Plasma TV Reviews Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Televisions’

BellO 8170DB Articulating Wall Mount for 12 to 32 Displays For Dummies Black

The Bell’O 8170 Articulating TV Wall Mounting Kit makes it easy for anyone to install their flat-panel television with the included For Dummies installation guide and DVD. This mount features a 15-degree forward tilt, a 5-degree backward tilt, full side-to-side pan capability, and can extend up to 16 inches from the wall. With the included 8190 Adapter Plate, it can accommodate 12″-52″ televisions weighing up to 80 pounds.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars May be OK for small TV’s
This product is titled “for dummies” and having bought 2 of these I am now certain I qualify. It is supposedly suitable for TV’s up to 42 inches and c80lbs in weight. I bought 2 (based on Amazon recommendation) for my new 42 inch Toshiba TV’s.

I am a structural engineer and have completed many home improvemnt products so I think I know the right tool for the job when I see it – upon opening the box I instinctively thought “this looks too small and unstable for a large TV” but decided to give benefit of the doubt and try it anyway.

The 2 small lag screws provided to fix the device to a single stud looked way too small for me so I added an additional batten behind the wall and installed 5.5 inch through bolts instead. The instructions are pretty poor – I think anyone unused to such projects would be confused and not figure out why so many surplus screws, bolts, washers and shims are provided (I am still not sure myself!). However I found what I needed, put the thing together and mounted the tv.

Instantly I was unhappy with the way that the tv wobbles around the single support axis, and how, despite the fact that the support was put in perfectly level, the TV sits at a drunken angle against the wall (the support is simply not stiff enough to counter any slight eccentricity in the weight of the TV).

My greatest frustration however was how easy it was to strip the threads on the adjusting nuts (I managed to do this to at least one without really trying) and also how the sockets in the nuts for the supplied allen key adjusting wrench can (and were) easily rounded off during the process of trying to turn them at an awkward angle behind the tv.

I now have a listing TV attached to a support which I can no longer properly adjust and which gives me little comfort that it can support the c75lbs my TV weighs in the long term. Despite the installation of through bolts all this load applied to a very small area causes the wall to creak and flex alarmingly every time I move the TV!

I have returned the second device without even attempting to use it and cant wait to replace the one I did use with something more suitable for the job.

In summary, may be an economical option for small TV’s but not very robust or well made and certainly not man enough for the range of sizes claimed by the manufacturers.

I intend to go with my original gut feel and go with something much sturdier that will spread load across 2 studs.

2 Stars agre with other review
two lag bolts small holding up 2 thousand dollar aquos tv equals extreme apprehension. typical example of if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. it will good for smaller tv.

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BellO 8120DB Tilt Wall Mount for 12 to 32 Displays For Dummies Black

The Bell’O 8120 Tilting TV Wall Mounting Kit makes it easy for anyone to install their flat-panel television with the included For Dummies installation guide and DVD. This mount features a 15-degree forward tilt and a 5-degree backward tilt. It can accommodate 12″-30″ televisions weighing up to 150 pounds. With the 8190 Adapter Plate, sold separately, this mount can fit televisions up to 52″ wide.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars too many fasteners
This was exactly what I needed in the price range I was willing to pay. The quality and appearance(although you can’t see the mount) are excellent. My only real objections are the instructions and the amount of fasteners included. I don’t feel I really needed a wall mount for “dummies”, but the after trying to sort out all the spacers and fasteners, I began to feel like one.I probably used only 6 of 24 items. In defense of the manufacturer, they appear to appeal to a large range of TV makes & models resulting in to many details. The hardware is prepacked in plastic strip pockets and lettered, so the attempt to simplify is evident. Bottom line, the TV is up and all is working well. I would recommend to a friend.

5 Stars Great product, cheap price
I didn’t want to spend $100 on a mount for a $400 LCD, so this kit hit the mark. The low price is no reflection on quality, since this item locked right into my television with minimal effort and was easy to secure to the wall with all the provided hardware. Quality on the cheap…I love Amazon.com!

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OmniMount ULPT LA Tilt Low Profile Wall Mount for 40 to 63 Displays Black

Tilting Design / Fits 42″ to 63″ Screen (diagonal) televisions / Locking System / Color – Anthracite Easy installation Fits 42 to 63 Flat panel TV Holds up to 200 lb. (90.7kg) maximum weight Double stud mounting Profile from wall – 6.2

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Omniview Low Profile Wall Mount
This is an excellent wall mount. Well designed and well made. Comes with everything needed to create a professional installation. The instructions could be improved, but if you are mechanically inclined, you should have no problem. Best mount out there. Sixth Ave had a great price and free shipping. 5 Stars!

5 Stars Engineering and all was great!
I was thoroughly satisfied with this. It assembled easily, you could tell the parts were quality made, and it was actually a bit more complex of a mechanism than I thought it would be. The template was great.. and the instructions were pretty good. The only thing on the instructions was that when it says to put down the kick stands to install the cables…. there are little locking fingers on the bottom rail that may have been locked when you first put the TV on the top rail. so, you have to be aware of that to use the kick stands. Other than that… I’m very satisfied!

4 Stars Good quality, but be sure to plan installation well.
They aren’t kidding around when they say low profile. It does provide a nice, finished look, but it does make installation more difficult. My tv (Sony 46″ XBR LCD) has the inputs perpendicular to the wall and my original HDMI cables were a bit stiff to make the 90 degree turn. My inputs (power and video) from the wall are inside the rectangular frame, which meant that I had to run cables up and then down to access the tv inputs. You can’t fit cable across due to the low profile. I had to buy a recessed outlet for the power as well. Not a defect with the product, just the nature of having such a low profile mount.

A couple other quibbles:

- My tv VESA mounts only allow for 1 mounting location for the hangers. This basically means that you can’t adjust the height once you put the rectangular bracket on the wall. Just another example of why you should plan ahead, ensure that you have the height correct when installing the lag bolts. This may just be a limitation of my TV.

- The bolts used to attached the tv to the hangers are not easily accessed due to the design of the hangers. (Had to buy a flexible link for screwing in the bolts. Again, it may just be due to the design of my TV, but it could apply to yours as well.

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Panasonic TC P42G15 42 VIERA G15 Series 1080p THX certified plasma HDTV

41.6″ screen (measured diagonally) * widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) *

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars An excellent TV
I did a lot of researching before buying this TV, and I have so far been very happy with the results.

The picture is amazing, of course. There is virtually no glare on the screen, which can be a problem for some plasma tvs. The blacks are incredible, and the colors have been great, even without doing any hard calibration. Setup was very easy. The sound is very good. Not sound system good of course, but you can easily get by without one. We’ve had some televisions in the past, including HDTV’s, with absolutely horrid sound, and this comes nowhere close.

Some people say that the THX picture mode is too dark. While it is somewhat dim, it is absolutely perfect for viewing in a darkened area for movie viewing. Adjusting all of the picture modes is very easily done, however for an out of the box calibration without breaking it in, THX is a very good option.

A very minor nitpicks, hardly worth mentioning really. The remote does not have a button on it to just flip through the picture display options (standard, custom, thx, etc), but rather have to go into a menu to access them. The menu is right on top, it’s not buried, but it would be more convenient if you could just flip through without having to go through that.

I have yet to experiment with the VieraCast options, so unfortunately I cannot comment on those.

Overall, an amazing tv, especially for the price.

5 Stars Outstanding
I have never owned a flatscreen before so I was trying to get the best for my money. I never considered a plasma tv, I always thought LCD was the way to go; I understood that plasma tvs burned out quicker, used way more energy, heated up to the point where they couldn’t be watched for long periods and of course I heard horror stories about image burn in. What I was delighted to find is that many plasma manufacturers have addressed these issues in their new tvs. This TV is energy star certified, which means its energy consumption is very comparable to many other LCDs of the same size (ie, almost identical to LG LH50 42″). The heat created/circulated in the tv is not an issue at all, even after watching the tv for several hours, the back of the panel is barely warm. and burn in is impossible with new orbiting pixel technology. Even more impressive is a new screen wipe technology, so that in case your tv was left on for a week solid, even then any trace of a burn in image can be completely erased. One of the best selling points of this tv is the lifespan, over 100,000 hours. thats almost double even the best LCD lifespans (60,000). As for the picture itself, let me just say you can not find a better picture than a plasma, LED can not come close. and the top of the line for all plasma TVs is panasonic. pay no attention to contrast ratio, every company has different ways of measuring that stat. Plasma is back in a big way, in a few years, the prices on these tvs are certain to go up.

4 Stars Very Good but not Perfect
The biggest problem with this unit, as with plasmas in general, is the reflection off of the glass of any lights near the viewer while sitting directly in front of the TV. To remedy this, I no longer use the table lamp sitting next to me. Instead I turn a table lamp on further off to the side so it doesn’t reflect directly back into my eyes. This is rather inconvenient if you are leisurely watching TV and want to read, if only during the commercials. Another minor problem is the distracting reflections off of the shiny bezel and base from lights positioned in other parts of the room (my lamp off to the side). Over-all, the picture itself is 5 star fantastic! I gave it only 4 stars because of the reflection problem. I wish they had it on a stand which would tilt and rotate so that the viewing position could easily be optimized to minimize the reflections. You can buy stands that tilt (and maybe rotate) but the one I looked at which tilted was quite expensive. The sound is unimpressive but I compliment it by also playing it through an amplifier with external speakers.

5 Stars Why is plasma losing the HDTV war?
I have been a home theater enthusiast for some time now and I am the type to upgrade every few years in a desire to experience the newest and greatest tech out there. I have had experience with old school tube TV’s, CRT rear projection, LCD and DLP rear and front projection, and LCD flat panel TV’s. As a gamer, I had never taken the chance on plasma due to “image retention.” That said, I have to say that I am SO glad I finally took the risk! After just a few days of use, I can already say that the G15 is the best TV I have ever had. I have yet to see LED, but honestly, I am not sure how picture quality can get much better than this. I haven’t even done any calibrating of my own. I just use the preset Game and THX modes. If you are in the market to buy a new TV, and you are a gamer and Blu-Ray watcher, then do yourself a favor and buy a plasma. I think I have finally found a TV I could possibly keep for a lifetime, assuming it stays alive.

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Sanus MT25 S1 Tilt Wall Mount for 26 to 42 Displays Silver

Tilt Mount For Flat TV’s / Supports Flat-panel Widescreen Televisions weighing up to 100 lbs / VESA 50, VESA 70, VESA 100, VESA 200, VESA 400 / Silver Safety clip locks mount securely in place on wall Compatible with VESA 50, VESA 70, VESA 100, VESA 200, VESA 400 Dimensions (WxDxH) – 14-1/2 x 2-1/2 x 11-1/4 inches

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Tilt Wall Mount for 26″ to 42″ Displays (Silver)
Fast shipping, one forth the price of what I would have paid

at best buy….great quality. Am very happy with purchase.

5 Stars Great product
Wow, I’ve seen the same make sold elsewhere for more than double the price. This was so easy to set up and get on the wall even a cave man could do it! Would recommend this mounting bracket to anyone thinking about putting their flat screen on the wall. We are really pleased with the result and since it was so easy the down side is why didn’t we do this sooner!

5 Stars great mount
this mount was simple to install, highly recommend. tilts up and down, not left and right.

5 Stars Easy to install, good price
After finding the stud location, this mount took us only 10 minutes to install. Instruction is clear and simple. Mount is small and tilts well, a very good fit for LCD TV smaller than 40 inch.

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