Got a New TV? Don't Make These Mounting Mistakes

If you recently bought a new TV, awesome! If you're planning to mount it on the wall, move it to a new room or replace an older, smaller TV, make sure you avoid the mistakes outlined below. Poor placement can hurt image quality, make the TV harder to see or -- worse -- turn into a literal pain in the neck. Whether you wall-mount it or use a stand, there are important, and often unintuitive, factors to consider. For example, you don't want to mount your TV too high, too far away or at an awkward angle.

Is this hyperbole? Not really. Consider that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has standards for how your work environment is set up to minimize the chance of repetitive stress injuries. If you're watching four to six hours of TV a day, it's possible you could be susceptible to many of the same issues. Plus, most TVs look noticeably worse off axis -- that is, when viewed from too high, too low or too far to the side. If you're not watching from the optimal angle, you could be undermining all that money you spent.

Mounting a TV above a fireplace is also a bad idea, as is in a bathroom. A slight seating shuffle, or adjusting your preferred pedestal placements, could yield better picture quality or allow for a larger TV. So before you mount a TV or buy an expensive TV stand, consider these dos and don'ts for TV placement.

Do these five things before you set up a new TV

Check TV height 

There's no set height for TV placement, but ideally, you don't want the TV to be too high. Staring up at a TV is like sitting in the front row of a movie theater. It's not ideal, not comfortable and not conducive to long viewing sessions. Generally speaking, you want the center of the TV to be about eye level, or even slightly lower. This is true whether you're mounting the TV or putting it on a stand.

For more on this, check out my guide on how high you should put your TV.

Check the distance from your couch to your TV

It's unlikely anyone reading this is going to be sitting too close to their TV. Sitting closer to your TV has two benefits: It fills more of your field of view (so it's more immersive), and you can see more resolution (the image is more detailed). If you can't or don't want to sit closer, you can alternatively get a larger TV. Check out this article on how big a TV you should buy for more info.

Look out for sources of TV glare

Room lighting and reflections are the No. 1 killer of TV images, according to a study I just made up. The fact is, nearly every modern TV has a reflective screen, and I don't care how awesome your lamps are, they're not as interesting as what's on TV. Sure, you can just turn off the lights (or close the blinds), but sometimes that's not easy or possible. If it isn't, check out our piece on how to rid your HDTV of reflections.

If you're thinking of wall mounting, keep in mind all the dos mentioned so far. Plus, if you're thinking of getting an LCD, make sure you get a wall mount that's able to pivot or adjust. With few exceptions, LCDs have worse performance if you're not sitting directly in front of them. Being able to pivot or move a wall-mounted TV so it's aimed directly at your eyeballs will offer a huge improvement in picture quality (compared to the same TV not aimed at you). It's worth mentioning at this point that TV weight is not a limiting factor when it comes to mounting.

Consider more than style

When it comes to TV stands, there are countless options. Consider the TV height in addition to whatever style you like. Most stands are fairly uniform in height, and a few inches above or below ideal isn't going to matter, but a large TV on a tall stand isn't a great idea.

Consider safety, especially if you have young kids

Turns out that falling TVs injure a lot of kids every year. Find out how to keep your TV from falling over if you've got kids or lively pets.

Don't make these seven common TV placement mistakes

Don't mount your TV too high

A TV at the correct height is going to look really low when you're standing. Which is fine, since most of the time you won't be standing when you're watching it. Mounting a TV too high can literally be a pain in the neck. If you want a good laugh, there's a lively subreddit devoted to pictures of people who have mounted their TVs too high.

Don't mount a TV above the fireplace 

Seriously. Don't mount a TV above a fireplace. For the above reason and more -- not the least of which is that heat is the enemy of all electronics. Even if you never use your fireplace, mounting a TV above it is almost always too high to watch from a couch.

Don't feel limited by a cabinet, bookcase or entertainment center 

If you have a cabinet, bookcase or entertainment center where your TV has always been, it's worth considering losing it. That's a big ask, especially for a new TV, but consider two things. First, it not only limits the size of the TV you can get, but also the quality. If your cabinet can only fit a 42-inch TV, know that better TV tech like local dimming, OLED and Mini-LED are almost exclusively available in larger sizes. If they can be found in smaller sizes, there are usually only one or two models. Second, depending on where the TV's speakers are located, a cabinet could severely reduce the TV's sound quality and volume. (If you have a 5.1-speaker system or soundbar, this won't be an issue.)

Don't put your indoor TV outside

Don't mount a "regular" TV outside. There are TVs made for that. Or, if you don't want to spend the money on a TV designed for the outdoors, just know that any TV you leave out there isn't likely to last long (even if it's under an awning). Best to bring it in when you're not using it.

Pro outdoor projector tip

If you really want to watch TV outside, consider a projector rather than a TV. The best outdoor projectors, like the 
Anker Nebula Mars 3 Air, are easier to tote than a TV, run on batteries and have built-in streaming and speakers.

Details

Don't feel you need a 'real' TV

For kitchens and bathrooms, a smart display like a Google Nest Hub or Amazon Echo Show might get you everything you need without the size and hassle of a full-size TV.

Don't sit too far away from your TV 

You can get a larger TV to compensate. At 10 feet away, you could get the largest TV on the market and still not see pixels. 

Don't put your TV at a weird angle 

If you have to turn your head to see the screen, it's just going to lead to sore necks. Twisting your head a bit may not seem like a big deal, but keeping it that way for hours at a time can, again, be a pain -- literally.

Bottom line

Let's take two rooms as examples. In the first, a great TV is mounted high on a wall near one corner, while the sofa and nearby lamps sit in the opposite corner. The result? A TV that feels smaller than it is, plenty of reflections and stiff necks from constantly turning and looking up. In the second room, the TV is mounted at eye level, the sofa sits 8 to 9 feet away and there are no lamps or windows reflecting on the screen. Which room would you choose for a movie marathon?

Proper placement can determine a significant portion of the overall enjoyment of a new TV. It's worth considering adjusting your room to be more conducive to comfortable TV viewing. Not only will you gain potential picture and comfort improvements, but in the process, you might free up more space for other things, like a rug that really ties the room together. 

Once you've got the placement figured out, here's how to set it up. If you've already got it set up, here are some important picture quality settings to adjust, including turning down the sharpness control. If you're having trouble hearing dialogue, there are some settings you can adjust that might help.

In addition to covering audio and display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips and more.

Also, check out his books Budget Travel for Dummies and the bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.