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I know a few people that have it over the fireplace. And it's the main TV. A TV should be at or near eye level.
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There's a reason movie theaters are built, or spent millions of dollars 20 years ago, to convert to "stadium" seating.
People don't generally want to look up at screens.
Same with auditoriums and stages.
Looking up for extended periods is just uncomfortable.
The same holds at home.
Our TV is centered at sitting eye level and I would not want it an inch higher for comfortable viewing.
Same with my computer monitors with eye level at the top bezel.
(A counter with bar height stools, or kids, toddlers, uncontrolled dogs, etc, could influence me to consider change, but that would be a compromise when just sitting in my recliner or on the sofa and watching.)
Yea, my TV is about a foot too high, but my wife likes it where it's at so I can't move it now. And it's NEXT to the fireplace, not above it. lol
I do understand people doing it for lack of space, but most people aren't doing it for that reason. You see this massive space and the TV above the FP....SMH lol
There's a reason movie theaters are built, or spent millions of dollars 20 years ago, to convert to "stadium" seating.
People don't generally want to look up at screens.
Same with auditoriums and stages.
Looking up for extended periods is just uncomfortable.
The same holds at home.
Our TV is centered at sitting eye level and I would not want it an inch higher for comfortable viewing.
Same with my computer monitors with eye level at the top bezel.
(A counter with bar height stools, or kids, toddlers, uncontrolled dogs, etc, could influence me to consider change, but that would be a compromise when just sitting in my recliner or on the sofa and watching.)
Quite true. There were a number of reasons beyond that.
Stadium seating came at the end of the era of auditorium chopping, where a large auditorium was split in two or sometimes even into four or five small auditoriums, to meet changing demands from distributors and customers. The angles in many of those were just plain horrible. Everyone knew that sightlines and audience comfort had been shortchanged by beancounters. The steeper rake of stadium seating allowed people to see the screen over the heads of those in front without looking like parrots examining a morsel of food bobbing head left and right.
ADA issues were minimized by having the handicap areas near the sweet spot for viewing. Over time, some have drifted away from this, but it resolved a show-stopping architectural/legal issue that couldn't be handled without steps.
The stadium seating allowed more "in-your-face" experience, which enhanced the rapidly growing fantasy action genre. In previous years, having some distance from a mainstream film as an outside observer was considered good. Seeing the pimples on Pacino's face up close wasn't considered a box office draw. In point of fact, many of the screens in stadium auditoriums are now at, or even beyond, the proper size.
The inherent flaw in auditorium design is that, unlike a stage play, there is only a very small oval of "sweet spot" relative to the size of the seating area. In a home theatre or television setup, that sweet spot can be handled correctly, unless the room design or cultural baggage prevents it.
Well, "the steeper rake" is hardly a new thing; I have been to concerts at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City built 1934 which has an extremely sloping floor.
Well, "the steeper rake" is hardly a new thing; I have been to concerts at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City built 1934 which has an extremely sloping floor.
As were many of the Greek and Roman amphitheaters. Red Rocks is pretty steep as well. Many of the balconies in the movie palaces were steep as well. I remember one in particular where the steep stairs had only a two foot rail at the bottom before the long drop to the floor. Yikes!
Back on topic, house design is often incredibly bad, not only for televisions, but basic practicality. It makes seeing one that actually had some thought and pre-planning involved a pleasure.
There's a reason movie theaters are built, or spent millions of dollars 20 years ago, to convert to "stadium" seating.
People don't generally want to look up at screens.
Same with auditoriums and stages.
Looking up for extended periods is just uncomfortable.
The same holds at home.
Our TV is centered at sitting eye level and I would not want it an inch higher for comfortable viewing.
Same with my computer monitors with eye level at the top bezel.
(A counter with bar height stools, or kids, toddlers, uncontrolled dogs, etc, could influence me to consider change, but that would be a compromise when just sitting in my recliner or on the sofa and watching.)
It really bothers me to look up at a TV screen. My TV is centered at about eye level. I find that the most comfortable.
WHAT ROOM, WHERE IN THE ROOM are you planning on putting the tv.
I had a big box 50lb tv for years. Then I moved and had to buy a new tv. Like you, I found it a little daunting. I researched and researched. Through my research, I found that you need to consider what room you are going to put the TV in. Does the room have a lot of light? is the room kind of dark, where will the TV be placed?
I purchased a 65" Samsung which looked so much smaller in the showroom. I am kinda of happy with it. My room has a lot of light and this particular is a dark screen. So I have to keep the curtains closed just to see the screen.
I am not sure about other brands, but Samsung comes with its own Samsung TV Plus 50-100 channel lineup
My only issues are;
1. Because of how the room is made, it is facing the windows. This is a dark screen tv, so now I have to keep the curtains closed when watching TV
2. The remote could / should be glow in the dark.
My Tv is on a adjustable stand, so I do have the freedom of moving it easily as well as raising or lowering it.
I just went through a bit of analysis paralysis myself when it comes to buying a TV. Had an older 55" 3D HD TV and wanted to upgrade to a bigger 4K TV. Had a strict budget to stay in (got a $1000 bonus at work and free money so why not?). Lot's of TVs at that price point that has tech that was similar to the higher end stuff (seeing LG and Samsung at $1800-2500 and up and Sonys at $3k and up really put a damper on my enthusiasm, though). Still, decided that it had to be a 65"or bigger and wanted ULED/QLED/OLED with local dimming zones and deeper blacks. Started narrowing it down at Best Buy/Costco/Amazon, etc. Reviews are all over the place though, with ones saying "Best TV Evar!!!" followed by "crap picture and lines everywhere." A lot of issues with delivery and broken screens on the Amazon reviews, so I decided that in person buying and transport would be the best.
After a lot of back and forth I finally just made a decision and brought home this 75" ULED 4K Google TV for $699 on sale at Best Buy. Took a bit to set it up at home, mostly due to trying to get the older receiver to work properly. But after an hour of fiddling around it's finally working and the TV controls the receiver and sounds amazing. Signed in to all my apps (went from an Amazon FireStick to the Google TV, but all the apps are still here, including the F1 TV app. Yay!).
Keeps up with the motion of the race cars perfectly in 4K and it feels like they are racing in our living room. Then watched Avatar: the Way of Water. Not a great movie, but an excellent test of the TV. Excellent saturation and contrast with perfect colors and no motion artifacting. So my budget IMAX experiment seems to have worked. We'll see how long it lasts but I'm really happy so far. And yes, it's exactly at eye height. The picture doesn't look as good in my phone camera as it does in person, though.
We had an inexpensive Spectra that was fine for the rec room where it was used with an Xbox. But it died on us after three years.
We have a 1080P Panasonic plasma, believe it or not, that we bought in 2006. At the time everyone was concerned that the plasmas would leave a burn-in image. Well, seventeen years later of daily usage and it’s still performing flawlessly. I had to get a part about five years ago, that I found on eBay, but other than that it has stood the test of time.
We will likely replace it with an oled in the near future. From what I’ve read oleds have better viewing angle tolerances. We have our panel above the fireplace (gas) and it works for us.
We have two 50" 2007 Panasonic Plasma TVs that are still perfect. Never a problem with them or the gorgeous picture. We are thinking of getting a wall mount 75" and that is why I'm reading this thread.
The only downside to the plasmas is that they are heavy. Hopefully we can find a 75" we like but won't get rid of the plasmas right away in case the picture on the new TV isn't as good.
We're mounting it higher. My progressive lenses and the amount of shows I watch closed caption make having it higher better than eye level. When I was younger I wanted eye level but not now.
I've been considering buying a new tv now for a few months and am just overwhelmed by the choices.
I love the question of your title.
I've been thinking wistfully of how simple it must have been to buy a television in the 1950s.
And I wonder if maybe one reason the country can't solve all the political-economic-social problems is because we waste so much time mulling over the fine points of our choices for TV, TV programming, telephones, computers, etc.
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And it's NEXT to the fireplace, not above it. lol
