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