+1 this. I have ginormous tinnitus - even sans subwoofer, the center speaker is a huge improvement in clarity. Music goes left/right, dialog from the center speaker. Joy.
I might not even plug in the subwoofer
Well, only if it works for you. I have a cabinet that’s about 24" high and 48" wide. It has decorative scallops at the base on the front and sides, but is basically open at the back. The base of my stand sits under the cabinet. (There was a single support block that I moved forward a few inches to make space.) The result is that I have a single tubular steel post that rises up behind the cabinet. Sitting on the cabinet is a center speaker for the TV, so the TV itself is mounted starting about 9" above the top of the cabinet. There are screws in the back of the TV to tilt, rotate, raise, and lower the TV. Nothing at all touches the wall. All the power and signal cables are inside the steel post, so the appearance is very sleek.
A final reason I like it is that I can easily move it, not just a few feet along the wall, but to anyplace else in the room. Just move the cabinet and stand as needed. Since it doesn’t rely on the wall, it can even be placed in front of a window.
This is what I used:
Yeah, that wouldn’t work unless i put the whole bookcase up on blocks and moved it away from the wall. And the only other place i might put a TV is over the fireplace.
Visually, i expect it to look like the TV is sitting on the bookcase. I just like the flexibility of a wall mount (you can move the TV angle) and that it won’t fall off the narrow bookcase.
I have switched from monitor stands to monitor arms for all the household computer monitors (3, one wall mounted and two clipped to the back of a desk) and never looked back. Maybe it’s different for a giant TV than for a 27" monitor.
Bump. The basement construction is nearly done. Now i need to actually pick our some devices.
I guess I’ll be wanting:
A TV no more than 4’ tall. (If i really put the center at 45", the screen would be no more than 2.5’ tall, or I’d need a very expensive wall mount with joints.) This one should work for gaming as well as watching TV.
A sound bar. (Where do those go?)
A new Roku, probably just the stick.
And also, a small TV, also for the basement, to mount in front of the treadmill i plan to get. That one will also need to talk to the internet, to watch Netflix and YouTube and whatever.
Any special things to look for or avoid?
A 65" TV is 32" tall without the stand. Seems like a good size
You can set one on that shelf under the TV, or there are mounts that attach it above or below the TV, see my link upthread.
If you buy a SmartTV (99% of all TVs) you don’t need a Roku. All those streaming apps will run on the TV using the TV remote. Adding a Roku adds another remote. Why would you want more remotes? Just get your smart TV and try the built in stuff, I’d be very surprised if you need more. You can always add roku later.
Use a tablet on the treadmill with bluetooth earbuds. Many sports equipment includes a tablet mount.
I have weird ears, and a history of ear infections and having to wear ear plugs while swimming with a minor ear infection. I hate hate hate stuff in my ears. There’s zero chance I’m wearing earbuds to exercise in the privacy of my own home. Whatever is playing video is also going to be playing audio out loud.
(I also don’t like the feeling of being cut off from the sounds around me. I bought bone-conduction “head phones” to wear when I need to use the computer quietly, so I can still hear what else is going on in the house. But mostly, I prefer my sounds be ambient, and not funneled to my ears alone. And this is my basement, I should be able to do that without annoying anyone else. )
Is it a lot cheaper to buy a tablet than to buy a modest TV? I was thinking I could put the TV on the wall, and have it a little farther away than you’d hold a tablet or a laptop.
I had an ipad for a while, and I didn’t like it. It turns out that most of the things that I wanted to do on a tablet involved typing, and the keyboard is in the uncanny valley – too small to use both hands, but too large to just use a finger like a cell phone. At some point it became obsolete and I never replaced it. Granted, an ipad would be fine for reading books, or watching video (if a bit small for video.) But it would also be yet another “device”, and netflix has started counting devices, so I’d have to use it via a browser and not the netflix app.
Okay! Not a tablet, definitely a TV, definitely not earbuds. I love my tablet for my exercise bike and use earbuds but you do you. My bike has speakers built in, maybe your treadmill will also and you can leverage that for audio. But it sounds like you want the treadmill facing a wall with a TV and speakers. I can’t visualize your space that well and I’m not trying to do anything like that so I don’t really have advice.
And no, a modest TV is modestly priced.
Yeah, I was going to get a treadmill that faces the wall. I suppose I could just make sure whatever I get has a media holder. I don’t need a lot to hold the kindle, and I could fold over a laptop (I have one that does “tablet mode”) and use that. It seems a bit small, but it might be better than I’m imagining.
Thanks for giving me ideas.
And I know that most people like earbuds. I don’t get it. Ouch. Discomfort. But I’m obviously the outlier here.
Of course! If you have a convertible laptop with a treadmill that can hold it, try that and see if it’s adequate. I’m skeptical, treadmills make noise, might be hard to hear the audio. But maybe you can hook into treadmill speakers and it’s great. Too many variables to know, but you can take it one piece at a time.
I also felt the small screen from a tablet was fine when biking. It’s like 25" from maaybe from my face; with good audio it was fine. I’ve binged many hours of TV like that.
One of my nephews has his set up that way and it is much too high. Particularly because the furthest seating position is about 12’ away. But the shape and size of the room imposes restrictions.
There’s mounting solutions that let you pull down a TV mounted too high on a wall.
Ooh, that looks perfect! Do you know anything about the company, whether they are legit, whether their mounts work as advertised?
I’m definitely following up on this one.
I’m afraid I do not. AFAICT, they’re not the only one making a mount of that sort. Example. Search keyword seems to be “pull down tv mount” or “above fireplace tv mount”.
Here’s an article I googled up that reviews half a dozen of them
Chiming in: rtings.com has great reviews of TVs and soundbars. The last time I went there they had begun to restrict access (to make some $$), but it’s worth a visit.
As others have said, go big. We have a 49”, but on ultra wide screen films (which have black bars on top and bottom of the screen), the image feels tiny.
We have a Yamaha sound bar mounted under the TV, and for concert films the difference is dramatic. I’ve tried adding a subwoofer, but most evenings I don’t want to shake my walls.
Even with a sound bar (or surround sound) it can be tough to hear dialog in televised movies. The sound is mixed with too much dynamic range — if the dialog is loud enough to hear, then the sound effects will be much too loud. I use subtitles, or if I’m alone I’ll turn the sound up higher than I really enjoy.
The sound bar and TV have an ARC connector which simplifies audio set-up, and lets us control the subwoofer with the regular TV remote.
A wall mount keeps animals from knocking over the TV.
If your room is wide, an IPS screen gives better viewing angles than the (usually cheaper) VA screen. The VA screen has better contrast and looks better in a dark room. An OLED has the best image and viewing angles, but they still cost a lot and can suffer burned in images.
@puzzlegal Googling about, MantelMount seems well thought of, and there’s a pantload of YouTube videos about their mounts, how to’s etc.
Monoprice also has them fwiw. Not vouching, just another data point.
I’m finally going to get something. definitely getting one of these pull-down wall mounts. thanks, everyone.
Let me know how the pull down mount works out and what you chose please? A friend is thinking of getting the same kind of thing. Thanks.
Rather to my surprise, the Samsung link suggests I want a smaller TV, perhaps 50".
And one of these. (or simlar.) I googled reviews, and the brand you found gets good reviews except that there are others that are cheaper.
Any idea whether it’s better to mount a sound bar above or below the TV? Or just put it on the bookcase?
I would think below if it’s attached to the TV. Closer to you perhaps? Also the center channel is speech, so I’d think middle bottom would match the position of the actors better. Maybe just me.
But if you use a pull down mount, and place the soundbar on the shelf, wouldn’t the soundbar end up behind the TV when pulled down?