Got a New TV? Don’t Make These Mounting Mistakes

If you recently bought a new TV, great! If you’re planning to mount it on the wall, move it to a new room, or replace an older, smaller TV, be sure to avoid the mistakes described below. Poor placement can harm picture quality, make the TV harder to see, or worse, turn into a real pain in the neck. Whether you mount it on the wall or use a stand, there are important, and often unintuitive, factors to consider. For example, you don’t want to mount your TV too high, too far away, or at an awkward angle.

Is this hyperbole? Not really. Consider that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has standards for how your work environment is set up to minimize the risk of repetitive stress injuries. If you watch television four to six hours a day, you may be susceptible to the same problems. Additionally, most TVs look significantly worse off-axis, that is, when viewed from too high, too low, or too far to the side. If you don’t look at the optimal angle, you could lose all the money you spent.

Mounting a TV above a fireplace is also a bad idea, as is the case in a bathroom. A slight movement of the seats or adjustment of the location of your preferred stand could result in better picture quality or allow for a larger TV. So, before you mount a TV or buy an expensive TV stand, consider these do’s and don’ts of TV placement.

Do These Five Things Before Installing a New TV

Check the height of the TV

There is no set height for TV placement, but ideally you don’t want the TV to be too high. Watching television is like sitting in the front row of a movie theater. It’s not ideal, not comfortable and not conducive to long viewing sessions. Generally speaking, you want the center of the TV to be about eye level, or even slightly lower. This is true whether you mount the TV or place it on a stand.

To learn more, check out my guide on how high should you place your tv.

Check the distance between your sofa and your TV

It’s unlikely that anyone reading this is sitting too close to their TV. Sitting closer to your TV has two benefits: it fills more of your field of view (so it’s more immersive) and you can see a greater resolution (the image is more detailed). If you can’t or don’t want to sit closer, you can also get a larger TV. Check out this article on what size TV should you buy for more information.

Pay attention to TV glare sources

Room lighting and reflections are the #1 killers of TV pictures, according to a study I just completed. The fact is that almost every modern TV has a reflective screen, and I don’t care how awesome your lights are, they’re not as interesting as what’s on the TV. Sure, you can just turn off the lights (or close the blinds), but sometimes that’s not easy or possible. If not, check out our article on how to rid your HDTV of reflections.

If you are considering wall mounting, keep in mind all the measurements mentioned so far. Also, if you’re considering getting an LCD monitor, make sure you get a wall mount that can swivel or adjust. With few exceptions, LCD screens perform worse if you’re not sitting directly in front of them. Being able to rotate or move a wall-mounted TV so that it’s aimed directly at your eyeballs will offer a huge improvement in picture quality (compared to the same TV that’s not aimed at you). It is worth mentioning at this point that The weight of the TV is not a limiting factor when it comes to mounting.

Consider More Than Style

When it comes to TV mounts, there are countless options. Consider the height of the TV in addition to the style you like. Most stands are a fairly uniform height, and a few inches above or below ideal won’t matter, but a large TV on a tall stand is not a good idea.

Think about safety, especially if you have young children

It turns out that falling televisions injure many children every year. Discover how to stop your tv from falling if you have lively children or pets.

Don’t Make These Seven Common TV Placement Mistakes

Don’t mount your TV too high

A TV at the right height will appear very low when you are standing. Which is good, since most of the time you won’t be standing when you watch it. Mounting a TV too high can literally be a pain in the neck. If you want a good laugh, there’s a lively subreddit devoted to photos of people who have mounted their TVs too high.

Do not mount a TV above the fireplace

Seriously. Do not mount a TV above a fireplace. For the above reason and many more, not the least of which is that heat is the enemy of all electronics. Even if you never use your fireplace, installing a TV above it is almost always too high to watch from a couch.

Don’t feel limited by a cabinet, bookcase or entertainment center

If you’ve always placed your TV in a cabinet, bookcase, or entertainment center, it’s worth considering losing it. That’s a big ask, especially for a new TV, but consider two things. First, it not only limits the size of TV you can get, but also its quality. If your cabinet can only accommodate a 42-inch TV, know that the best TV technologies like local dimming, OLED, and Mini-LED are almost exclusively available in larger sizes. While they can be found in smaller sizes, there are usually only one or two models. Second, depending on the location of the TV speakers, a piece of furniture could significantly reduce the sound quality and volume of the TV. (If you have a 5.1 speaker system or soundbar, this won’t be a problem.)

Do not place your indoor TV outside

Don’t do it mount a “normal” television outside. There are televisions made for that. Or, if you don’t want to spend the money on a TV designed for outdoors, just be aware that any TV you leave out there probably won’t last long (even if it’s under an awning). It’s best to bring it with you when you’re not using it.

Tip for a professional outdoor projector

If you really want to watch TV outside, consider a projector instead of a TV. The best outdoor projectors, like
Anker Nebula Mars 3 Air is easier to carry than a TV, runs on batteries, and has streaming and built-in speakers.

Details

I don’t feel like I need a “real” TV

For kitchens and bathrooms, a smart display like a Google Nest Hub Or Amazon Echo Show could give you everything you need without the size and hassle of a full-size TV.

Don’t sit too far from your TV

You can get a bigger TV to compensate. At 10 feet away, you could get the biggest TV on the market and still not see the pixels.

Don’t place your TV at an odd angle

If you have to turn your head to see the screen, it will only cause neck pain. Twisting your head a little may not seem like a big deal, but holding it like that for hours can, again, be painful – literally.

Conclusion

Let’s take two rooms as examples. In the first, a large television is mounted high on a wall near one corner, while the nearby sofa and lamps are installed in the opposite corner. The result? A TV that seems smaller than it is, with lots of glare and neck stiffness from constantly turning and looking up. In the second room, the TV is mounted at eye level, the couch is 8 to 9 feet away, and there are no lamps or windows reflecting off the screen. Which theater would you choose for a movie marathon?

Proper placement can determine a significant part of the overall enjoyment of a new TV. It’s worth considering arranging your room to be more conducive to comfortable TV viewing. Not only will you get potential improvements in image and comfort, but in doing so you can free up more space for other things, like a rug that really ties the room together.

Once you’ve determined the location, here’s how configure it. If you’ve already set it up, here’s some important information image quality settings to adjustincluding lower the sharpness control. If you have trouble hearing the dialogue, there is some settings you can adjust that might help.

In addition to covering audio and display technology, Geoff takes photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips, and much more.

Also discover his books Budget travel for dummies and the best-selling science fiction novel on city-sized submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.