No problem for us. This is a gas fireplace. Sitting on the sectional is very comfortable as far an tv angle and support.

It was either here or no tv in this room, and I think we made the right choice.

I think the TV over the fireplace works well in an open floor plan for informal entertaining because people can catch a glimpse of a big play in a sporting event from many different vantage points. Likewise if you are working in the kitchen and want to look up when something interesting comes a large screen over the fireplace works. It works less well for an intimate family movie night. The mantle mount mentioned by cpartist is one option, or maybe the house has a rec room or other location where a second TV can be set at a comfortable viewing level while seated.

Again, get a mantle mount so you can lower it to a comfortable viewing height. Problem solved.

Mine was mounted over the fireplace in the house we sold and will be again in the new house. I would not put a tv that large over a fireplace.

We have our over fireplace, no issues. None of these neck pains issues, love the location. However room is a decent size > 20x20. I doubt that anyone will be using these ridiculous mounts to lower and raise TV Every time kids want to watch the show.

Brian, I don't have kids at home and I will definitely use it since I get neck strain.

"...Television over fireplace?..."

A flamin' good idea...! :-)

The mantle mount seems more suited for empty nesters, DINKs, SINKs, etc. Could definitely see energetic kids swinging on it or trying to ride it up/down when mom/dad are looking the other way.

Our new 65 in. is wider than the table for the antique 37" it's replacing. I think it looks fine on the floor contrary to ms worthy who wants it on a stand. I am right?

Thanks for all your comments and advice!

Mr. Worthy, you are definitely right. Seriously, hasn't Mrs. Worthy seen those trendy, glossy magazine photos of the expensive full length mirrors on the floor, propped against the wall? ;-)

No fireplace mantle and not an issue when the TV is just 39" off the ground over a low long flush gas fireplace; far enough to view from the nearest seating area, yet large enough to provide a reasonable view from 55' away. TV will be large however eclipsed by an even wider fireplace. For years we had real fireplaces, no more.

I say do it. We have an 85 inch installed over a gas linear fireplace and would not have it any other way. Well, maybe go with an even bigger tv next time! Please ignore the Merry Christmas banner.

installed over a gas linear fireplace

Have to admit that could work.

Mines over a linear FP. The tv is too big, imo. But I lost that battle.

How can one ever possibly have a tv that is too big? That's like being too rich or too good looking!

Context is key! I think the installation of a big flatscreen over a modern linear fireplace looks and probably functions just fine. Flatscreen TVs are sleek and modern looking and look appropriate over a sleek, modern fireplace.

In my traditional home, where my fireplace has a heavily trimmed overmantle AND is the focal point for not only the family room but literally the entire house as it is in the line of sight from the front foyer....a TV over the mantle would have just been terrible, design-wise.

I'd put a TV someplace well away from the main gathering area in the house. It's very distracting to those trying to read in front of the fireplace or trying to carry on a conversation. Not to mention the ugliness factor. For me over a fireplace also puts it too high on the wall.

Indeed, the fireplace is the heart of the modern home. No TVs here, my friends.

Ahhh, those were the days. No one looking at their Ipad or phone...

Interestingly I don't watch that much TV - sometimes it's background noise / just something to be a distraction from the laptop... I rarely use the fireplace in this house - even though it's sealed - it ends up heating up the lower level / great room and thermostat, turning off the heat and then making the bedroom cold. So, while the great room might be toasty for a nice evening in front of the fire, I'll freeze in bed.

I guess this is why I don't have a fireplace in the new house and I'll confine my burning activities to the outdoors.

It depends - how far off the floor will you have to put it? Will you be able to recline a bit to watch, or will you often use bar stools? Are there young children? Would it be practical to have that mechanical adjustment thing that cpartist mentioned, or not?

Obviously, with a 70 inch screen you don't mind a tv being a show case element in your room - my personal preference since I watch so little of it will be to move it off to the side to let the fire-generating part of my living space speak aesthetically for itself. (I'm planning on 40-42 inches max, which won't work for you.)

Holy Jeeze!

So our 65" flat screen may not really integrate well with the Georgian inspiration home I had in mind!

No wonder "transitional" interiors are all the rage now. Well, as long as it comes with a highfalutin appellation to impress the hoi polloi, all's well that sells well.

And I thought that WAS the TV! Well, you can always do what Bill Gates does--buy the rights to lots of fine art and use your home network to show it on your TV screen in every room when your not watching World Wrestling!

Roper and jn3344: Are your fireplaces electric or gas?

Wow! I'm overwhelmed by the responses. Still undecided but have plenty of time to consider. Thanks for all the advice!

I always felt a fireplace was the focal point in a room, not a TV.

I think that the fireplace would be the focal point when it is lit, and the tv when it is on.

marilynshome -

Unless your fireplace is like the modern low-slung linear unit pictured above, do NOT mount a 70" TV above the fireplace.

Not only will it look ridiculous, it will not be functional/comfortable to view. I'm guessing a standard mantle is 48" off the floor. If your TV is mounted 12" above the mantle, then the bottom of your TV will already be 5 FEET off the ground, and the top of the TV will be 8 FEET high!

The suggestion to use a "mantle mount" is also a bad idea. I can't imagine pulling a TV up/down several times a day when you want to watch TV. Plus, the TV looks ridiculous when in use, as it blocks/hovers in front of the fireplace.

PineBaron - gas. Napoleon.

A 70 inch tv over the fireplace IS going to be the focal point whether or not the fireplace is lit. A black void, sucking in the eye.

I don't know how far down a "mantle mount" can drop the tv, but you'd likely never be able to use both at the same time. I'm not sure where you are located, but if you are north, this may be important.

Well, for you TV addicts, and TV opponents, worried about the "black hole" aesthetic, have you considered folding doors, a sliding panel or something similar to not have to look at the black TV screen when it's not in use? Really not difficult to build it in (and still remove and replace when needed). :-)

No need to look at a "black hole' aesthetic and days of folding doors for TVs are long gone; I remember them well as a TV manufacturer back in the 70's and 80's.

A modern TV could be programmed to display a 'wallpaper' to blend in with the very wall it is installed on.

Time now for a discussion of toilet TV?

Toilet TVs, now that's an idea for the only rooms in our home without TVs. Our TV programming company is no doubt very happy with us, I should seriously consider alternatives and crazy as it is, it will not be reducing the # of TVs.

We are also going to install ours (probably 65") over our linear fireplace. It will be in the center of the room with two bookshelves on each side. Since we will not have a hearth, the fireplace can be installed lower and, therefore, the tv will not be as high as a tv over a traditional fireplace. Personally, I like the look.

We tried it in our last home and really hated it. We took it down after a few months.

A modern TV could be programmed to display a 'wallpaper' to blend in with the very wall it is installed on.

And this improves the appearance?

If anything, I want real art over my fireplace. But then again, I watch limited amounts of TV.

artemis_ma, We had art over a conventional fireplace with mantle in our previous home for 18 years and on walls in foyer, bedrooms and other prominent areas, nothing too exotic, nevertheless worth a bit; now it is all crated and we've no intention of using them in our new home. We will likely sell most if not all and use wall sculptures instead.

Art on the TV? If it's good enough for Bill Gates...years ago when I toured his then house under construction on Bainbridge Island, designed by Peter Bohlin of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, he had screens throughout the house and I was told that he had purchased the rights or license to show a humongeous number of paintings on these screens. Of course, the proportions of many paintings and the proportions of commonly available TV screens are seldom similar, so seeing them on the screen is hardly like seeing them in reality. But it's probably better than Worldwide Wrestling...

I dunno... Art on a tv... Does no one else like the texture of the canvas, the fibers of the paper? :-( My medium is clay, and if someone were to do a 3D projection of pottery or sculptures in cabinets, niches, etc., I think I'd have to turn around and leave for my own sanity, lol.

Jannicone...very true about fireplaces and heating one area and not heating the other areas of house, especially the bathroom and bedrooms....but DH insists on an even bigger wood burning fireplace in our new build. Sheesh, a napoleon N6000, which takes huge 32"logs..

so I guess, the tv will sit beside the fireplace somehow. Can't imagine lowering it in front of that burning fireplace lol.

We hardly ever watch TV. (We watched The Princess Bride on Netflix tonight--the last thing we watched was the last game of the World Series)

I decorated my entire living room around the painting I found for above the fireplace--I can't imagine decorating my room around a TV.

I'll be putting one over our fireplace because there is no other option in our great room. I normally lay on the sofa to watch tv, so the height won't be such a problem, but I won't like looking off to the side. We are designing a panel that conceals the tv.

If it's good enough for Bill Gates

He has made billions, so he and Melinda of the inflated egos beyond all bounds, must know all that is good and great and true. (Personally, I worship Amancio Ortega, who is even wealthier, never gives interviews and is rarely photographed.)

I'm making my way through Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big Remodeling," and if it means anything to anyone, I just this afternoon got to a section in which she wrote, "A fireplace isn't generally something you watch for hours, as you do a TV screen. Neither is a view, unless it is a particularly dramatic panorama. So you can design the seating arrangement to focus on the TV, letting the fireplace play second fiddle and allowing the view to wrap around the seating more like a warm embrace than a focus."

An important caveat: The picture she uses to illustrate this approach features a CRT TV that's 27" at most. I think the only large flat screen I've ever "seen" in one of her books was hidden behind a sliding door.

In an interview Steve Jobs once said,

"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products."

When appearing together in an interview Gates said,

"I’d give a lot to have Steve’s taste."

dauglos, thank you for the citation, very interesting..especially when you realize that fireplace, any fire actually, was something that people watched for hours..

I don't like them. Generally the viewing angle is almost always too high for comfort.

However, if it's a larger room and you sit farther back, it could be acceptable. It also keeps both the TV and FP as the focal point of the room, which is a positive. But given the choice, I'd always try to avoid putting a TV over the FP