MantelMount

Whether you’re single and living alone or you’re catching a moment of solitude in a house packed with kids, sitting down to watch your favorite show or catching up on the game should be an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, for those with kids, having the latest entertainment gadgets often comes with more consideration than simply deciding how high to mount a TV or what kind of flat screen to buy. Free standing TVs, bookshelves, and storage units all present a certain risk to curious kids and toddlers. In fact, Nationwide Children’s Hospital estimated in 2019 that one child was injured every 46 minutes from furniture or TV-related accidents with tip-overs as the leading cause of many of these hospital visits. This statistic alone is enough to make any parent think twice about the safety of their TV set up. Luckily, with some basic safety precautions and companies, like MantelMount, that are devoted to safety, parents can also create the perfect TV-viewing experience in their homes while keeping their little ones safe. Read on to find how to prevent TV tip-overs and baby proof an entertainment center. What Causes a TV Tip-over? Every tip-over incident is circumstantial. Whether a child accidentally trips over an exposed TV wire or they bump into a wobbly TV stand in a bout of excitement, tip-overs are unfortunate but they can be prevented by creating awareness around the common reasons tip-overs happen and baby proofing your TV area accordingly. One of the most common causes of TV tip-overs is placement on a storage shelf or piece of furniture that isn’t meant for a TV. Tall dressers, narrow storage cabinets, and unstable console tables are often much less secure than they appear. And when you add drawers and doors that a child can open, bang shut, or climb, that creates additional risk for a TV to tip. Keep in mind that the safest way to baby proof TV wires and your entertainment center is to safely mount your flat screen on the wall out of reach from a cantankerous toddler. Getting Started Baby Proofing an Entertainment Center Start by Wall Mounting Your TV Many parents and families baby proof the TV area by strapping their TV down to the console or storage cabinet. And while this can provide some level of tip-over prevention, it isn’t an entirely fail safe solution. Modern flat screen TVs are much more top heavy than the bulky CRT TVs of the ‘90s. This means that they are far more prone to swaying and wobbling than a TV with a prominent base. That’s why the best way to baby proof an entertainment center is to mount your TV on the wall. We’ll admit, it’s hard to strike a balance between TV wall mount child safety and placing a TV at the right height for the optimal viewing experience. Better yet, MantelMount pulldown wall mounts give parents the flexibility to lower their TVs to the perfect TV-viewing height when they’re ready to enjoy their favorite movie or show, and place the TV out of reach when the little ones are active at play. Our friendly technicians and customer service reps are always around to answer your burning questions about the installation process, but if you feel prepared to go it alone, here’s a good rule of thumb for finding the right height for your TV. Place a TV within 3 or 6 inches of the TV’s dimensions. For instance, the middle of a 55-inch TV should sit 61” off the ground while the middle of a 70-inch TV should be 67 inches off the floor and centered over a console table or fireplace, if that doesn’t place the TV too high. Secure Any Cabinets to the Wall While mounting your TV will prevent potential injuries from TV tip-overs, it’s also important to secure the furniture around and below your TV to keep kids safe. Console tables, TV cabinets, shelves, open entertainment centers, and any make-shift storage cabinets can easily teeter when kids pull open drawers and doors and venture to climb on top or crawl inside. Securing these pieces to the wall in studs or with drywall mollies will not only eliminate injuries from a wobbly TV, it will also eliminate the potential for injury caused by heavy furniture falling over if it’s rocked or jostled in any way.   Don’t Forget to Baby Proof TV Wires While TV wall mount child safety calls for installing a TV out of reach from young children, it also calls for hiding wires, cable boxes, a sound bar or game consoles that could potentially cause injury or become damaged themselves. The easiest way to do this is to place game consoles and technical accessories behind cabinet doors and secure your entertainment center’s doors shut with child proof handle covers. Additionally, families can secure a sound bar in place with a sound bar adapter built for their TV mount of choice. To baby proof TV wires, parents can invest in cord wraps and protectors and secure wires to the floor or behind TV cabinets and cover any unused outlets around their entertainment center with baby proof power strips and outlet plugs. It may not seem like much, but taking these small steps for baby proofing your entertainment center can go a long way to keep children safe and create a stress-free TV-viewing environment. To learn more about MantelMount, contact our friendly customer service representatives for more information. Or, if you’re ready to get started with an installation today, find a dealer and an installer near you.

Since the 1980s, television watchers have gone from big boxy TVs and their television consoles to very streamlined and mountable televisions with a crisp and clear picture. Televisions were invented nearly 100 years ago — in 1927, to be exact (though the first televisions were sold in 1929) — and one could say we’ve come a long way since then. However, since the late 1990s, televisions have become more widely-sought after (especially with upgrading older television models!) due to the high quality of the products. Even more recently there have been questions about what kinds of television sets are better. For instance, a big debate is plasma TV vs LED televisions, which we will look into now, including asking: What is the difference between plasma and LED TVs? What is a Plasma TV? To get to the bottom of the difference between plasma and LED TVs, it’s important to first understand what a plasma TV is. Despite the fact that plasma TVs, also referred to as Plasma Display Panels, have not been made since 2014 nor are they longer on the market, they are still one of the most popular types of televisions in households across the US for many reasons including lifespan and durability.  A plasma TV is a television display that contains millions of minute compact fluorescent lamps (or CFLs) that are turned on and off, according to the electronic circuit that subsequently regulates the individual pixels on the television screen. This is also where plasma TVs get their name. Each of these microscopic CFLs are pumped with gas and once the gas has been triggered by the electronic circuit, the gas is called plasma. Therefore, the plasma literally lights up the plasma television screen.  In the late 1990s and into the early and mid-2000s, plasma televisions were on the top of the list of TVs that a consumer would want to buy. The quality of the plasma televisions, even on large screen televisions, was a difference of night and day as the vibrancy and tone of colors on the screen had much more substance to them than older types of televisions. What is an LED TV? After unpacking what a plasma TV is, let’s look at what an LED TV is. Although when looking at a plasma TV vs LED, it may not seem too different, which is true, but there are small differences between the two.  When looking at the bare bones of what is an LED TV, an LED TV is, simply, a television screen that uses a backlight. This means that, similar to an LCD, an LED television makes use of light — hence the LED acronym of the name Light-Emitting Diode — rather than a gas or plasma. While an LCD TV uses cold-cathode fluorescent lamps for the backlight, an LED television uses the same foundation as an LCD but uses LED lights instead of CCFLs for the backlight. In fact, LED TVs and LCD TVs are so similar that they often can be referred to interchangeably. Not only is there a difference between plasma and LED TVs but there is also a difference between LED, OLED, and QLED TVs. There’s not a large alteration between them as an LED uses the aforementioned LED lights for the backlight, an OLED — standing for Organic Light-Emitting Diode — utilizes its organic chemical elements to independently light up each pixel, and a QLED — which is a Quantum Dot LED — replaces older LED technology by showcasing a richer and higher dynamic color spectrum. So when you’re shopping for an LED TV, and come across OLED or QLED TVs, make note to check out those televisions as well. What TV Should I Choose: Plasma TV vs LED? We can’t tell you flat out what type of television to choose — although with plasma TVs not in shops, it’ll be more difficult to find one — but it certainly is important to understand the differences between plasma and LED TVs. Although both televisions will provide great sound and picture quality for years, it’s important to consider the display when choosing between a plasma or LED TV.  Trying to make good use of a TV’s sound quality? You’ll need to be mindful of where the television is located within a living room, especially a small one, when considering acoustics. Will you need the television mounted on a wall or above a fireplace for an optimal viewing angle to take full advantage of the sharpness of the screen’s images? MantelMount products, ranging from consumer-centric pull down TV mounts to second generation Pro pull down TV mounts made for heavier televisions, can be used to bring a great eye-level television watching experience to your living room or wherever you watch your television. Whether you’re reinventing ways to make use of your old plasma TV or are buying an LED TV, you now have the plasma TV vs LED comparison knowledge. Whatever television you are using to mount, it’ll be vital to take into consideration the sound quality, visual quality, cost, and energy efficiency of the television to make your overall viewing experience a great one.

Maybe you’ve just moved or maybe you’re tired of staring at the same four walls while housebound in the pandemic. Either way, you’re ready to refresh the decor, or perhaps move around the furniture, to get a new look.It makes sense to start with the spaces you spend the most time in—the living room, the bedroom, the den. Also, we’re betting your Netflix subscription has been netting its money’s worth. So, we suggest that you start your redecorating with the TV wall, updating your TV placement and decor—after all, if that’s where you are looking every day, it may as well be the best view in the house, whether the TV is on or off.One of the choices you’ll want to make is whether to have your TV wall mounted or have it sit on a media console, dresser, or other piece of furniture. Naturally, we have some thoughts on this. The Allure of a Wall-Mounted TV Our recommendation is always for a wall-mounted TV, even if you do want a media console under it. Here’s why: It makes the surfaces below—be it a console, a credenza, or just the floor—a lot easier to clean. It leaves those same surfaces free for other uses, practical or decorative. It makes it easier to access the TV itself and its wiring for repairs, cleaning, and moving. With the right pull down TV mount—namely, MantelMount—you get far more flexibility on angle and height adjustments than you can manage with a TV stand. With a stand, you cannot customize much for different individuals, or even the same viewer, moving around the room. A wall mount also offers far more versatility for decor around it, because you don’t have to worry about the piece of furniture supporting your TV being large or sturdy enough—this means you can choose period pieces, more lightweight, or minimalist options. It’s a better bet by far for tight spaces, or when your TV wall is along a high-traffic path—like on a wall between two doors. You can also raise it out of reach of children and pets! Whatever height you choose, a wall-mounted TV eliminates tipping risks. This is safer for people and safer for the TV, too, especially if you spent a large chunk of cash on it.   We trust you are now convinced that the way your TV goes should be up—up on the wall! Now, let’s brainstorm placement and design. Placement of your Wall-Mounted TV The most important factors you want to consider when placing your TV are the size of it, the size and shape of the room, and where you will be sitting—or lying!—when you watch. Choosing a TV wall mount with a built-in tilt, and especially the option to lower the TV, will help when you go from sitting up in bed to slouching on the floor with your pet or toddler. MantelMount’s wall mount options can lower the TV by up to 27 inches! TV Size You might be wondering, “How high should I mount a flat-screen TV?” If you have a broader screen, it is better off mounted a little higher for a better viewing angle. This way, objects placed on furniture below—or people sitting in front of or across from you—don’t have a chance to obscure the lower edge. Room Size You should be sitting about twice the distance from your TV wall as your TV’s size—so, a 60-inch TV calls for you to sit 10 feet (120 inches) away. This, in turn, can dictate which wall works best for the TV mount. Besides, a wider room, especially one zoned for different activities, can call for a larger swivel angle from the TV mount—more so if your TV is on the longest wall. Function and Furniture Placement When choosing which wall to mount your TV on, consider the placement in terms of how you use the room, as well as how light hits the wall you are considering by day and by night: Mounting between windows can be best to avoid glare—unless you have a lot of ambient streetlight that gets in your eyes! Can you use blinds to cut out glare from a nearby window, or do you prefer more daylight? Can you move around lamps or redirect spotlights by night? If you prefer to watch movies with the lights dimmed, which TV wall makes it less likely for someone to trip on furniture when they go to get a drink? How likely is someone to cut across your sightline? You don’t want to be sitting on the couch with a dining table between you and your TV—interruptions are guaranteed. Similarly, if your favorite recliner is positioned on one side of a doorway and the TV on the other, how often does someone stroll in and cross the room? If you’re a serious audiophile, you may need to consider the conflict with existing sound equipment and the acoustics of the room. Think hard about whether you really need a wall-mounted TV shelf just underneath. We know it’s a common arrangement. But, you chose freedom from furniture when you did away with the stand. So, unless it is making a visual point, we have better ideas for storage on that wall below! Let’s move on to room-specific decor for our two favorite TV-viewing spots: the bedroom and the living room (also applicable to the den). Wall-mounted TV Ideas for the Bedroom If your bedtime routine ends with the remote control, here are some of our favorite TV placements: Over the dresser: Because most of us have one, and it is often across from the foot of the bed, this makes sense. Should you want more artwork or storage on the same wall, incorporate the TV into your gallery as just another frame. Let the dresser cue where to place the remote by day, too! On the wall, over the bed: If you have a small bedroom, you might mount the TV directly over the foot of the bed, or you might have it on the wall your bed is pushed up against lengthwise, so that you can watch from your favorite lounge chair across the room. Over the head of the bed! Now, hear us out—some of us have partners who don’t appreciate the distraction at their feet. Get them a sleep mask, or move the bed a little further off the wall, and place the TV behind the headboard—et voila! Less light from the TV will reach them while they sleep. For yourself, invest in a cozy couch on the far wall—and headphones, of course. On the wall opposite the bed: This will make excellent sense if you have a convertible sofa or daybed. Use the space as a living space, as well as sleeping there at night. Higher than your climber toddler: If this TV is going in the kids’ bedroom, place it higher than the shelves your youngest is likely to climb. This is one room where you do not want it anywhere near the bed! (We know kids get bouncy in their castle!) Instead of art: This is the room where you may most want a TV that looks less like tech, so the non-intrusive design of one of the new frame TVs could be for you. Samsung is the leader of these TVs that look just like art when switched off, thanks to the bevel-edged cabinet and white border on the aptly named The Frame. This one resembles mounted artwork, but others, like Sony, LG, TCL, Vizio, Sharp, and Hisense, are doing these slender-bezel TVs, too. There’s even the rotating Sero from Samsung, which looks like an easel in a corner. Alternatively, consider LG’s roll-up screen, which allows the cabinet to even sit right at the foot of the bed or under a window, without disrupting your view. Mirror, mirror, on the wall… Is that a TV, after all? Try a mirror TV, which is literally a looking glass in idle mode, and a perfectly logical accessory in the bedroom, above the dresser! Samsung, Loewe, LG, and Sony are some brands that manufacture these. This is also the TV that can hang across from the bathtub. Wall-mounted TV Ideas for the Living Room Chances are the TV is sharing space with many more activity centers in your living room—this might be the place for family movie nights, or a solo binge-watching saga, but it may also hold the kids’ play area, your pet’s favorite nap spot, the family board games, your music, your knitting… and maybe your dining area. For some of us, this is our home office by day, too!There’s a lot going on, so it can be hard to decide where to focus. Consider:  Space-sharing with other tech: Do you also use the room for homework, a home office, and so forth? Would you want the TV recessed to allow for a sliding whiteboard, say? If you already use that equipment, you can save wall space by putting both on the same wall. Insert in the dip between taller cabinets: Can you move book shelves or other taller furniture apart to balance them visually on either side of the TV? It’s the natural resting place for your eyes, as they travel from corner to corner. Or, put it between pillars and bridge them with a long shelf to underline that flat-screen! You can do the same bracketing with tall plants or framed portraits. Call it modern art: Integrate the TV into a gallery of artwork and mirrors—it can even be off-center within the arrangement of frames, as long as the overall shape of your gallery squares up. Make it a son et lumière: Got a sound bar in the same room? Use it under the TV like a shelf to underscore the screen! There’s less visual clutter and it’s also more compact. (Chances are the acoustics will replicate well, too!) Visual buffet over the breakfast bar: This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you have one of those busy households where everyone’s catching up on the game or the news, then you may as well put the TV on the far wall! Send it to the naughty corner: If you’re really short of space for sitting or viewing, consider a cater-corner mount. Beyond the big couch: Is it practical for some people to be reading or pursuing other hobbies with their backs to the TV? If so, you can have the TV mounted behind one couch, facing your other sofas.  Integrate your Wall-mounted TV with Existing Shelves, Art, and Cabinetry Just because you wall-mounted your TV does not mean it has to dominate your decor. If you prefer your media consumption to stay a little low-key, or just need a lot more storage to share your TV’s wall space, you might want to try one of these ideas for integrating your wall-mounted TV into the existing decor:  Frame it or curtain it: A recessed TV allows you to shut doors or curtains over it when not in use. Borrow the veneer off existing cabinetry or match your upholstery. You can even drop a window-sized blind over it—better still if you can match the size of your existing window treatments for full camouflage. You won’t even know the TV is there. It will be even more of a talking point when revealed, of course! Furniture can sit right under it without competing or looking unlikely—you can even place a bench there. Soften the high-tech edge with natural textures: Even if your flat-screen is on full view, you can lessen the impact by sharing the wall with lots of natural materials—wooden (or veneer) shelves, basketry, live or artificial plants, prints from nature, animal sculptures, and similar items. In this case, keep the overall arrangement of shelves asymmetrical, since nature typically isn’t all that matchy-matchy. Balance it with the handmade marvels: Similar to the earlier idea, this one softens the TV’s contemporary lines with hanging textiles (even a rug!), pottery, baskets, masks, and more on the same wall. Consider some living-edge wood shelves for this one. Modern masterpiece: For anything from mid-century modern to industrial decor, the TV integrates easily with a few geometric shapes, or a minimal bare wall in an urban grey or greige. In this case, rather than shelves, push up period-appropriate furniture along the walls for storage. Alleviate the all-black: If you have a lot of black about the place, consider putting the TV on a wallpapered wall to break it up. Or, alternatively, maybe a texture wall, especially if your other blacks are shiny, too—think pleather, granite, glass... Add grayscale: If your decor is mostly in other shades, like beiges, greens, blues, and pinks, consider adding some greys to tie the TV screen in when switched off. A more pastel theme in particular helps the black of the TV to find common ground easily. A single tall lamp, a throw, or maybe a handful of small objects on the coffee table will do. Final countdown: Which mount to choose? So, we’ve already seen why you would want a mount with: Tilt capabilities—for different heights of viewers in the same chair! (Your toddler should not get a crick in his/her neck anymore than you.) A good swivel angle—for corner to corner viewing. Impressive height adjustability—from floor-level to bunk-bed viewer, say? You also want, of course: Ease of use for everyone—from kids to grandparents, taking into account disabilities, too. Ease of installation. Some degree of economy, please! We suggest MantelMount, of course, so you can rest assured on all the above counts.

Put down the measuring tape! Before you install your TV mount, we have some pointers to assure that your TV is at a perfect viewing level no matter what your set up is. Viewing without Regrets The placement of your TV mount is crucial to your entertainment room's decor and your overall viewing enjoyment. After all, is there anything worse than craning your neck to watch TV after a long day? There are a few things that you need to analyze before deciding on the best place to mount your TV. You need to determine how the TV in the room you’re installing it in is going to be used. Factors like viewing, functionality, seating, and more can all come into play. So, let’s get started! Standard Seating View How high should I mount my TV in a standard viewing setting? Typically for a standard living room set up, you would position your TV 42 inches on-center, measuring from the floor up. This is because a sofa is usually about 18 inches in height, giving you an extra 24 inches, so the TV rests at your eye level. If your sofa is shorter or taller than this, recalculate accordingly. Bar Stool Seating When you are mounting a TV in a home bar, you want the TV to be at eye level for people sitting on bar stools. For this, we recommend moving from the 42-inch mark to 48 inches or 53 inches on-center.  Above Fireplace Mounting Another popular question people have when they purchase a TV mount is how high should a TV be mount above their fireplace?   The rule of thumb is, if your mantel is less than four feet from the floor, you should mount your TV about 12 inches above it. This rule applies to a fireplace without a mantel as well. However, if you have a fireplace that is more than 4 feet tall, we recommend mounting the TV about 6 inches above the fireplace for a more comfortable view. Mounting a TV with Obstructed Views Sometimes the way a room is laid out can pose certain issues when you are mounting your TV. Luckily there is an answer to how high a TV should be mounted when you are in this situation. To avoid interference with a piece of furniture or an appliance, mount the TV as close to eye-level as you can, ensuring there are about 6 inches of clearance between the obstruction and your TV. Let’s Do This! We hope this blog assists you in mounting your TV! If you're still in the process of shopping for a TV mount, look no further than MantelMount. Our patented construction combines high-quality components and state-of-the-art counterbalance technology, allowing anyone to easily pull a large flat-screen TV down off the wall, suspend it at eye-level in front of a fireplace, and swivel it left or right for the perfect view.

When it comes to pulldown mounts for flatscreen televisions, we simply don’t have any competition; it’s not bragging, it’s just fact.  As we’ve pointed out in previous blogs, only a few mounts are even capable of vertical movement.  And of those, none has the range of features that MantelMount has.  The truth is, although we reign supreme in the world of flatscreen TV mounts, we do have some serious competition in the larger mount universe:  Mount Everest. At 29,029 feet, Mount Everest is Earth’s highest mountain, the one that all others mountains wish they could be.  Almost 7,000 climbs have been made to the summit of this 60-million-year-old behemoth by over 4000 climbers, with close to 300 deaths.  Many local names still exist for this behemoth, including Chomolungma in Tibet (“Mother Goddess of the Universe”) and Sagarmatha in Nepal (Goddess of the Sky”).  Listen, we know we’ve got a great mount, but nobody’s calling us goddess of anything. Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial features 60-foot-high heads of four U.S. presidents: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.  The memorial was created to represent the first 130 of American history.  These four presidents were selected because of “their role in preserving the republic and expanding its territory.”  This impressive display was conceived by sculptor Gutzon Borglun and carved with assistance from his son and 400 workers; the entire project took 14 years, from 1927 to 1941.  (Our one advantage: it will not take 14 years to install a MantelMount unit).              Anson Mount. Born February 25, 1973, Anson Mount is a well-known (and in our opinion, very good) American actor.  He portrayed the fictional character Cullen Bohannon in the AMC Western drama series, Hell on Wheels.  He was also cast in the role of Jim Steele on the short-lived NBC Series Conviction.  He appeared in the popular thrillers Straw Dogs (2011) and Non-Stop (2014).  He was recently cast as the Marvel Comics superhero Black Bolt in the upcoming series Marvel’s Inhumans, a show we intend to watch religiously (at the proper viewing angle, of course).  The Royal Mounties. World-renowned for their bravery, tradition, and spiffy uniforms, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the official Canadian National Police Service and an agency of the Ministry of Public Safety Canada.  It is unique because it is a National, Federal, Provincial and Municipal policing body all rolled into one.  The RCMP is responsible for the capture of some of the world’s most notorious criminals and has been glamorized in all forms of media, including movies, books, and televisions shows.  If one of our units gets stolen anywhere in Canada, the RCMP will find it; after all, as the saying goes, “They Always Get Their Man(telMount).” Matching up against the other flatscreen television mounts in the marketplace is not a particularly tough challenge for us.  But as you can see, there are some other impressive mounts out there that can give us a run for our money.  ###

Although purchasing a MantelMount pull down TV mount or drop down and swivel TV mount will enhance your TV viewing experience, there are other factors at play, including lighting, comfortability with furniture — and understanding just how far away from the TV you should sit with couches or chairs — as well as knowing what the ideal TV viewing distance is and taking advantage of that. There are a number of articles talking about the optimum distance between you and your TV, so we’ve filtered through a number of them to cull the best advice. Recommended Viewing Distance The process can be a bit tricky. If you’re a TV watcher that tends to sit back far, the risk is there to lose the sharp detail that you paid for when you bought your HDTV in the first place (if you have a 4K TV or 8K TV, then you spent even more money for more detail).  However, if you’re someone who might sit a little too close, the individual pixels start to become visible and, ultimately, distracting. Furthermore, there are health factors when a viewing angle is so close including audio distortion and eye strain. Ultimately, you have to find that happy medium. Here, we break down the best viewing distance for your living room’s TV screen size. First, the concept of the science behind picture quality. Pixels, Standard Definition, High Resolution TVs, and All That In Between When understanding the best TV viewing range, one of the first things to understand is the concept of pixels. Every digital image is made up of a grid of colored dots or squares called pixels.  For instance, a 1080p HDTV has 1080 rows of 1920 pixels each. That’s a grand total of 2,073,600 pixels; it doesn’t matter whether the TV size is a 43-inch TV, a 55-inch TV, or a larger TV (think 100 inches wide), the number of pixels remains constant. What does change, however, is the size of the pixels; the bigger the TV screen, the easier it is to see them — which is not ideal since pixels should be too small to see. THX — the company founded by legendary filmmaker George Lucas, which develops high-fidelity, audio/visual reproduction standards for movie theaters, immersive experience screening rooms, and home theaters — offers a simple formula for calculating the closest you can get to an HDTV without seeing the pixels: Divide the advertised TV size by 0.84. However, there are opposing points of view. In a TechHive article, the writer notes, “The speaker manufacturer Aperion Audio recommends that you not sit closer than six and a half feet from a 50-inch 1080p set. Aperion also recommends you sit no farther than 9 feet 9 inches for the best viewing experience.” TV Size Viewing Distance Range Via the THX calculation, figure one foot of distance for every 10 inches of screen size. Keep in mind that the viewing distance formula does not take into consideration the field of view from your couch or any glare or external factor which might require a change is your seating preferences while watching TV. For the following TV screen sizes, this should be the viewing distance: 43-inch TV: At least 4.3 feet away 55-inch TV: At least 5.5 feet away 65-inch TV: At least 6.5 feet away 75-inch TV: At least 7.5 feet away 4K TVs and 8K TVs, however, present a different issue. Because of the high-definition screen with the high resolution picture quality that they come with, as well as the advanced clarity and sharpness, you can sit closer, but that will cause audio issues. Our advice? Move a little bit closer, maybe 6 inches to a foot. Are you looking for even more data around viewing distance and TV screen size? This piece from The Home Cinema Guide delves into more of the nitty gritty of how far away from the TV should you sit, in addition to having a distance calculator. Interested in understanding more about the science behind screen size and viewing distance? The following video should give insight into the decisions behind how close you should be sitting from a TV, which includes information from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (or SMPTE) and the standards for audio and visual experiences. Video via Linus Tech Tips How a Mount Helps in the Optimal Viewing Distance for your TV Watching For a television mount, a pull down mount helps to optimize the viewing experience for anyone — those wanting a more home movie theater experience to those playing video games on the TV — and for any TV screen size. Ultimately, it’s about your own watching TV seating preferences, in which nothing is set in stone. However, by utilizing a pull down TV mount or drop down and swivel TV mount, in addition to understanding the optimal viewing distance for TV preferences, the experience will be that much more enhanced. So whether you are having a big family movie night with people scattered about the living room on couches, chairs, and on the floor, or you are enjoying laying down playing a game, with a pillow propping up your neck, the combination of knowing how far away from the TV you should sit and a TV mount will get you to that sweet spot of your ideal TV viewing distance.