TV wall mounts

I have a 42" plasma that I want to hang on the wall. I also have a 55" LCD that I want to hang as well.

Does anyone have a recomended wall mount? I have looked and costco and monoprice.

Monoprice has great prices but just not sure about the quality. The mount i saw at costco looks great but is pretty expensive compared to the ones at monoprice.

Anyone have recomendations? Pics would be cool to.

Thanks

I bought mine from Monoprice. It was the one with the big swing arm for a 42" Plasma. I mounted it on the wall and have it so it swings around the corner so I can watch it in the kitchen if I am cooking, otherwise it is in the TV room if that makes sense. I thought the units and prices at monoprice were a little suspect, but it's the exact same unit that they have for sale at Frye's Electronics and Sears.

I have 2 Omnimounts in my home. They work well are strong and designed well. Thicker guage metal than alot of the other ones. If you search around online you can find them for about 75-100. Much less than stores are selling them for.

I'm not sure what funtions you're looking for with your mount, but if you want a non-swivel mount, this is what I have. It's pretty cool cause if you need to, you can tilt the tv or even lift it off the mount to clean, or access the back of your tv. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90147936

I bought 2 at monoprice also. They are the exact same model except I bought the one with thicker aluminum arms for my 52" and the regular one for a 37". I think the thicker one was $7x, and still more than half the price of most stores. It is definetely more sturdy then the regular version. I've bought a lot of stuff from monoprice and they have never let me down.

I have a 50" plasma mounted to a fully articulating one from monoprice. it's a fairly heavy tv, but the mount holds it pretty well. However, as you pull the tv straight out from the wall, the arms aren't perfectly aligned so that it causes the tv to rotate a bit making it not perfectly level... it was very annoying and i actually had to compensate by pre-tilting the tv on the mount a bit so that when the tv's about 14" off the wall it's perfectly level. that was a PITA!!! However, we don't move the tv, the reason it's offsett is because it's mounted in a "nook" that's about 24" deep or so. On a related note, i put some lighting behind the tv that gently shines on the wall behind it giving it a cool effect that looks like the tv's just suspended in mid air...

I don't know if the off axis alignment issue would be any different if i had bought the mount from anyone else though... i'm sure they're all made in the same factory in china.

Perfect timing. I saw another thread that turned me on to Monoprice, so now that I am picking up my 32" for the bedroom tomorrow, I'm trying to decide. Monoprice seems to have the best deals and the customer reviews are pretty strong too for the mounts I'm looking at.

One: A surface mount tilter for $20.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...mat=4#feedback

Two: A recessed mount for $46. (they have larger ones too)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...mat=4#feedback

I'm going to see how tight I want the TV to hang over the mirror under it, so I'm going to decide which one to buy on Sunday. The recessed one would allow me to angle it towards the bathroom (reflecting in the mirror while I get ready in the AM) and turn to be seen down the hall when turned the other way. Both are a plus.

I'm now looking at media (plug) boxes. The recess would allow me to fish tape all my cords up the wall and hang them in the recessed area with some velcro or something. It has lots of holes! Pretty nice. However, I hate to have the electric do the same. I'll prolly put a box in next to the recessed mount here. Now, if I install a double box, for the surface mount unit, is there any issue in having a media/electrical box? Will there be any interference if I have the electric on one side and a HDMI and cable on the other?

Im looking for full motion.

These are the two I am interested in.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...S&Sp=C&topnav=

and this

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

I guess im just questioning the quality of the monoprice mounts. From the reviews they seem like they are good.

Dahmsy, The one you linked from monoprice is the model I have, and the costco one looks like the same exact thing. Don't waste you money at costco, if anything buy this beefier one from monoprice. This is the one I got for my 52". It is definitely more stable when moving it, but I do vey little of that anyways because a 52" is heavy as hell. I got the one you linked for my 37" and it does just fine, and I move that one a lot.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

I ordered everything last night for my install this weekend from Monoprice. I bought the surface mount tilter, a 15' RCA, HDMI, & VGA w/audio cords, a wall mount recessed receptable with audio and video outlet (for behind the TV on the wall) and a audio and video outlet (for shelf or floor level for cords) to connect the computer/dvd player to and some velco ties to keep everything nice and organized. All for $77 shipped. I'll post the install pics when I'm done - It'll be nothing fancy though.

Sanus also makes really good wall mounts. Best buy and others sell this brand.

I would love to see some pics of your install. My handyman skills are very minimal. So my install will be simple, althoght it would be cool if i could get my wires hidden in the wall. My main reason for mounting this is that i have a child who is getting very near the crawling age so we are trying to get things off the floor.

$77 bucks for all your stuff shipped is pretty nice.

I'll take a few pics of mine when I get home this evening. I have some somewhere, but they're crappy anyway. I'll try to get some from behind so you can see the mount.

Are you looking at getting one that you can pull the TV out from the wall?

Tips i'd have for you are:
- This is personal preference and depends on the room design, whether you're putting a cabinet under the tv etc.. but I like a mounted tv to be where the bottom edge of the tv is about eye level when a person is seated on your couch. sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower...again, depending on things like wall height, TV size, personal preference, etc. Sometimes people tend to hang their tv's too high (in my opinion). You might even want to get some of that blue painters tape and tape out an area on the wall to mock where you like it. All the mounts i've seen are adjustable up and down on the wall several inches and the TV can be moved left and right when placed on the mount. so the mount doesn't have to be PERFECTLY in the right spot. and you may end up having to remove it and reposition it up or down on the wall.
- Inspect the lag bolts that they send w/your mount...especially around the bolt head. They tend to use absolutely cheap hardware. If they're suspect at all, go to your hardware store and replace them. maybe even w/a size bigger. (keeping in mind you'll be going into the side of a wall stud). This is a little less critical for a flush mount, but for the articulating arm type you want to make damn sure that the bolts will hold cuz physics dictates that the leveraging effect of having the tv further from the wall puts more strain on the bolts. A flush mounted tv has more of a sheer (or perpendicular) pull on the bolt.
- Be as certain as possible that you are mounting to the center of the studs. Get a decent stud finder if you don't have one. and you can even take a small nail or even a large paper clip straightened out and push it thru the drywall to sorta test where the edges of the stud are. When you find the center of the stud (it's only 1 1/2" wide) draw a line straigt up/down the wall using a level to mark the stud.
- After you're sure you've located the studs you want to use (remember, they're 16" apart) Hold the mount up and have someone else put a level on it and make sure it's level and properly located up/down left/right before marking your holes for drilling.
- Pre-drill w/the correct size drill for the bolt you use.
- For the electrical, (TURN OFF THE BREAKER) there's probably already an outlet below where you're installing the TV, so splicing into that is easy. Black is hot, White is neutral, and bare (or green) is Ground. There's probably two of each wire coming into the outlet meaning that this box feeds another one down the circuit. one side is line which comes from either the previous outlet upstream or the breaker, the other is the load side which feeds the next outlet downstream (the receptical will be marked line and load). You can splice into the load side w/a pigtail splice and run your romex up to a new duplex outlet up near the mount. And use the right size wire nuts.
- They sell after-construction junction boxes (blue plastic ones) at the lowes-depot that are real easy to install. they basically have two tabs that use the drywall to hold them in place. just flip the box around and use the opening of it as a template to mark a square hole to cut in your drywall (remember to put the new box on the same side of the stud as the one down below).
- Romex is pretty stiff so you should be able to use that to run your new wire down from the new hole and out the original junction box. then splice it into the original outlet (of course make sure the breaker is off!)
- Next you just need to make another hole prefereably on the other side of the stud you just added an outlet to (to minimize potential interferance) and one more at the bottom to run your HDMI thru.. They also sell specialty coverplates for running AV cables in wall.

Super easy. should only take a few hrs the 1st time. But get some extra hands/eyes.

Rob ,you mentioned doing some splicing into the electrics. Don't know about U.S. but here in Aus, you do that sort of thing and you are breaking the law. That sort of electrical work must be carried out by a qualified sparky. If you have any fire or electrocution issues as a result, you will be in deep ****.

Originally Posted by imx

Rob ,you mentioned doing some splicing into the electrics. Don't know about U.S. but here in Aus, you do that sort of thing and you are breaking the law. That sort of electrical work must be carried out by a qualified sparky. If you have any fire or electrocution issues as a result, you will be in deep ****.

That's why we live in America. Home of the do-it-yourselfers.

In some areas or cities here, you need to pass a small exam to do some of the work - like if you plan to wire an entire building/home or work on the meter center. Where I live, you just go pull a permit to do anything you want and have it inspected. As far as pulling a permit to add a receptacle or even a new branch, nobody does it. Not even the electricians who know better. It just takes too much time.

There are so many how-to books available to instruct someone how to do it right, not to mention online forums like this, it amazes me that you still see (like on the Holmes on Homes show) that the very worst (like burying a connector is a wall without a box or access) that is even done by paid contractors. I do everything myself so I know it is done right.

Crikey! I ain't callin' no union thug to run 4 ft of romex.. ha ha.

Just kidding. Aka's right. DIY is a huge industry here. Plus my father is an electrician so on my bigger jobs (like when I built out my home theater) I consult him to make sure my work is up to code.

I don't advise anyone doing anything they're not comfortable doing. Call an expert if you need to. For small jobs like adding a receptical, if you're connections are correct, everything's tight, and you use the proper wire/wirenuts/junction box/etc, you'll be fine. Loose wires cause fires...

On a related note. We had an outlet in our kitchen that would randomly shut off/trip the GFCI. So I releplaced the GFCI. Seemed to work for a few weeks. Then started again... so I worked down the circuit checking all the outlets...everything was tight and good so I replaced the breaker at the service panel.... fixed it for a few weeks... hmmm. scratching my head. spent a few minutes looking around in the service panel and found a burnt neutral wire in the bus. shut everything off and tugged on that wire and it was not even tight. the nut was cross-threaded so the installer probably thought it was tight... I trimmed off the burnt section, found an open spot on the bus and re-installed it and haven't had a problem since... It had to have been that way since the house was new. Luckily the panel is outside the house so actual fire damage was not too likely. but you never know.
Moral is that even the pros make mistakes. so going w/a "licensed" electrician doesn't always help.

That was a pretty well written how-to!

Yes, we already have our Christmas tree up...

ha ha. just noticed one of the kids threw a sock behind the tv! I was like, "what the hell is that w/a Nike symbol on it"!

Robert, That is the kind of mount im looking at. Thanks for posting the pics. Im not sure i have the skill or tools to do the wires like you did. That might require me getting some new tools! but i can just tell the wife its for a good cause. I like that fact that you have the outlet right behind the tv, that would be good in my case to get them up from the floor (baby crawling).

Is your mount full motion? tilt/swivel?

yes, it's full motion, but to tilt it you have to loosen these hand bolts, position it, and re-tighten them.

I'll tell you though, for size comparison, that's a 50" plasma and not exactly feather light. and it puts a little bit of sag on the mount. I'm not concerned of it not being able to hold, but I don't want to be moving it a lot (especially not extending it any further from the wall). it's just the physics of that scissor joint. The further away from the wall it is, the more torque there is applied to the connecting arm. Sort of a multiplying effect. It's like holding a 40lb dumbell to your chest, then extending your arms straight out... that 40lbs gets real heavy cuz your shoulders (the joints/connecting points in the mount) are taking the brunt of weight instead of your whole frame (the mounting plate and the wall).
I don't know if any higher priced mounts would be any different in that regard, cuz this one's pretty beefy.

Snyder, nice install. I wear the same socks and I'm missing one!!!

Do you leave the string of lights behind the TV always? What effect does backlighting have? My stuff gets here tomorrow and I hope to install it on Sunday w/ pics along the way.

yeah, the lites are there all the time. There's a dimmable switch on the lower left rear corner of the tv where i can turn them on. In the 1st pic you can kinda see the light cascading on the rear wall, but there was too much ambient light to really tell by the pic. when the room is dark and the lights behind are on it really looks cool it's subtle enough to not take away from the tv, but makes the tv look like it's jus floating. These are absolutely crappy pics. Impossible to take low light - no flash pics w/a point and click camera...

Here's an article on backlighting a tv...

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11247_7-6217705-1.html

"Watching a large TV in a dark room can cause a lot of eyestrain. By placing a simple light behind your TV, you create the illusion of depth, resulting in less eyestrain and a more pleasant viewing experience."

"In addition to reducing eyestrain, good backlighting often increases the perceived picture quality. Your eyes have a much more difficult time determining color without any light source. In fact, this is why colors seem so bright when you walk out of a dark room into daylight: your eyes have lost their color reference and have to adjust. The backlighting will provide just enough light for your eyes to get their color reference, and you'll find that pictures seem a little crisper and colors more vivid--quite a fringe benefit."

Another happy monoprice mount customer. Way nicer and 1/3 the price of the comparable costco mount.

I rec'd my Monoprice order on Friday. Very pleased with the quality of product , the speed of shipping, and especially the price. Here's how I did it.... excuse the cell phone pics.

The first thing I did was to mount the panel to the wall making sure I was on studs. I did this after I determined how I would mount the tilters because they do adjust the height of th tv. With the tilter brackets mounted (the kit comes with all hardware, spacers and washers), I then set the tv on the panel and layed on some edging tape to see what area the tv would cover so I could see where I could put my combo receptacle at. I then marked my wall cut and carefully cut out the location for my combo recp behind the tv. It turned out well and the kit I bought was sweet. I only had to buy two retro boxes for the whole install from Lowe's. Unfortunately, there was not a electric receptacle beneath my combo receptacle, but lucky for me, I was only going to have to go through one stud to get there. I decided to place my data cable outlet above my existing cable outlet. I used a scroll saw to make the jagged cut shown in the pic. I would use this hole in which to drill though the stud to pull my romex through. Before I started, I was prepared to cut an access hole in the sheetrock to help me make the pull, but that wasn't necessary since I only had to go through one stud. I also bought a 4' flex drill bit to drill through more studs, but as I said, that wasn't necessary. I took it back (unused of course) and saved $30.

As you can see, I was angled toward the recp when I drilled through the stud. I then unscrewed and moved the existing plug so I could use my scroll saw to cut a hole in the lower right side corner of the old recp box. Both of the existing wires entered and exited the top holes, so this was clean and easy. I pulled my fishtape down from the top whole (behind the tv), down to my lower hole and onward to the old recp. It went smooth. I pulled the romex scrap I had back to the top hole, installed my retro box there and eventually installed the combo recp. The data side uses no retro box.

I disconnected one of leads (black and white wires) to the plug, installed pig tails using the proper wire nuts and then tied my new romex wire into the circuit. I did this after cutting the power of course. All my power wiring was now complete.

Next came the data cables. I bought all 15' leads from Monoprice, with the exception of the right length coax I already had. I slipped them (the coax, rgb w/audio, hdmi and avi cables) through the top data recp opening and pulled them through my lower jagged drill/data recp opening. I had planned to go without a retro box here, but then decided that the screws would probably pull out of the sheetrock so I used my scroll saw again and cut the "roof" out of a retro box so I could pull my bundle of cables through it and my data receptacle could be mounted securely. I don't use the scroll saw much, but it can be a real time saver. It'd be a good thing to ask for as a Christmas gift! I slipped the retro box over the bundle, mounted the box and then my data recp. Sweet, but that's a ton of cable. I used the velcro ties to clean'em up after I mounted the tv, connected all the wires and got rid of all the extra slack behind the tv.

Overall the install was a success. I only have one spot where the drill bit marked up the sheetrock next to my data recp. It'll be easy to fix when I paint next, but since it is behind the dresser, outta sight outta mind.

The tool and material list includes (besides monoprice gear): light , 24" level, drill w/assorted drill bits, screwdriver, fishtape, sheetrock knife, wire nuts, wire strippers (buy some nice ones, you'll love them), retro boxes, socket wrench and socket (for lag screws), stud finder, 12/2 w/ground romex and pencil. Total cost, with the exception of the tv: Monoprice - $77, Lowes - $3.50, plus the wire nuts and scrap wire I already had.

Looks great!
I like that combo box. And love the flashlight holder.

I did not read all of the post here, but I used monoprice for a 46" TV and have not had any problems at all.

Aka awesome post. The pictures speak louder than words for me.

Probably a dumb question but how are you getting the computer image on your tv? are you using a cord or do you have some sort of wireless transmitter thing?

Originally Posted by dahmsy686

Aka awesome post. The pictures speak louder than words for me.

Probably a dumb question but how are you getting the computer image on your tv? are you using a cord or do you have some sort of wireless transmitter thing?

Thanks, then I wish I had taken better pics!

There are no dumb questions dahmsy! My computers are older, so I use the RGB cable I ran which are your RS232 monitor output from your laptop. You have to use the earphone jack on your computer to get sound using this method. The RGB cable comes with the stereo audio cable jack. I also ran RCA (yellow, red, white) cable too for a dvd player or some other input and an HDMI if I get something (PS3) that can use that. Of course, I'm using my wireless from my laptop thru the RGB cable to get the internet (computer screen) to show up on the tv. Some tv's like my son's Sony have a wireless adapter built in with their own browser, but I'm too cheap for that. Last night, it was nice to fire up Netflix with my newly mounted tv.

Now you need this to control your PC from the bed...

http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Wirel.../dp/B003UE52ME

I'm about to order one for my HTPC. A friend at work just got his and said it's very good.

Good idea Snyder. I decided to see what the Iphone could do and I found JumiController. Wow! It allows me to control everything about the computer and I can even see the desktop... whatever is on the computer screen on the phone's screen. Mouse commands, volume controls, I-Tunes and other things work well. The keyboard, not so much, but it definitely was worth the $3.99.

yeah i use airmouse on my iphone works great !!!!!!