[Azlek]

Stands, flat wall mount, or articulating mount, which is best for you?

www.Azlek.com specializes in Plasma and LCD flat panel TV mounting solutions and has fairly competitive prices from what we hear.

The question comes up, what’s the best solution for a Plasma or LCD TV as far as mounting goes? There are stands, flat wall mounts, or articulating mounts, even ceiling mounts. What are the differences are which is right for you?

Well, let’s look at the differences.

A flat wall mount is just what it sounds like. The flat panel TV is flat, flush up against the wall, and can even be recessed into the wall for a sleeker look. This can be attractive and less intrusive on space in the room, but it may limit your opportunities on where you can view the screen from.

Some people like the look of a stand, but it takes up floor space and might not be a good choice if you have rambunctious kids. One advantage though is that if you have a chronic furniture re-arranger in the house, the stand can move with the new furniture arrangement. The same goes for smaller LCD or Plasma units in entertainment centers.

Articulating mount project out from the wall some so are more intrusive in the room but have the advantage of being able to change the viewing angle of the screen so if you want to change viewing positions, couch, chairs, etc… it’s better suited.

For advice, try the 9-5 Monday to Friday hot line at www.123brackets.co.uk. They also have great email support.

When it comes to TV stands and wall mounts, a good name to remember is
[S & C group], found on the net at http://www.scgroup.uk.net/tvstands_wallmounts.htm . They pride themselves on their “…comprehensive range offers style, practicality & affordability.”

As far as affordability goes, what SHOULD you be spending on wall brackets for say a 42 inch LCD flat panel TV set these days? We did some shopping around and the results are pretty amazing in variety.

$80 to $100 for Peerless Industries SmartMount Universal Tilt Wall Mount ST635, $48 to $99 for Omni Mount System TV Wall/Ceiling Mount, even up to $ 522 USD for a Panasonic TY-ST42PW1 Stand for TV in Black or Silver.

You can also buy used and get bargains, but be sure there is some kind of guarantee that all the parts are still there and are not damaged or compromised in any way. We find prices as low as $ 54.99 and if you poke around enough you can probably even do better, but in our opinion it’s better off going to a reputable dealer on the web like [S & C group] or www.123brackets.co.uk for both service and support.

[Philex]

A good name in TV wall brackets and accessories is [Philex]. You can find them on the web at www.philex.com/catalogue/list/tv_accessories. Not only do they have wall brackets for your Plasma or LCD flat panel TV unit, they also sell TV Accessories such as LCD/Plasma Screen Cleaning Kits, along with the usual suspects of fine wall bracket kits such as the Universal LCD/Plasma Wall Mount with Tilt, a Flat-to-wall LCD Wall Bracket, Tilt, Swivel and Rotate LCD Wall Bracket, Tilt and Swivel Arm LCD Wall and others.

Tilt and swivel arm brackets are high in popularity for households where people will often be seated in varying places as opposed to just say on the couch, when a flat wall mount might suffice. The tilt and swivel arm bracket kit adds flexibility so the kids can watch from their bean bag chairs or sleeping bags without straining or craning their necks and also adults from the variety of chairs throughout the entertainment room, depending on the situation.

I mean, shouldn’t wall brackets meet standard specs? Well, they should, and VESA, the Video Electronics Standards Association is the international body that was founded in 1989 by nine video display adapter manufacturers.

VESA sets the standards for things like the Display Data Channel (DDC), which allows monitors to make themselves detectable and understood by video boards.
VESA also sets the standards for the flat-panel screens like Plasma and LCD TVs that we all love so much. They are also responsible for the Flat Display Mounting Interface (FDMI), or “VESA mounts.” That’s wall brackets to you and me.

According to their own web-site, at http://www.vesa.org/Organization/index.htm “
VESA is an international non-profit corporation led by a Board of Directors, which represents a voting membership of more than 165 corporate members worldwide. VESA supports and sets industry-wide interface standards for the PC, workstation, and consumer electronics industries. VESA provides a forum to develop, promote and support open standards for the display industry.”

So much for today’s lesson. Look for the VESA compliance notice on your video purchases to ensure that it meets [spec.]

[E-vision]

[www.e-visionuk.co.uk] markets to the home television market for both LCD and Plasma sets. Their opinion is that the big advances will be made in the LCD area.

We have been talking about the differences between LCD and Plasma sets, and
by far one of the biggest differences in the past has been the difference in price, that Plasmas are were less expensive than LCDsHowever, this is changing rapidly. At e-Vision LCD prices are now close to and in some cases even popping up less than their size counterparts on the Plasma scene.

Maximum size for practical purposes, LCDs get to around 52 inches, though there is one 70 inch Sony miodel on the market but it is WAY exoensive,

Where LCD has it over over Plasma sets is that they have have higher resolution which basically means more pixels on the screen of a similar size.

LCDs use less power than Plasmas, up to 30 per cent less. LCDs don’t weigh as much and this may be a consideration depending on the strength of the wall, also making it easier to mount in the first place.