You’ll have to double check the diagonal screen size and weight of your TV before making a purchase. Most flat-panel mounts list both criteria, so you’ll see products that handle TVs 20 to 37 inches, or up to 100 pounds, for example. Ensure that the mount is also compatible with your brand of display.
Display mounts not only let you have a TV that’s snug against your wall, but many also include horizontal and vertical tilting and articulating so you can cover a wider viewing area. This comes in handy if you’re in a TV-less kitchen, but it is adjacent to a family room whose display can swivel toward the food prep island, for instance. Articulating arms also offer more installation flexibility for wall-mounted TVs in rooms where sunlight is difficult to control.
More-decorative mounts can even turn your plasma or LCD into a piece of art when not in use. These motorized, remote-controlled mounts feature framed artwork whose canvas descends or rises from in front of the TV. The mounts can often be customized to use personal digital photos as the artwork.
For all-in-one solutions, some mounts are combined with shelving systems, so you can have the TV and your components hung on the wall. These and other types of mounts incorporate cable management tubing so there’s no wire nest. Some mounts also include recessed wall boxes that go between wall studs to help your TV sit tighter to the wall.
Wires and Cables
Speakers, televisions, receivers, DVD players all need to be connected for your entertainment system to work properly. That means a bunch of wires and cables with different purposes and abilities. Don’t forget your computer and all of its digital files in the mix, either. Here are some connection basics.
HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) passes uncompressed digital audio and video signals, supporting HD video resolutions 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
The interfaces are found on DVD players, HDTVs and A/V receivers and processors. Look for those that include the latest HDMI 1.3 version, which offers the newest audio and video technologies, like Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and Deep Color. HDMI includes an antipirating technology called HDCP (high-bandwidth digital copy protection).
DVI (digital visual interface) sends video signals as a high-bandwidth connection between a video source and display, supporting 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolutions. DVI also employs HDCP.
Component video cables separate the video signals into red, green and blue streams, which are often bundled together. These cables support resolutions from standard-definition 480i to high-def 720p, 1080i and 1080p. The color separation provides improved color, accuracy and clarity over S-Video and composite video cables.
S-Video cables separate the video signals into luminance and color, for better quality than composite cable, but are relegated to standard-definition application.
Composite video, which looks like a single yellow ...
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