TV Mounting Height Calculator
The comfortable height for a television is set by your eyes on the sofa, not by the wall. Enter your seated eye height and the screen size, and this gives the screen position, the line to drill the wall plate at, and the angle your neck will hold.
How this calculator works
- Screen size: a 16:9 panel is about 0.49 times its diagonal tall and 0.872 times it wide. A measured height including the bezel replaces the estimate when you enter one.
- Height: the center of the picture goes at seated eye height. Above a mantel the bottom edge sits at the mantel plus your gap, and the center follows from that.
- Viewing angle: the arctangent of the rise from your eyes to the screen center, divided by the viewing distance. For comparison, OSHA's computer workstation guidance places a monitor's center 15 to 20 degrees below eye level, and warns that a screen high enough to tilt the head back fatigues the neck.
- Wall plate: join the brackets and the plate on the floor, measure from the top of the TV to the plate's top holes (D), then drill at the top-of-screen line minus D. The calculator checks the arithmetic back to your eye height.
- Distances: the THX figure is the distance at which the screen fills a 40 degree field of view; the 30 degree figure is a more relaxed seat.
Fix the plate into studs, not drywall alone, and check the mount's own weight rating: the VESA pattern on the back of the set is not a rating for the mount. The TV's power cord may not be pushed through the wall cavity; use an in-wall power kit or a surface raceway.
Every figure here comes from our guide, Mounting a Television at the Height You Watch It From, which explains each rule and the exceptions in full.