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The whole "fireplace is the focus of the room" argument, I understand what people are saying but simply don't agree that just because "it's the focus", a giant TV should go directly above it and out of the line of sight. Why cram all that there?
My fireplace is still the focus of the room, it and the TV beside it over in the corner are about equal in height, the mantle may be slightly higher.
When people walk in my house they notice the nice mantle and fireplace. The TV is filling a corner a little ways away.
And also, in my bedroom I would probably mount but I don't care enough to spend the money. I have a 50" in my bedroom and it's a fairly far distance from my bed so it never bothers me. I wouldn't pay to do it.
The whole "fireplace is the focus of the room" argument, I understand what people are saying but simply don't agree that just because "it's the focus", a giant TV should go directly above it and out of the line of sight. Why cram all that there?
My fireplace is still the focus of the room, it and the TV beside it over in the corner are about equal in height, the mantle may be slightly higher.
When people walk in my house they notice the nice mantle and fireplace. The TV is filling a corner a little ways away.
And also, in my bedroom I would probably mount but I don't care enough to spend the money. I have a 50" in my bedroom and it's a fairly far distance from my bed so it never bothers me. I wouldn't pay to do it.
I agree it is somewhere between not ideal and a horrible idea
That said, my friends and family I helped with various AV tasks did not have good layouts in their homes for large HDTV proper mounting like I did. So we split the difference. I steered them to use a pullout mount which lets you hang the monster panel above their dumb fireplaces. It lowers/articulates to very comfortable viewing height/angle according to room layout. $$$, but useful.
I used to have my TV *IN* the fireplace. It was a stone nice-looking but fake fireplace with a hearth about 18" high and had an outlet in the bottom (this was before cable so I didn't have to worry about that). It was a perfect location....just the right height.
I don't know a single person who has mounted a TV above the fireplace "because they could" - in every case, it's because they COULDN'T mount it anywhere else - there was no other wall space large enough to hold a TV or that you could make a reasonable seating arrangement with.
I opted out of a fireplace in my new construction house for precisely that reason. I knew i prioritized having a TV, so I kept the wall space in order to accommodate that, because they only way I could have had both was with a TV mounted above the fireplace.
OP, I agree with you. Anyone who mounts a TV above a fireplace, and not at eye-level is an idiot. And I'm sure there is no good reason that they did so, and had many other better options.
I'm also sure there are no other issues in life today more important than this one.
This is sure to stir up some debate, but I personally think, other than for aesthetics (and even then sometimes it's questionable), it's a stupid idea. I am not, however, calling anyone stupid.
I just don't understand it for the most basic, obvious reason....
Why do you want to tilt your head up to watch TV?
I get that it looks nice.
But don't people prefer to look straight ahead at their eye level?
Also, why do you want to be starting at your fireplace for hours at a time?
My house is BEYOND PERFECT for mounting a huge 70"+ above the large mantle, and there are 19 foot ceilings to boot. But it's never crossed my mind because I'd have to tilt my head up.
It sits over in the corner directly in my line of sight.
Different strokes for different folks I guess but I'd love to get some input.
I always wondered that too. My brother mounted his about the fireplace and it hurt to watch. I was too much work. I have an 80" screen and I set it at a level that aligns with my head at rest.
Our last house had a big hole above the fireplace made just for TVs. So that's where we put our TV.
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