I am considering putting a plasma above the fireplace in our home. After doing a search I came across this thread. (I love this website!) It is nice to get a professoinal opinion. After reading this thread, I am now NOT worried about heat but I am wondering about the height above the fireplace. At what height would it be too high? I realize this would be relative to room size and other factors - but what would be the best way to judge the height?

One rule of thumb is to never mount it below the mantel. Chariots of Fire will be the only video you can watch on it.

You can put a picture above the fireplace, sit in your favorite chair, and stare at the picture for a while. If it doesn't bother your neck (or your sanity), then the center of the picture is a good place for the center of your plasma.

At that point, It's really more of an aesthetic and comfort question, rather than a 'right' or 'wrong' question... It's already too high for the purist 'videophile'... That said, I've mounted plasmas over doorways in bedrooms... hanging them is fun:)

I put a plasma above my fireplace, lowered the mantle, and installed vented gas logs,, I knocked out 2 bricks, 1 behind the TV and 1 behind the mantle and then ran the cables thru the mantle to the side wall,, only problem now is it is an outside wall and has firebreaks and I need to get the cables down the wall??? With the vented logs there is almost no heat at the plasma.

fake light switch above the firebreak- I would slice a hole in the wall, drill through the firebreak, then fill the hole with a fake switch

This thread reminded me of a customer last year who HAD to have the plasma mounted above the mantle. After about a week his neck hurt from looking up to high which we told him would happen, so he wanted us to come up with a mount where he could turn off the fireplace (gas) and pull the plasma out and down to a better viewing angle. After talking to several companies both @ cedia and by phone i couldn't find anything which would do that. A couple of companies said they could custom design one for us which would probably cost more then the plasma itself! He decided in the to not even bother with it for now but claimed he could have something built in china the next time he was there for next to nothing (More power to ya) I'm just hoping he doesn't call wanting us to install this "thing" if he does ever have it built.

Slightly OT - But I recently did a Electric Stewart screen than the customer wanted to drop down in front of his fireplace (gas one).\

At first i set the down limit so the bottom was level with the mantel. ,,
But at the customers request he wanted it 12" lower. ( it did need to be that low for a good viewing experience.) I lowered it for him under his full understanding that the fireplace had to be OFF. ... Maybe we should make sure there is somekinda FP defeat relay involved when the screen drops.

I would get his permission to drop it lower in writting with a disclaimer that you are not responsible. That screen could melt easily. I have been asked to do that but I have not done it yet. Scares me to even do it. Anyone done this with luck?