Positioning a plasma

Mike,

Have you got a low ceiling ?

10 cm clearance should be fine above to dissipate any heat especially if its flush wall mounted rather than recessed.

What sort of fire is it as this will determine whether you can have the plasma above it ?

We've just put ours on the wall above a new fireplace - mounting is fine (although took a couple of goes for the installer to get good secure bolts - plasterboard / brick). We also chose a fire thats more decorative than gives a massive heat output too. Box is a 43" Pioneer.

Fireplace is 44" high, Plasma base sits 8" above this and (looking at it from the sofa now is about 30" from the ceiling.

James

Do you have central heating? If so, remove fireplace and mount plasma at a sensible height.

There is a gas fire below but it's never in use. Been used maybe three times in six years. It will not be recessed but it's not sounding good. It's not a low ceiling but it's a modern fireplace. There is central heating but in the lounge you're talking about one radiator several feet away.

Don't suppose anyone has any specific experience with Pioneers?

Mike

quote:

Don't suppose anyone has any specific experience with Pioneers?

Yes - i have one.

Might be worth nipping onto Avforums - lots of good advice there.

James

lx's are full hd @ 1920x1080p whereas xd's are hd ready @ 1320x768p

Hi I have a Pioneer 508XD. I paid over £2000 last year, they are now £1499 at Richer sounds. It has performed faultlessly. Still the best picture quality, apart from the latest 9 series. Even on the built in terrestrial tuner the quality is excellent-I do not say this lightly.
I have placed mine on a chimney breast after removing the gas fire etc. If you send your email address I will let you have some images.
I know Pioneer are expensive, but I have never regretted the investment.
the address is richard340@yahoo.co.uk.
Richard.

Munch, where did you get that imformation from about pioneer, to my knowledge they have just stopped making plasmas uder 50"

the way i understood it was . They are just outsourcing the panels to panasonic and they will still be called pioneer , the kouro 9th gen is the last totaly pioneer display

http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/news/2008/04/24/Pione...duction-Agreement/p1

quote:

Originally posted by Richie340:
Still the best picture quality, apart from the latest 9 series.

What is wrong with the 9 series Richard ?

I have (had?) started planning on getting one after this coming christmas.

Thanks

Nigel

quote:

What is wrong with the 9 series Richard ?

Nigel
I read that as meaning that the 9 series are better!

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Kelly:

quote:

What is wrong with the 9 series Richard ?

Nigel
I read that as meaning that the 9 series are better!

Ah yes. I quickly read it as a comment on all Pioneers

I will carry on with my saving then.

Nigel

quote:

Originally posted by neil w:
the way i understood it was . They are just outsourcing the panels to panasonic and they will still be called pioneer , the kouro 9th gen is the last totaly pioneer display

http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/news/2008/04/24/Pione...duction-Agreement/p1

most manufactures outsource to different companies nowadays.

the way it is being played is pioneer are buying the glass from panasonic. the electronics will still be pioneer.

they will also have a range of LCD's available soon. those will be supplied from sharp.

teh black levels on the lx5090 are better than the lx508 aswell as being about 20% slimmer. the standard 508xd is a HD Ready resolution. but i will say that in all honesty if you are sat at more than 7 foot away you wont be able to see a differance between the LX's and the normal screens.

hope that has cleared up a couple of points.



stu

Pioneer, the best at plasma electronics. The "elite" is the best as far as the USA product line goes for Sony.

LCD, NO!!! The refresh rate for moving images on the screen is MUCH slower than a plasma. That being said when you watch your futbol games there in the U.K. and the forward fires a ball to the net and the camera follows the ball, the moving images and still images outside the field of interest become blurred, it will give you a headache after long periods of TV time.

The whole contrast ratio personally is a FARSE!!! Black is Black, white is white, 10,000:1 on my panasonic is just fine. Samsung claims to have 64 billion color combinations. I debugged their options and their claim and discovered all they did was have three major catagories of color up to a certain given adjustment number(1-15), then they added more color catagories at another adjustment number(1-10) and basically all you had was 15x15x15x10x10x10 etc.... It came out to 63.89 billion when I multiplied it up.

The heat, FOR SURE, that screen gets HOT. As munch says, you need the room for heat dissapation.

Almost all plasmas have cooling fans for heat exchange. Samsung does not, they have a GEL pac around the screen for heat dispursion, that was 2 years ago though, so who knows.

just my opinion.

rega1

Never had a heat problem with my first Panasonic (5 years ago - re badged as a Toshiba so £400 cheaper) and still not now. Had them over fire places and so on but never had one run hot,

If you can place your hand on the wall above the fire place and it does not feel warm you should be ok.

I suspect that if the fireplace does or does not feel warm it'll be a little late by then!!!

The heat generated 20cm above a Pioneer 42" did not seem anything to worry about from my perspective. I will try a similar test with a 50" next time I'm in Manchester but if I place my plasma say 10cm above the top of my fireplace (to allow for both air and mindless placement of birthday cards etc.) then I only have 20 to 30cm at best and both Pioneer literature and their helplines insist it must be a minimum of 50cm above.

So, to rephrase the question - does anyone have a Pioneer and have less than 50cm above it, or, anyone have a Panny or Sony with less than 50cm above it?

Mike

No further responses so... spoke to several dealers; looked at several LX5090s in different shops and... spoke to Pioneer. View of all concerned is that Pioneer plasmas will work with as little as 2cm above them provided air can circulate around i.e. nothing is boxed in. So... as soon as the Hutter is paid for I shall be acquiring my Pioneer.

Incidentally, overwhelming majority view was that heat from screen was an utter irrelevance and having stood next to an LX5090 for an hour I cannot for the life of me see how it would ever generate as much heat as my 14 year old Sony CRT from any quarter.

Mike

How about run the image to this Pioneer via a video processor?


That way you can invert the picture & mount it upside-down... the heat now descending from the "top"of the panel could add to the contribution from the fireplace. Hey presto!


Boredom & internet forums - a dangerous combination!!!!!!!!!!

quote:

the heat now descending

Ah so that's why the Summer has been so bad ... the laws of Physics have changed

That, and the laws of psychics too......

Mike

I was in a similar position to you. We decided to replace an older gas fire with one recessed into a new false chimney breast. Like you, our gas fire was rarely used.

The biggest point in the whole project is getting the plasma at a sensible level. If it's too high you'll end up with bad necks. So, the fire needs to be quite low, there needs to be not much distance between the top of the fire and the bottom of the screen. (And if you've achieved this I suspect the problem of ventilation above the screen is not an issue).

Therefore the issue is the type of gas fire and the type of flue attached that allows you to use this. I would suggest going along to your local gas fire dealer to talk about this. Holding your hand above the fire will give an indication of the amount of heat rising. Ultimately, this means the gas fire becomes part of the furniture and the amount of heat it generates will be low.

We have a Panasonic and were warned all along that any damage due to heat from a fire below would invalidate the warranty.

I can supply a picture and details of the fire if necessary.

Gavin

Gavin,

Thanks but there's no issue with the fire. It has been used, ooh, twice in six years and what with the credit crunch I have sellotaped all heating switches until December!

The actual fireplace is modern and consequently quite tall - a good metre excluding the plinth beneath it, and that's what caused the query. However, I am now entirely satisfied that it's just not an issue. I expect to have it about 10cm off the top of the fireplace and about 28cm from the ceiling.

Mike

Mike

Then I think I'd be worried the screen might be too high and uncomfortable to watch looking up at the necessary angle.

Gavin

Gavin,

Thanks for that but I think it'll be fine on two counts:

1) I have been staring longingly at that space for weeks now. No ill effects on the neck so far.

2) It's a relatively new build and the ceiling isn't that high. Sat on a sofa about 15 feet away it doesn't seem a hardship at all.

Mike