TV above the fireplace is not the best solution, often forced, so you should try to avoid this.

It would be a good idea to show the rest of the room + a plan. This will help give you the best recommendations.

" Only used a couple times a year"

Glare from the window, can't go anywhere else due to furniture placement"

You don't know that, and we certainly do not.

Take pictures all angles of the space, stand at the fire......

Add a MEASURED drawing showing this room and the foreground, with all feet and inches for walls windows, openings etc.

I would get rid of it completely. Our SoCal house had 4 fireplaces we never used. When I built in FL I did not design a fireplace in the living area. I don't see a black box, that gets lit up once or twice per year, as a needed design element.

Glare from the window - yes I do know that because we tried on the wall opposite the windows that face west. We are also dealing with a large section couch that we are not ready to replace at this time.

We'd like to keep the fireplace as this is the main entertaining space. Relocate it? We're not looking for a major construction job just to move the fireplace..

The back of the room opposite the fireplace wall opens to the kitchen, and from the kitchen then we are able to view the TV.

I know TV above the fireplace is not optimal, but it's what we have to work with.

IF we did eliminate the fireplace, what could we do with that wall besides the TV?

remove the existing framing flush to the wall... a linear can mount on a flat wall, no build out necessary.

TV above if low enough

I prefer a slighting smaller screen over the linear FP.

There may be some restrictions on not having the TV and the fireplace in the same plain without a barrier. You could recess for the TV and the sound bar if you have one would make sense on the wall.

Building out around the FP box is another option that can be a handsome solution.

There are wall mounted cabinets with FP mounted inside that are also options.

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions.

We considered doing a 50" linear which would fit in the existing framing, but after seeing a mockup of it with our 65" Tv it just didn't look right - too top heavy, even with facing around the fireplace and a wider mantel. Going wider really isn't an option because we don't want to extend framing into the room. Slim models are more fake looking. So I think we're just going to eliminate the fireplace completely. Some cost to tear it out, patch the wall, etc,. but still much cheaper than replacing with another fireplace. And if we end up really missing it we can do something later.

Great end decision. We messed up our fireplace and the tv is wonder and I despise it. 100% our error.