With more and more high definition programming becoming available, and prices for quality blu-ray disc players dropping down to well under $100, now is a great time to set up a home theater in your living room. You will not need a projection TV or a way to get the room very dark as was the case before. Your living room can still function mostly as a living room, because what will transform it into a theater is a flat TV set mounted unobtrusively on your wall.
Make sure your TV screen is at least four feet wide, and get a plasma rather than LCD set. The image quality is more like what you see in a movie theater with plasma sets, and unlike LCDs they can be viewed at an angle without much loss of contrast or brightness. You should also spend some money on external speakers, since sound quality is the weak point with TV sets.
A plasma wall bracket need to be sturdier than those for LCD sets since plasma sets are heavier. Don’t buy one from your set’s manufacturer though; you can save money buy getting one from companies like Chief or Peerless. Get one that can tilt if your TV will be mounted above eye level.
Installing plasma wall mount brackets is not difficult. You need to find the studs in your wall behind the drywall, which you can do by using an inexpensive stud finder available from stores such as Home Depot. Once you have found them, mark where the screws go, making sure the TV will be level, and drill your holes. Attach the one part of the bracket to the TV and the other part to the wall, with all screws nice and tight. The only hard part is lifting the TV on to your wall. You will need to have at least one friend help. If you choose, you can hide the wires, either with a simple cable cover, or, if you do it carefully, even inside the wall.