MantelMount

MANTELMOUNT: THE NEW CHAMPION OF THE WORLD There’s a great quote attributed to legendary heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali: “It ain’t bragging if you can back it up.” That quote applies very nicely to MantelMount.  It is the best Pull Down TV Mount™ for flatscreen televisions on the market, bar none.  And we can back it up.  To begin with, there are only a few mounts that move vertically, which is an incredibly important feature, allowing you to mount your TV above the fireplace or high on a wall and bring it down to eye level.  But of the few that can even move up and down, MantelMount has by far the most solid construction; offers more vertical movement than any other mount; is the easiest to install; and is the simplest to use.  And now we offer three different versions to suit your budget and TV viewing needs.  (A note about pulldown mounts.  If you’re going to mount your TV at eye level, you probably don’t need a pulldown mount.  But if you want to mount your TV higher than eye level – whether above a fireplace or a on convenient, open spot high on a wall – you need a pulldown mount.  And frankly, there is a lot more to consider than just “does it move vertically.”  Does it move easily and smoothly?  Is there continuous balance from top to bottom for a wide range of TV sizes?  Is the mounting environment entirely safe?  You can't compare a “high-on-the-wall mounting” to an ordinary mounting.  Between the difference in angle; the pulling forces involved in moving a big object off the wall on a regular basis; and the fact that you and your family may be directly beneath this TV when its being lowered, there are many more variables that come into play here, and many more requirements that need to be met.) There are numerous other factors that separate MantelMount from its competitors.  Believe us, we know.  We’ve seen them all firsthand.  In fact, there are so many things, we can’t tackle them all in one blog.  So let’s focus on some of the most significant:  Geometry: MantelMounts are built with correct geometry.  This ensures that the force from the gas springs is consistent from light TVs to heavy TVs.  With MantelMount imitation mounts, some TV weights are too heavy for their mounts to lift in the upper position, and they don’t stay down in the lower position.  With incorrect geometry comes a major decline in performance and safety with these imitation mounts.  We know - we’ve tested them. Auto-Stabilization: An exclusive feature of MantelMount, we use enhanced auto-stabilization with our gas springs to ensure that if one spring is stronger than the other, it won’t bias the mount and will maintain a level TV over time.  If you want to look for this in other mounts, feel free.  (SPOILER ALERT: You won’t find it.) Horizontal Brace with Handle: Modern TVs are getting thinner and, as a result, more fragile.  The handle of the MantelMount directs all of the pulling forces straight to the mount instead of pulling on the frame of the TV itself.  Heat-Sensing Handles: Another exclusive feature, the MM540 and MM700 have patented pulldown handles that turn red at 110 degrees to warn the customer if the heat from a burning fireplace is about to damage the TV and sound bar.  Adjustable Stops: Yes, another exclusive.  All of the MantelMount ranges of motion have adjustable stops to prevent any part of the mount from hitting the wall or mantel.  Auto-Straightening: If you raise your TV from the swiveled position, MantelMount automatically straightens it out so that it doesn’t hit your wall.  Exclusive?  You bet! Cable Routing Boxes (included with the MM700): These boxes attach to metal conduit so that cables can be routed behind the wall without touching hot fireplace components and possibly causing a fire.  They provide a permanent passageway so that cables can be easily fed through the wall as new components are added. We put more thought, planning and ingenuity into MantelMount than you can possibly imagine.  Hey, it’s just a TV mount, right?  It just needs to keep the TV on the wall, right?  Wrong.  It does need to keep the TV on the wall – no argument there.  But it needs to be safe, functional, well-constructed, and easy to use.  MantelMount is all of that, and more.  We didn’t skimp on the materials.  We didn’t rush through the engineering.  We took no shortcuts.  We don’t resell someone else’s product.  We invented this solution ourselves and brought it to market. Do we want you to take our word for the fact that we’re the best?  Sure.  But our customers are saying it, too (we have a 4.8/5.0 consumer rating on over 1000 reviews).  And the industry is saying it as well: just last year, we received the CEPro Best TV Mount Winner at CEDIA; Best In Show for AV Technology at InfoComm: the Electronics House 2016 Product of the Year; and the Hearth & Home Magazine Best Outdoor Room Equipment. Want to talk safety?  Our MM540 Enhanced Mount and MM340 Standard Mount have been UL Listed for safety by successfully undergoing 6000 cycles of full range motion.  The MM700 Pro Mount also meets UL Listed standards.  When we invented the Pull Down TV Mount™, we had the safety and user experience of the consumer and their family in the very forefront of our designs. Check out all the reasons MantelMount is the only Pull Down TV Mount™ you should consider.  We don’t float like a butterfly or sting like a bee, but we can kick any other mount’s you –know-what.     ###

OK, with just a little over a week before Super Bowl LI (that’s “51” in Roman-numeral world), you’ve got another great opportunity to get a MantelMount for your home.  In fact, there are a number of reasons why the big game is the perfect occasion to invest in the premier pulldown mount on the market: Super Bowl, Super Viewing. The Super Bowl is one of the most widely viewed sporting events on TV.  Of the top 20 most watched TV broadcasts ever in the United States according to Nielsen, 19 were Super Bowls.  The epic Super Bowl XLIX (otherwise known as “49”) between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks tops the list at 115.2 million viewers, meaning that more than one out of every three men, women and children was watching that game.  The point is, this is NOT an event you should have to watch at less than a perfect, eye-level viewing angle – the exact angle you’ll get from MantelMount. “Have We Got a Deal for You.” Many of you will be buying new flatscreen televisions just for this event – with good reason.  Pre-Super Bowl sales offer some of the best discounts during the entire year; according to Consumer Reports, the numbers show that next to Black Friday, the second-best discounts come two weeks before the Super Bowl.  What’s more, while Black Friday deals usually apply to sets that aren’t exactly state-of-the-art technology, the pre-Super Bowl sales generally focus on the higher-priced, feature-rich items (like 4K, for example).  So you’re going to buy this gorgeous new flatscreen TV and not accompany it with a MantelMount to give you the best possible viewing experience?  Umm…no. Wish You Were Here.  We’ve never been to a Super Bowl.  We doubt we’ll ever get to one.  Besides the cost of the ticket, there’s the travel, lodging, food, and, quite possibly, bail money.  In an old episode of Seinfeld, someone offers George Costanza two free Super Bowl tickets.  Initially, he accepts the tickets, but when he learns that airfare and hotel are not included, he declines, telling the person, “What you’re really offering me is an invoice for $2,000.”  So like George, we are going to watch this year’s Super Bowl, and all subsequent Super Bowls, on TV.  Watching the big game on a TV positioned on a MantelMount is going to make us feel almost like we’re there.  And it’s going to save us a few bucks on bail bonds. If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It.  If you’re going to be hosting a major Super Bowl party, the MantelMount is an absolute must.  Imagine what it will be like when each of your guests arrives and checks out your new, bad-ass TV on the MantelMount.  They will first ask about the new TV.  Then they’ll ask you about the cool mount that goes up and down.  And then they’ll ask why the only food you’ve got is chips and dip.  The Next Day.  Look, we know you’re going to party a little bit.  You’re supposed to – it’s the Super Bowl.  And the next day, your head may not feel quite as chipper as you might like.  But thanks to MantelMount, at least your neck won’t hurt from watching a TV mounted too high on the wall.  The point is, you very well may be feeling some pain in your cranial area; at least your neck will be spared.   There are other good reasons to buy your MantelMount in time for the big game.   The point is, you can use the game as an excuse to get the most fully-featured, most well-constructed mount available.  The big game is just around the corner.  Get your new 4K TV.  Get your MantelMount.  And for gosh sakes, spend a little money on some decent snacks.  ###

In this blog, we try to provide general information about mounts, televisions, TV-viewing positions, and other helpful tidbits.  We also try to entertain you with some lighter material on occasion.  We don’t sell our MantelMount Pull-Down TV Mount™ too hard because 1) we don’t want to be obnoxious, and 2) we believe that it sells itself.  Oh, we always mention it in our blogs (our bosses would be upset if we didn’t), but for the most part, we try to stay away from the hard sell. Not this time.  With Christmas and Hanukkah bearing down on us, it’s time to put away the subtlety.  MantelMount is a GREAT gift for the holidays, either for yourself, for your significant other, or that relative who has stiff neck syndrome from watching their TV above the fireplace.  Here are some reasons why:   It’s TV, 24/7: We watch a lot of TV from now until the end of the year. Between the holidays specials (for our money, “It’s a Wonderful Life” remains at the top of the viewing list), and the upcoming onslaught of college football bowl games (if you miss the Idaho Potato Bowl, you’re going to regret it all next year), your flat screen TV is going to be on almost constantly.  You might as well watch it from the perfect viewing angle – at eye-level, which MantelMount provides. Sale Away. Right now, for the holidays, we’re running a terrific sale on our flagship TM1A mount.  Normally a very reasonable $399, we’re offering it for a paltry $289.  With the money you save, you can do all kinds of things.  Give the money to your favorite charity, a welcome gesture this time of year.  Or invest it in that great stock tip your Uncle Ed told you about.  On second thought, give it to charity.  It’s Way Better Than What you’re Thinking of Getting. ‘Tis the season of giving – bad gifts.  Let’s face it, how many horrible sweaters have you bought or received?  How many gift certificates have you had to resort to because you simply ran out of ideas?  Worse, how often have you had to run to the local pharmacy on December 24 because you forgot someone on your list?  If you aren’t sure whether MantelMount is a great gift for the holidays, check out what an industry reviewer just said.  (A quick aside: want to see some of the worst Christmas presents people have gotten?  You’ll be hard-pressed to beat the ones here. You Can Enjoy It, Too. Not only in terms of your relationship, but in terms of actual proximity to your house.  That way you can get some of the benefit as well.  Let’s say you give a MantelMount to that same Uncle Ed, who lives just across town.  You call him up to see how he likes it.  Then, you casually say, “So, you looking forward to that Rose Bowl?”  He mumbles something about how football isn’t as tough as it used to be in his day.  Then you follow-up with, “Sure, I’d love to come over to watch the game.  What can I bring?” Look, we’re not advocating that you buy a MantelMount for everyone on your Christmas list.  But why not pick just one person who has a TV that’s above their fireplace or is just too high on the wall?  We all know someone who fits that description. They will love it, and they will love you for it.  (You’ll also make us happy, if that matters to you.) Go to www.mantelmount.com.  Click on “Holiday Sale.”  Then pick your MantelMount (we have other great mounts besides the TM1A) and make someone’s Christmas neck-pain-free.    ###

Although purchasing a MantelMount pull down TV mount or drop down and swivel TV mount will enhance your TV viewing experience, there are other factors at play, including lighting, comfortability with furniture — and understanding just how far away from the TV you should sit with couches or chairs — as well as knowing what the ideal TV viewing distance is and taking advantage of that. There are a number of articles talking about the optimum distance between you and your TV, so we’ve filtered through a number of them to cull the best advice. Recommended Viewing Distance The process can be a bit tricky. If you’re a TV watcher that tends to sit back far, the risk is there to lose the sharp detail that you paid for when you bought your HDTV in the first place (if you have a 4K TV or 8K TV, then you spent even more money for more detail).  However, if you’re someone who might sit a little too close, the individual pixels start to become visible and, ultimately, distracting. Furthermore, there are health factors when a viewing angle is so close including audio distortion and eye strain. Ultimately, you have to find that happy medium. Here, we break down the best viewing distance for your living room’s TV screen size. First, the concept of the science behind picture quality. Pixels, Standard Definition, High Resolution TVs, and All That In Between When understanding the best TV viewing range, one of the first things to understand is the concept of pixels. Every digital image is made up of a grid of colored dots or squares called pixels.  For instance, a 1080p HDTV has 1080 rows of 1920 pixels each. That’s a grand total of 2,073,600 pixels; it doesn’t matter whether the TV size is a 43-inch TV, a 55-inch TV, or a larger TV (think 100 inches wide), the number of pixels remains constant. What does change, however, is the size of the pixels; the bigger the TV screen, the easier it is to see them — which is not ideal since pixels should be too small to see. THX — the company founded by legendary filmmaker George Lucas, which develops high-fidelity, audio/visual reproduction standards for movie theaters, immersive experience screening rooms, and home theaters — offers a simple formula for calculating the closest you can get to an HDTV without seeing the pixels: Divide the advertised TV size by 0.84. However, there are opposing points of view. In a TechHive article, the writer notes, “The speaker manufacturer Aperion Audio recommends that you not sit closer than six and a half feet from a 50-inch 1080p set. Aperion also recommends you sit no farther than 9 feet 9 inches for the best viewing experience.” TV Size Viewing Distance Range Via the THX calculation, figure one foot of distance for every 10 inches of screen size. Keep in mind that the viewing distance formula does not take into consideration the field of view from your couch or any glare or external factor which might require a change is your seating preferences while watching TV. For the following TV screen sizes, this should be the viewing distance: 43-inch TV: At least 4.3 feet away 55-inch TV: At least 5.5 feet away 65-inch TV: At least 6.5 feet away 75-inch TV: At least 7.5 feet away 4K TVs and 8K TVs, however, present a different issue. Because of the high-definition screen with the high resolution picture quality that they come with, as well as the advanced clarity and sharpness, you can sit closer, but that will cause audio issues. Our advice? Move a little bit closer, maybe 6 inches to a foot. Are you looking for even more data around viewing distance and TV screen size? This piece from The Home Cinema Guide delves into more of the nitty gritty of how far away from the TV should you sit, in addition to having a distance calculator. Interested in understanding more about the science behind screen size and viewing distance? The following video should give insight into the decisions behind how close you should be sitting from a TV, which includes information from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (or SMPTE) and the standards for audio and visual experiences. Video via Linus Tech Tips How a Mount Helps in the Optimal Viewing Distance for your TV Watching For a television mount, a pull down mount helps to optimize the viewing experience for anyone — those wanting a more home movie theater experience to those playing video games on the TV — and for any TV screen size. Ultimately, it’s about your own watching TV seating preferences, in which nothing is set in stone. However, by utilizing a pull down TV mount or drop down and swivel TV mount, in addition to understanding the optimal viewing distance for TV preferences, the experience will be that much more enhanced. So whether you are having a big family movie night with people scattered about the living room on couches, chairs, and on the floor, or you are enjoying laying down playing a game, with a pillow propping up your neck, the combination of knowing how far away from the TV you should sit and a TV mount will get you to that sweet spot of your ideal TV viewing distance. 

Ever since flat screen televisions were developed, there has been extensive discussion about whether they should be mounted above a fireplace.  Many interior design experts have poo-pooed the idea, citing it as “lazy” designing or decrying the fact that the television should never be the visual focal point of a room. Of course, regardless of your aesthetic sensibilities, opponents of this design trend could always resort to a more practical argument: mounting a flat screen television over a fireplace creates a poor viewing angle: at that height, the television is generally going to be well above eye level, which means that viewers will have to crane their necks to watch.  This has been proven to lead to neck and back problems, some of which can linger for years. In addition, watching a television that is mounted too high will decrease the viewing experience.  When you’re watching an LCD television that is too far up or down (and too far left or right, for that matter), you start seeing just a fraction of the produced light, i.e., the picture.  The result?  A washed-out, lifeless picture that makes you wonder why you spent all that money in the first place.  Enter MantelMount.  Introduced to the public in 2014, this solidly-built pull-down mount allows the user to pull the television down a full two feet (a little more with the newer models), putting it at the optimal viewing angle.  Neck and back pain are eliminated, and the television viewing experience is enhanced.  In fact, if you read the articles against fireplace mounting, the vast majority of them cite the unhealthy viewing angle as one of the primary reasons not to do it; MantelMount ends those arguments with a resounding mic drop. OK, so now that MantelMount has eliminated the physical problem, the question of whether to mount your television above the fireplace comes back into play – at least from a design perspective.  To be honest, opinions vary.  According to a 2015 article on Curbed.com, the above-the-fireplace mounting trend has its detractors and its supporters.  A casual search on Google Trends by the site’s editors suggests “it was most definitely a Thing by 2007 and has steadily been growing in demand ever since.” So, with no physical reason to avoid putting your flat screen above the fireplace, it all comes down to personal preference.  From a design perspective, the only reason not to do it is aesthetic – and that’s perfectly fine.  But if you don’t mind - or actually want – your very sexy and very expensive television to be the focal point of the room, what’s wrong with that?   And let’s not forget that there is usually a large spot above the fireplace which will perfectly accommodate a large flat screen; in some houses, it is the only spot available.  What’s more, an above-the-fireplace mount keeps your TV off the floor, away from traffic and out of the reach of children. The point is, with a solid pull-down mount like MantelMount, you can eliminate many of the traditional arguments against fireplace mounting.  It now becomes a question of design preference – as it should be.   Check out the MantelMount options on our website.  Whichever one you choose, your fireplace and your MantelMount are going to get along beautifully.  ###

OK, so you already know that MantelMount is absolutely the best pull-down mount on the market for flatscreen televisions, especially when you’re mounting above a fireplace.  Moves up and down, swivels left to right, heat-sensing handles, great construction.  Most importantly, MantelMount puts your TV at the perfect viewing angle, lowering it so that you are seeing the picture directly at eye level.  This eliminates the neck and back pain that can come from a TV mounted too high, either above the fireplace or up on the wall.  MantelMount is a great product and will make your TV viewing more pleasurable and more comfortable any day of the year.  But we can make a strong case that it is absolutely ideal for Thanksgiving: FOOTBALL, PART I: We know you’re going to be watching hours and hours of football on Thanksgiving.  Vikings-Lions at 12:30 p.m. EDT, followed by Redskins-Cowboys at 4:00, and capped off by Steelers-Colts at 8:30.  You won’t be able to watch every minute of every game (there’s a few minutes for dinner, plus Uncle Ed will want to tell you about his most recent operation), but you know you’re going to watch as much as you can.  Maybe 5-6 hours.  That much TV at the wrong height can leave you with a massive neck ache.  MantelMount to the rescue.  FOOTBALL, PART II: When you’re watching a football game, you want to feel like you’re on the sidelines, not in the last seat of the stadium.  When you pull down MantelMount to eye level, you not only get closer to the action (the mount not only comes down up to 24” but also out 15 inches into the room), you feel like you’re at ground level.  You feel like one of the players.  So when the coach comes over to a player and yells at him for missing an assignment, you’ll be right there with him.  MOUNT ENVY: Turn on your TV before your guests come over.  Then, when everyone is huddled around watching the first game, ask if anyone would like you to lower the TV.  Don’t even wait for an answer.  Just walk over, pull the TV down, and wait for the “oohs” and “ahhhs.”  Everyone will see how smoothly MantelMount moves.  How unobtrusive it looks on the wall.  How great the viewing angle is.  For at least a few minutes, you’ll have everyone’s attention – and Uncle Ed’s respect.  FIRE IN THE HOLE: It’s great having a fire on Thanksgiving.  It not only makes the house warm and cozy, it creates an inviting atmosphere for your guests.  With MantelMount, you don’t have to choose between a fire and the optimal TV viewing angle.  MantelMount’s patented heat-sensing handles will let you know if the TV is getting too hot well before there’s a problem.  THE DAY AFTER: Let’s face it, you’re not going to be at your best the day after Thanksgiving.  You’ll be too full, you’ll have a headache from listening to Uncle Ed, and you may even be recovering from too many adult beverages.  You’re not going to want to do anything expect sit on the couch and watch TV all day.  Now go back and see “FOOTBALL, PART I.”