TV above fireplace and other questions

[admin_exported]

I'm doing up my living room and replacing an old coal fire with a gas fire. I'm planning to wall mount the new tv screen above the fire. Probably the fire won't be used much since we have central heating. Is this a bad idea? Would we need a mantle piece to help protect the screen?

Innevitably, the screen is going to be quite high up. We may be able to choose a fire place that is shorter but this is not my wifes preference. How high is too high for a screen?

If the new screen has a freeview receiver built in, do I connect the aerial lead directly to it, or can I go through an amplifier receiver? If it does have to go direct to the TV, how do I set things up so that I can record freeview? I presume that the hdmi out from the amp means no signal can return to the amp. Do I need a second hdmi cable to return the freeview signal to the amp?

 

[Big Aura]

gary2009:

I'm doing up my living room and replacing an old coal fire with a gas fire. I'm planning to wall mount the new tv screen above the fire. Probably the fire won't be used much since we have central heating. Is this a bad idea? Would we need a mantle piece to help protect the screen?

the heat isn't ideal, but lots of people do this, so it should be okay. A mantlepiece will be essential to ensure no heat goes directly up, and given it's an occasional use fireplace, I imagine it should be less of an issue (although I'm accepting no liability for that advice!

gary2009:

Innevitably, the screen is going to be quite high up. We may be able to choose a fire place that is shorter but this is not my wifes preference. How high is too high for a screen? Higher isn't a great idea. The problem with screen size and room layout means that lots of people hang above the fireplace. Ideally, the middle-to-lower-middle of the screen should be at eye level when sitting. Otherwise, you're looking up, and you'll have a stiff neck until you get used to it. Perhaps try and mount a sensible distance above your new mantlepiece (i.e. clear it by just 5 or six inches).

gary2009:

If the new screen has a freeview receiver built in, do I connect the aerial lead directly to it, or can I go through an amplifier receiver? If it does have to go direct to the TV, how do I set things up so that I can record freeview? I presume that the hdmi out from the amp means no signal can return to the amp. Do I need a second hdmi cable to return the freeview signal to the amp?

If you're using the inbuilt decoder in the screen, you'll connect your aerial direct to the screen. It "decodes" the picture. Next,for sound, you'll need to connect the screen to your amplifer with possibly an "optical /toslink cable" (most, but not all, screens have these nowadays). If not, you may need to use old-fashioned rca phono (red & white ended leads). Check your telly's spec, or take a look around the back.

For the recorder, I don't know what you have, but imagine you'll probably use a scart lead to bring picture and sound to your recorder. If your recorder is a harddisk dvd player, for example, it may have a freeview reciever built in. In that case, you plug your aerial into that, and it passes through to your telly.

exactly what kit are you getting - it makes these questions easier to answer!

 

[hammill]

You risk your TV and your neck if you mount above a fire.

We have just redone our lounge and removed the gas fire - we did not use it anyway and the rest of the time a lot of heat is lost up the chimney.

If you cannot be convinced, at least get a tiltable mount (I have a premier mounts am250 for my 50 inch kuro which I am very pleased with)