Plasma TV above a fireplace?

[The Shroud]

So, my parents really want their next TV to be above the fireplace. They want me to help them pick it out when I visit them in May.

Of course, I have to be a contrarian and tell them that not only is it going to be too high on the wall for comfortable viewing, but it's also going to get way too hot when a fire is roaring.

Are my concerns valid? And if I can't talk them out of it, any tips for avoiding a melted TV?

[Santo Rugger]

I'd be more concerned with soot and smoke than the heat. I have rugby balls, wooden boxes, and other flammable stuff on my mantle. It gets dirty, but not too hot.

Think of the stereotypical candle on the mantle; it's not getting hot enough to melt the candle (or burn the stereotypical painting above the fireplace, either).

[DudleyGarrett]

My sister has her plasma TV above the fireplace and so far so good in regards to melting. It's about 2.5 feet above the top of the fireplace (about 1 foot above the mantle).

They did however mount a small center channel speaker off the mantle. That melted.

[Phlosphr]

Esthetically speaking I think it's up to you if you like that style or not.

Design speaking I think a lot depends on what the hearth is made out of. Around here we have a lot of old homes with 100% granite hearthes and like ours, some have heavy hard wood mantles built right in...i.e. stick whatever you want above the hearth it won't get hot enough to do anything...
Now if it is red brick then we have a little different story. Or if there is drywall covering the hearth where the tv would be. Lot's of variables.

[Hampshire]

I'd get a few thermometers and set them on the mantle or hang them on the wall up there while burning a fire to see just how hot it gets. I think you'd be suprised. Fireplaces seem to heat the rooms via radiation waves rather than convection air currents.

I've known a few people that have mounted them above fireplaces and they seem to be fine. Too high for my tastes though even with the screen tilted downward.

[DMark]

Then again - they might save on heating bills!
When I bought my plasma (not an LCD) I was unaware how hot those televisions get when you have them on for awhile! I am talking throwing of a nice bit of heat when you get near it! No wonder my electric bill went up after buying it.

My next flat screen will be an LCD, as I have heard they use less electricity and do not get as warm.

Regarding placement - for a large screen, there is nothing wrong with having the screen that high - especially if you have comfortable chairs that let you lean back and watch from a distance. Most high-end model homes here In Las Vegas almost always have the television above the fireplace. Of course, people in Las Vegas don't really use fireplaces all that much - a few weeks in the winter at most (I have one, so I know). Not quite sure how that placement will work if you actually use your fireplace a lot, and I guess it depends on whether the fireplace is on for "decoration" or to actually give off heat and warm the room.

[Tikki]

Originally Posted by Santo Rugger

Think of the stereotypical candle on the mantle; it's not getting hot enough to melt the candle (or burn the stereotypical painting above the fireplace, either).

However, if you stuff the fireplace full of wrapping paper on Christmas day and light it up in the belief that the flue damper is open when it really isn't, then unfortunate things can happen to items at mantel height and above.

This didn't happen to me but to a friend. Melted the wall clock up there and sooted up the place pretty good before they got the fire under control.

[BrainGlutton]

Originally Posted by The Shroud

So, my parents really want their next TV to be above the fireplace.

Do they give any reason? (I can think of at least one: The fireplace should be the visual focal point of the room, and there should be only one such, so the TV can't be placed where it would compete.)

[jjimm]

I put an LCD flatscreen above the fireplace.

My ex, and every single one of my friends without exception said "it's too high. And it looks tacky."

I took it down, but I was very grumpy as I had to fill all the holes and repaint. Plus, they were all wrong.

[squeegee]

Originally Posted by DMark

My next flat screen will be an LCD, as I have heard they use less electricity and do not get as warm.

Someone will be here soon to quote a study showing that plasmas don't really use all that much power. Don't believe it, they're power hogs and room-warmers.

[wmulax93]

How are they going to get cable to it?

Always think about his when putting a TV in a new place.

[Patty O'Furniture]

Many of the new micro-condos being built here have the cable jacks above the fireplace. When I saw that I could not figure out why they did it. I envisioned putting my TV on the stand as usual and then having to run the ugly cables up the wall to reach the jacks.

Then one of the real estate agents explained that the jack placement was to facilitate the over-the-mantle mounting of flat screens and that just blew my mind.

My mantle is 54" off the ground. The centerline of the screen would be a good 6 feet off the ground. It would be like sitting at the front row at the movies. Plus it puts two conversation pieces in close proximity to each other.

[Boyo Jim]

Originally Posted by Patty O'Furniture

...My mantle is 54" off the ground. The centerline of the screen would be a good 6 feet off the ground. It would be like sitting at the front row at the movies. Plus it puts two conversation pieces in close proximity to each other.

That's why you get those reclining Lazy Boys with the cup holders.

[The Shroud]

Originally Posted by BrainGlutton

Do they give any reason? (I can think of at least one: The fireplace should be the visual focal point of the room, and there should be only one such, so the TV can't be placed where it would compete.)

I think they're excited at prospect of recovering the footprint that their 36" CRT is taking up in the corner, and they like plasmas they've seen in other houses over the mantle.

I suggested the thermometer thing to them. If it were my TV, I'd rather have it at eye level, but that's up to them.

[wmulax93]

Originally Posted by Patty O'Furniture

Many of the new micro-condos being built here have the cable jacks above the fireplace. When I saw that I could not figure out why they did it. I envisioned putting my TV on the stand as usual and then having to run the ugly cables up the wall to reach the jacks.

Then one of the real estate agents explained that the jack placement was to facilitate the over-the-mantle mounting of flat screens and that just blew my mind.

My mantle is 54" off the ground. The centerline of the screen would be a good 6 feet off the ground. It would be like sitting at the front row at the movies. Plus it puts two conversation pieces in close proximity to each other.

Right. I saw plenty of that when I was a cable tech. I just want to make sure that everyone knows to think of this when putting a flat-screen above a fireplace in an existing home. Some people thought we could bring the wire through the chimney.

[Zsofia]

I want one there so bad, because the layout of the living room in my 1928 bungalow is obviously pre-TV and there is no comfortable furniture arrangement that works for conversation and TV. I'm not concerned about heat, but I am quite concerned about viewing angle.

[Boyo Jim]

Perhaps the solution is to put the fireplace above the TV?

[commasense]

Originally Posted by Boyo Jim

Perhaps the solution is to put the fireplace above the TV?

No, no, no. Put the TV in the fireplace, then buy this DVD.

[Boyo Jim]

Originally Posted by commasense

No, no, no. Put the TV in the fireplace, then buy this DVD.

I already have that DVD, because I have a bigscreen TV and no fireplace. But some people apparently can't live without both.

[tremorviolet]

Originally Posted by commasense

No, no, no. Put the TV in the fireplace, then buy this DVD.

You joke, but I was recently at a house where they had retrofitted the fireplace. There was a transparent piece of glass at a 45 degree angle in the fireplace and a TV mounted in the chimney facing down. They played that DVD on a continuous loop and the picture reflected off the angled glass to give the illusion of a fire. It was kinda weird. (and the TV in the chimney was a tube set so it was an old retrofit)

[LurkMeister]

Originally Posted by Patty O'Furniture

Many of the new micro-condos being built here have the cable jacks above the fireplace. When I saw that I could not figure out why they did it. I envisioned putting my TV on the stand as usual and then having to run the ugly cables up the wall to reach the jacks.

Then one of the real estate agents explained that the jack placement was to facilitate the over-the-mantle mounting of flat screens and that just blew my mind.

My mantle is 54" off the ground. The centerline of the screen would be a good 6 feet off the ground. It would be like sitting at the front row at the movies. Plus it puts two conversation pieces in close proximity to each other.

The condo I'm renting, which IIRC was built within the past five or six years, has an alcove above the fireplace which is large enough to hold a standard (non-flat screen) TV. In the back of the alcove is an electrical outlet and a cable jack. The fireplace is a gas fireplace which directs all the heat into the room and has no chimney, so I don't think heat would be an issue. There's also another cable jack in the wall in the living room, which is the one I use because I agree that putting the TV over the fireplace would put it up too high.

[muldoonthief]

I checked the manual for my plasma last night, and it says the following:

Make sure there's no smoke/soot in the place you want to mount it.

Build a roaring fire, put a thermometer against the spot you'll be mounting the display. Try a few different spots. If the temp doesn't exceed 104 F, you're good to go.

However, I'm going to join to the "above the fireplace is too high" crowd. The bottom of mine is 2.5 ft above the floor, and it's pretty much perfect.

[Hampshire]

Originally Posted by muldoonthief

However, I'm going to join to the "above the fireplace is too high" crowd. The bottom of mine is 2.5 ft above the floor, and it's pretty much perfect.

The old standard for TV placement used to be to have the center of the screen be at eye-level when sitting. I still go by that to this day.
I don't know where people got the idea that just because you could mount them to a wall that you should mount them so high??

[Quartz]

Originally Posted by squeegee

Someone will be here soon to quote a study showing that plasmas don't really use all that much power. Don't believe it, they're power hogs and room-warmers.

But the picture IMHO is better. The colours are brighter, the blacks are deeper, and you don't get backlight banding.