Not your parents’ television: Flat-screen TVs pose a challenge to viewing audiences

Published 6:29 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

If you happened to catch the Street of Dreams this year, you probably noticed that the only thing more prevalent than the color combination of soft aqua and caf/ latte was the ubiquitous placement of flat panel televisions in almost every room of each house. One home even featured a screen seamlessly placed in the middle of the master bathroom mirror!

The “TV in every room” phenomenon begs the answer to the question many ask too late: Where exactly do you place those new flat screens? They can go almost anywhere — above the fireplace, on the wall, in the wall or on an entertainment console.

Before flat and plasma screen TVs, the answer was obvious. The television would go in a cabinet or entertainment center. Now, because monitors no longer need to be contained or placed on a surface, what is their optimal placement?

I asked my friend, John Hendricks, an Island resident whose impressive resume includes working as director of technology for Paul Allen’s Vulcan, Inc., and projects such as Qwest Field and Bellevue City Hall, for the answer. His company’s mission is to see that these and other technologies are selected and installed efficiently and effectively in your home or business.

“Probably one of the biggest mistakes homeowners make is in the placement of a flat screen or plasma TV; placing it like you would a piece of art,” explains Hendricks. “That would be at eye level, around 60 inches at its midpoint, when you are standing. But the point in today’s technology is to create the in-home theatre experience. That means enjoying your viewing experience while in a relaxed state; i.e. sitting down.”

“People just love to design these fabulous rooms with exquisite stone fireplaces placing the monitor above, wherever it fits, like a painting. Not only is this usually too high for comfortable viewing as you have to sit with your head tilted back, but the fireplace itself creates an issue as a distracting light source when lit,” he said. The whole idea is to create the home theatre viewing experience, continues Hendricks. “Just think about a movie theatre. When the show’s on, the lights are off!”

He is serious about creating the “theatre experience” in your home. Hendricks feels that if you go to the trouble and expense of buying these luxuries, they should be situated correctly.

The gap is closing between what was once available only to the super wealthy and what is now available to the masses, says Hendricks, and he thinks that’s exciting news.

“It’s hard to make a really poor choice in the mid-price range. It’s important to know that LCDs need less power, emit less heat and are lighter in weight, so they can easily be installed in a tight space. But some can have visual issues including limited off-angle viewing and blurring during fast action. Plasmas need more power, generate more heat and are heavy; but their advantage is in deeper and more intense color. However, the gap in picture quality between LCDs and plasmas is closing rapidly, he said.

Hendricks loves the HDTV technology and says watching important sporting events like the Olympics really shows the superiority of these broadcasts’ greater detail, clarity and crispness. Many first-time HD viewers are shocked by the quality and are surprised to learn that HDTV broadcasts don’t require cable or satellite subscriptions, he said.

He proved that last January when he set up a special viewing opportunity for fellow Mercer Island Covenant Church members to view and cheer on the Seahawks in the Super Bowl and root for one of their own, Mike Holmgren. Hendricks figured that for $25 they could buy an antenna; $50 could run the cable to the digital HDTV receiver ($240) and they were set for the viewing experience of a lifetime on the church’s big-screens. Incidentally, the FCC has mandated that all television stations broadcast in digital by the year 2009.

Interior design encompasses so much more than just color choices or furniture selections. It’s really all about enhancing the way you live. New technology is part of that and definitely influences the ways in which you can enjoy your own home.

John Hendricks’ company is TechPMgroup LLC. He can be reached at john@jhendricks.com. Lori Matzke Ehrig is an interior designer and can be reached at dlehrig@msn.com or (206) 271-5550.