Hanging Plasmas / LCD's -- Articulated Mounts and Surround Sound

Hi, Bright Home Theater (BHT) recently installed a 50" plasma at a clients and he wanted the TV to be able to be seen from different parts of the apartment. Normally a Flat mount (flat and tight against the wall), or a Tilt mount (against the wall, but tilts anywhere from 7-15 degree's primarily to combat glare) are what we use.
However, Articulated mounts are cool, cool, cool. An Articulated mount is able to be pulled out from the wall a couple feet and can both tilt (as above) and turn left and right (some up to 180 degrees!) When needed or simply wanted there is no other answer for the Articulated mount.
However, there are some challenges!
1) Supporting the weight of the TV on an articulated mount when pulled out from the wall
2) Sound (How do you get sound that "sounds right" if you watching/listening from different locations?
First of all, our installation crew (Eric and Chris) know what to do to deal with the weight. Since they deal with brick, plaster or drywall they know a lot and have the tools to get the job done. Whether it is is reinforcing the wall with plywood or 2x4's or using the Hilti system they can get the job done.
Secondly: sound. We recommend Surround Sound Bars from Definitive Technologies and Polk Audio.
Here is a review of the Definitive Technology from CNET and Home Theater Review.
Surround Sound bars have 5 channels of sound in one speaker: that means the front right and left, the center and the two "rear" speakers. The sound bar on an articulated mount can be attached to the mount. This means the sound follows the TV. While not ideal, at least you can have a simulation of front back and center wherever you watch and listen from!
(Other reasons for surround sound bars are to decrease the cost and complexity of wire runs to rear speakers, to deal with rooms that have 3 sides of floor to ceiling windows, or simply to save space! et. al.)
The articulated mount and center channel mount we use most frequently are Sanus Single Arm or Dual Arm mount, with Center Channel Mount.
If you have any questions about mounting TV's and speakers please give us a call!
www.brighthometheater.com

BHT and Warranty's -- What We Do

What happens if a piece of BHT installed equipment goes bad? A client recently had a Universal Remote Control ( http://www.universalremote.com/ ) go bad. I can only think of two other times this happened, but both times in the past the client or their cleaning staff had dropped them. In this case it appeared to be a short.
To facilitate things we sent over a messenger to pick up the bad remote and sent over a full programmed new remote from stock. We will deal with the RMA number and sending the remote back to the manufacturer and getting a new one. It should take about 2 weeks.
In the meantime our client was out about a day without the remote.

Beginning Somthing New

Hi All, this is VP David DuPuy for Bright Home Theater. I want to type up a little something each week to give you some info on the latest technology we are recommending, buying or installing. I also would like to give you some insights into what it takes to install Audio and Video equipment in Manhattan!
This is meant to be informal and succinct (much like that sentence!) You will be able to check in and see some brand names of products we having great experiences with (or not so great) and hear real front line stories about New York installs.
No client names will ever be used however, only situations as they relate to A/V challenges and success's.
Thanks for reading and I will begin updating to give you product names and stories from the front!

Best HDTV: Plasma or LCD? DLP also exists!

Most clients who come to us assume LCD is a better technology than Plasma. Sometimes it takes quite some doing to educate consumers that Plasma is still the best out there.
CNET has posted their Best HDTV's overall and we find it a handy reference to look at with clients. We have included the link here.
Shortly, in future blogs I will be listing the differences between plasma and LCD and why LCD TV's are making up ground against plasma's and what is happening to plasma HDTV manufacturing.
http://reviews.cnet.com/best-high-definition-tvs/
The top 4 out of 5 HDTV's are plasma's!
Oh, a Samsung DLP weighs in at #11. However, watch out for Mitsubishi making strides in this category shortly. Mitsubishi has hired a primier consultant to upgrade color accuarcy, color balance and contrast (all more important to an excellent picture than resolution i.e. 1080p, concerns. More on that secret, too.)
BHT