as you guys know i have a 50in plasma hung into a custom made indent over my fireplace. the couch is 14ft away from the fireplace and the bottom of the plasma is 5ft 2in from the floor. the plasma is on a tilt mount in the most tilted position, but i'm afriad i hung the tv too high as its slightly uncomfortable to watch. i can't lower it because it sits in a custom made indent in the fireplace. i know ideally the tv at eye level is best.

But given my seating distance of 14ft and the bottom of the 50in plasma at 62in high and hung on a tilt mount, would you guys find it uncomforable too watch or am i just being a perfectionist?

is their anything else i can do to compensate for the tv height?

If it feels uncomfortable to you, then it's officially uncomfortable.

If the plasma can't move down, is there any chance the sitting position (couch) can rise a bit? Even just a 12" riser might make a big difference in your comfort. It's commonly (and relatively easily) done in dedicated theater rooms, but it's rare in living spaces so the logistics may be hard to pull off.

My 42" plasma is over my fireplace too and the bottom is 52" off the floor. My seating distance is 10' from the plasma. At first it was a little uncomfortable compared to straight-on viewing but I solved the problem with the combination of a tilt mount and a LazyBoy recliner sofa. Its awsome to recline with a small neck pillow and watch a movie. Gonk's suggestion of a short riser would also work. I suggest you give it a while and I bet you find its not a big deal in the long run.

hey avfan is your TV in the most tilted it can be or somewhere in the middle between flat and the most tilted permited from the mount?

I'd guess my TV is tilted about 7 to 8 degrees which is about half of the available tilt. The angle I look up is about 6 degrees. My eyes are approximately 40" off the floor, the bottom of the screen is 52" off the floor and I sit about 10' away. Remembering my high school trig yields just short of 6 degrees. I was hoping to get the screen perpendicular to the line of sight. You may want to experiment with the angle to find one that avoids reflections but still provides good viewing.

Forgot to add that in your situation, 14' seating distance and 62" off the floor and assuming a 40" eye height, you would tilt the screen about 8 degrees to have the TV perpendicular to your line of sight. Most mounts have about 15 degrees of tilt so set it about 1/2 way and see how it looks. Let us know what you think.

actually avfan i remeasured, and my tv height is 55in up and i'm sitting 14ft from it. my tilt is set at approx. 3/4 of max and i'm liking the results. sound good?

i'm liking the results better now. i honestly was getting concerned because after all of this work to get everything right and if the tv is comfortable to watch is kills everything.

the tv being higher then normal could also add to the movie theater experience making what your watching seem more important at least that's what i tell myself. thanks. angelo.

Yes, sounds great gooomz. Your viewing angle is less than mine and my family has adapted to looking slightly up without any issues. Enjoy your setup!

hey avfan please help. remember my 50in tv is 55in off the floor and my new seating distance is 13ft from it but my tilt is set to 15 degrees max. my tv is recessed in the wall and it is extremely difficult to change the new max setting.

what happens if the tv is at 15 degrees as opposed to the ideal tilt? and at 15 degrees what would be the ideal viewing distance for i can move my viewing distance a few feet each way.

and given these measurements at 13ft what tilt would be ideal anyway? thanks for your help. angelo.

I gotta dust off a trig book so I'll get back to you later today.

thanks avfan i really appreciate four help. talk to you later. angelo

Is the bottom of the plasma at 55" or at 62"? I can leave the dust on my trig book and "cheat" in AutoCAD real quickly if I know that...

Let me give you my assumptions so if someone wants to check my results they can. When I previously calculated the tilt I assumed you'd be looking at the bottom of your plasma. Seemed kind of odd so for this latest go-round I've assumed the line of sight is to the center of a 50" plasma with a height of about 28" and you want to view the plasma straight on at 90 degrees. I've also assumed that your eyes will be 40" off the floor or 15" below the bottom of the screen.

Doing the trig you'd need your eyes just under 6' from the center of the plasma to have the line of sight perpendicular to the plasma tilted at 15 degrees. If you move your seating position back to 13', and again looking at the center of the plasma, you need to tilt the plasma to just about 10 degrees. This tilt amount is more than before because now the line of sight is to the center of the plasma where before it was to the bottom.

Plasmas can be viewed over a 160 degree horizontal arc, but I don't know if that applies to vertical too. What this means is that it may not make much difference in you viewing experience if your line of sight is not at precisely a 90 degree angle.

gonk and avfan, the bottom of my 50in plasma TV is 55in from the floor, i'm sitting 13ft from it and the TV is tilted at 15 degrees.

1.At 13ft viewing distance what should be the ideal tilt angle?

2.Secondly, it seems that i won't be able to change the tilt angle that easily anymore so if it is stuck at 15 degree tilt what is the ideal seating distance from the TV because i can adjust the distance i sit from the tv?

I ran through the layout using AvFan's 40" eye level. At 13' from seat to screen, you will be looking up at an 11 degree angle. At 14' from the screen, you are looking up at a 10 degree angle. If you use those angles to adjust your support, that puts your line of sight perpendicular to the screen. Of course, as AvFan points out, plasma's are pretty good about off-axis viewing, so the picture quality may not benefit greatly. The bit of downward angle may help with glare from ceiling lights, but that will depend on a lot of other variables as well - it may not help at all, and of course if you are watching with the lights off it'll cease to matter.

besides glare and reflections aren't tilt mounts made to enhance viewing comfort when the tv is above your direct line of vision?

one last thing, when you guys say reflections do you mean from windows and such when the sun shines on the tv and by tilting the tv most of the time those reflections would lessen. is that right?

thanks for your help avfan and gonk

gooomz,

I tried a flush position with my plasma first because it hugged the wall better, but the screen reflected a bunch of stuff around my family room so I tilted it approximately 8 degrees. We watch TV with the lights on low but it is amazing how many little LEDs you have in your house. Some of those, along with regular lights we like to have on, could be seen in the plasma when it was flush mounted. The tilt greatly reduced those. Nothing really helps reflections during daytime, but a plasma's brightness allows you to look past most of the daytime reflections. I think the tilt helps with viewer comfort but you are still looking up a few degrees.

If I recall you have the Panasonic TH-50PH9UK which is a 720p, well 768p really, set. If that is the case you don't want to sit any closer than about 6 or 7 feet because you will begin to see the pixels of the monitor. Carlton Bales web site has a cool chart that compares seating distance to screen resolution. I can provide the link later. I think you made a wise choice of monitors since you wouldn't really be able to see the benefit of a 1080p (Panasonics TH-50PF9UK) monitor from a 13' viewing distance. Plus you saved around $2,500. Hey, maybe you can justify more toys!

Thanks, gonk for confirming my rusty trig.

one more stupid trig question, since i'm stuck at a 15 degree viewing angle (its super hard to adjust since its recessed in the wall) and i am 13ft away it should only be a little less comfortable to view rather then the ideal 11 degree angle. right? since i'm watching it at a greater angle then ideal 11 degrees i'm just losing a little comfort, not any image quality loss. right?

I don't think you are loosing any image quality with the greater tilt. What you might be getting are reflections that you would not otherwise see if the tilt was at about 10 to 11 degrees. However, the only way you are going to see for sure is to adjust the tilt, which sounds like it is difficult. Also, comfort should be the same since the angle you are looking up won't change regardless of the plasma's tilt setting.

What kind of mount do you have? Most of the tilting universal mounts out there allow for the plasma to be lifted up an inch or so and separate the two parts of the mount; the part connected to the wall and the second one connected to the back of the plasma. The recess shouldn't prevent you from removing the plasma (if so, how could it have been installed it in the first place?) and changing the tilt. That Panasonic weights over 80 pounds so you need a strong friend or two to safely remove it, but if done carefully I think you should be able to make a tilt adjustment. If you had it installed I'm sure you could get the installers to come out and make an adjustment for a price. Just my 2 cents.

it was extremely hard to get it in because the recess is almost an exact fit and to take it out is even harder. thanks for all your help. angelo

Sounds like you'd need to use those industrial suction cups used to handle plate glass on the plasma screen to get it out...just kidding as the Panasonic manual specifies how to lift it. I know you've said it all along but it is unfortunate that you can't change the tilt. I guess we are back to where we started, how does the plasma look from 13' and tilted at 15 degrees? If you don't have too many nasty reflections enjoy your very nice plasma as is. If the reflections really distract you then maybe the effort to remove and adjust it will be worth it. Regardless, you have a great plasma and I'm envious!