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A flat-panel TV mounted on the wall of your living room can add anew dimension to your decor.
Upgrading your bulky living-room television to a slim flat-paneltelly, either LCD or plasma, carries a hidden benefit beyond thebigger screen, better pictures and access to HD channels. It meansyou can rethink the room's layout and free up that corner nook orfloor space where that squat television once sat. Flat screensalmost beg to be mounted on a wall, hanging like a high-techlandscape painting. In fact, with the right set, you can run aslide show of your favourite photos during dinner parties to createa simple yet eye-catching element to the evening.
Indeed, the whole high-definition wave means you can slim down thatstack of devices parked under and around the television. TheBlu-ray deck doubles as your CD player. The Foxtel iQ2 or TiVointegrates a video recorder with your digital set-top box. Your ampcontains an AM/FM receiver, and you may as well throw out thatcassette deck that you never use anyway.
Now you've got only three units to deal with, and these can oftenbe accommodated in a single attractive AV stand or some other pieceof furniture. But the television is the centrepiece of yourhome-theatre system, so this is where to start .
In most homes the television is tucked into a corner. You shoved itthere because it was ugly and very deep, but now you can have aflat screen on a wall and it doesn't look obtrusive, says AudioConnections managing director Adam Merlino.
Merlino also describes the corner of a room as the worst place youcould put a TV these days, when sound and image are so important.Instead, look to mount it on a wide wall so you've got ample roomfor separation between the left and right speakers as well as thecentre channel, which should sit directly below the TV. Corners areusually not big enough, compared with all the space you have on awall. Everything these days is about surround-sound Blu-ray, Foxteland even games consoles so you can really immerse yourself in thesound and have it envelop you from around the screen.
The bottom edge of the screen should be about 900mm to one metreoff the floor. This matches the height of most lounges and ensuresyou're not craning your neck up for hours at a time when watchingTV.
Mounting your TV on the wall can require a longer HDMI cable thancomes with the unit, and this is the time to spend a little more ona premium-grade cable. Most manufacturers give you a cheap HDMIcable to get you up and running, and it works OK, says TrevorRooney, from Len Wallis Audio. But there's great potential to getmore out of that box, be it a Blu-ray player, Foxtel or just yourTV. That means investing $100-$150 on a top-quality HDMI cable.