Rule of thumb for mounting height?

[adybaines]

Hi to all,

just wondering about what different heights people have mounted there plasmas at on the wall, is there a perfect height/formula or a rule of thumb people follow or just whatever suits.

im mounting my pd7200 on sat and thinking about mounting it so the centre of the plasma is level with my eyeline, is this what others have done or should i base it on something else for the perfect height??

many thanks

andy

[andythescientis]

Scientifically the height most easy on the eyes is at or below eye level.

Basically to look up the eye muscles have to be contracted, while to look down the muscles are relaxed.

This is supposidly how hypnotism works as they always hold the dangly swingy thing above your eye level meaning your eyes have to work hard to track it. Hence "your eyes are getting sleepy" type gubbins

[yellowpostit]

I made a cardboard cutout of the screen size and taped it to the wall so try out different heights. In the end, I mounted it so that the horizontal centre was at my eye level when seated. It looks like the natural height

[Fusewire]

I used a similer method to yellowpostit - although I did not have to get the scissors and cardbopard out, luckily we had a door mat that was exactly the same size as my screen so I experimented sticking the door mat to the wall with carpet tape in various positions . The misses thought I had gone totaly mad but it does work . I was going to put the screen in the centre of the wall but thanks to the door mat I found that it was best for me 3-4 inches above the centre line.

I think a lot depends on how tall you are and how high the chair is you are sitting on and how close your eyes are together etc etc......so you are just going to have to get the cardboard and scissors out, unless you have a door mat like mine (door mat came from poundland by the way)

[DenzilTK421]

Andy what type of Scientis are you? Muscles work in pairs, and there will muscels that contract to look down. for example - To make you arm straighten at the elbow, your tricepts need to contract - it is not you bicept relaxing that does the starighting.
Tis all true - but I hope you are reading this with humor present!

Anyhows - I am set to do the same with my new screen - and I am going to place at eye level from the most common viewing position. At the cinema you tend to sit at the mid level upwards - the screen is then at eye level, or slightly down (Which i agree is a far more relaxed position). You don't want to be looking up as this will in more ways than one become a pain in the neck!

[Liam @ Prog AV]

Originally Posted by DenzilTK421

Andy what type of Scientis are you? Muscles work in pairs, and there will muscels that contract to look down. for example - To make you arm straighten at the elbow, your tricepts need to contract - it is not you bicept relaxing that does the starighting.
Tis all true - but I hope you are reading this with humor present!

Ahh but physics would suggest the more energy is required to raise the arm than lower it, even if in both cases both sets of muscles are doing work in one direction they are doing more work than the other

Anyway, I work to around one metre to the middle of the screen ideally. But usually end up having to push them up a bit to accomodate aesthetic requirements. Mine is about 80cm to the middle and is perfect for my low slung sofa

[Fusewire]

Good point Liam about the downward movement of the eyes needing less effort thant the upward one, using this same logic should we not also consider the hoizonal positon of the screen in order to reduce the strain on the legs during the walk to the bear fridge when the adverts are on

What is best - closer to the kitchen for the fridge or closer to the loo for when relief is required

[Liam @ Prog AV]

Ahh didn't take that into account. In my lounge the beer fridge is within arms reach of my sofa.....

No in-cinema toilet yet though!!!!!

[Fusewire]

I will be liberating the beer fridge from the kitchen over the weekend operation codename: 'carling crusade'

Still have no solution for the in cinema toilet though - perhaps we should start a new thread - "How to I wall mount a toliet to a dot & dab plasterboard"

[Liam @ Prog AV]

PMSL!!!!! I'm quite worried about myself - just after posting I sat back for five minutes and did seriuosly contemplate the logisitics of it! Anyone see that episode of Men Behaving Badly lol

[Drd]

Do a Catch 22 white man,switch the catheter bag to the drip and vice versa.Easy!No different from London tap-water!

Anyway,back on thread,I read somewhere,probably on here,that the ideal height was to have the screen so that 2/3 was above your eyeline and 1/3 below.I did the large piece of cardboard (more entertaining than many tv shows) thing and by sheer coincidence i found that the most comfortable height was within an inch of aforesaid height.

Now,where's my beer...........

[andythescientis]

Amasingly enough there are actually 6 muscles in each eye. Seriously though try looking up, compared to looking level or slightly downwards (not looking right downwards) and you'll see how much more effort it takes to look even slightly upwards

[IronGiant]

Damn,
So I need a working triangle between my screen, fridge and loo. I thought that was just in the kitchen. This home Cinema lark is more complicated than I thought

We put our Plasma above a false fire mantle shelf and have no problems with it at that height (out of the range of sticky fingers)

dave

[Kahuna]

Another thing to consider is that if you are reclining then you can still be looking down even if the screen is above eye level.

[Not A Clue]

Smething someone suggested previously on avforums worked a treat for me (as well as sticking up cardboard)...sit on you sofa and close you eyes, move you head around a bit with you eyes closed and carefully position you head (with eyes still closed) until it is in the most comfortable position and then open you eyes and hey presto thats the optimum watch height !

I tried the above and it suggested mid-screen should be about a meter of the floor - I then traded comfort off slightly for looks and made the bottom of my plasma 1 meter of the floor....

Very comfortable to watch and looks great on the wall !