Plasma mounting info


I have a Hitachi director series (42") that I have been using for about 2 months now. I am building a wall to mount it to (my walls are 3/4" plaster, 3/4" furing strips then the block). The studs are already set for this wall.
I am trying to find info on the best location (height) to mount the tv, also besides the obvious (HDMI cable and AC wiring) what other wiring to run behind the wall before I put on the sheet rock.
I am going to use a Pioneer surround sound amp that had 2 HDMI inputs with one HDMI output. It also upconverts the other video inputs to HDMI. Currently I don't have anything that is HDMI but I will get high def cable as soon as they offer the phone service in my area.
I will be using the Harmony 890 universal remote that I have already bought so all the components will go into the closet.
Help please I want this project to come to an end soon but I would like some guidance from those who have been there done that.
Bruce
brucec30
My eyeballs are at the center of the wall mounted plasma.
Works great for me, I would go crazy looking up at Maineiac's
system. Email for photo.
There have been many threads on many forums about monitor height and, obviously, it should be placed so that there is a minimum of next strain. Equally obviously, that depends on your seating and your posture. Thus, sitting in a slightly reclined position on a couch is different from sitting erect at a desk, perhaps with elbows/work on the desktop. So, one should attend not only to eye height but to the angle of gaze. You might experiment with paper panels before drilling holes.

In our case, as we recline on our couch for comfortable viewing, we placed our plasma slightly above eye height as advised by our installer. It has been very comfortable for us.

Kal
I also ended up running a regular composite video cable to my plasma becuase my receiver needs that to view the on screen display (OSD) controls. Try to leave yourself extra room to run extra or replace cables.

As for height (see pics in my system), I was forced to hang mine pretty high to get over the cabinet and the equipment. It is not ideal, but it has not bothered me in the 2 years that I have had it there. As for the comment about power conditioners, I saw a huge difference in the video quality using a balanced conditioner with my old CRT but not so much with the plasma.
In addition to the oracle's advice (can't vouch for Richard Gray, because of lack of experience and general skepticism about such things), I'd advise making sure your visual center is no more than horizontal, preferably a bit lower. Bending your head back to look up at a screen can bring on unexpected nerve pinching.

Before the days of personal computers, I had the screen of my terminal mounted on a shelf where I looked slightly up at it. When I bent over to sign something, I often experienced numbness in my arm. A series of unpleasant tests, including a series of shocks to test neural conductance, failed to uncover the problem, so I was hung with my head in a sling as therapy to no avail. I came across an IBM tech paper that recommended placing monitors so that viewing was slightly below horizontal. The nerve problem has never reoccured after relocating the monitor, and that was nearly 40 years ago.

db
Here is some guidance from a professional installer me.

The correct height of a monitor should be determined by the owner sitting down on the couch and when you are seated the ideal height should be determined by placing a tape measure from your eye height into the center of the set.

If you want to bring up the image, cut a piece of cardboard the size of the screen and tape it in postion. You can then adjust the piece of cardboard up or down to see what the final image would look like when you are in your ideal viewing position.

Allways run a packet of cables to the set. HDMI may not look better than component so experiment. Also HDMI can be unstable and lose lock. HDMI can look better but it still depends on the gear used.

In the packey include 2 CAT 5E or 2 CAT 6 for additional capacity and or an IR or other signal repeater along with an HDMI and Component video cables.

Make sure your bracket is securily in place use Hilti fastners to go through the bracket and firing strips into the block.

Make sure the bracket is completely level before the final installation.

Also buy good HDMI and component cables. Use good power condtioning on the plasma. I am a Richard Gray dealer so I am biased, but the Richard Gray's do wonders for video and beat those units of monsterous divinity.

Finally hire a good ISF tech and have the set down. If you can't afford an ISF tech then buy the Digital Video Essentials and try to do it yourself.

Enjoy! I hope this helps.