The Seven Days of Super Bowl in HD
Day Three
Location, location, location

Now that you have brought home your big screen HDTV wonder, the question often arises, "Where are we going to put this thing?" Many times, this new beauty is bigger than the old CRT and just won't fit in that converted armoire or entertainment center.

Some of you may see this predicament as an opportunity to finally build that home theater in the basement, while others just want to plop the TV on the nearest credenza and start watching ESPN. For either situation, you should consider a few basic guidelines, which will maximize your viewing pleasure.

The first point to ponder in placing your TV is viewing angle. We discussed this concept in Day One as a factor when choosing an HDTV. Basically, as you sit farther off perpendicular to the front of the screen, the picture quality tends to deteriorate with the colors washing out (becoming lighter). Generally, LCDs and RPTVs seem to have narrower viewing angles than plasmas. This phenomenon not only occurs side to side but also up and down.

Once you bought your set, there is nothing to do to improve its viewing angle quality, but you can position the TV in the room to maximize the viewing angle. Let's take a hypothetical 42" HDTV with a viewing angle of 45 degrees. If you sit any farther off center, the football field looks like an unwatered lawn after a prolonged drought.

If you place the TV flat against a wall, you can see that you have plenty of opportunity for peanut gallery seats.

But if you set the TV diagonally in the corner of a room, you reduce or eliminate the areas that are outside of the TV's viewing angle. If you have a large party of people, you may have to make two or three rows of seats.

In that case, you will need to elevate the TV, but remember that viewing angle considerations also apply to sitting above or below the TV. So if the TV is too high above your eye line, you should try to tilt it down.

A good articulating wall mount helps solve this problem because you can swivel the TV side to side and up and down.

Now, if you are a more right angled, non-diagonal type of personality that couldn't imagine skewing your sectional to align with a TV tucked in the corner, then you should purchase a plasma or plan a more intimate seating pattern.

All different flavors of HDTVs are bright enough to be seen in well-lit rooms, (even though Sony is trying to convince you that plasmas can't hold a candle to LCDs in this situation). But you still should follow some basic guidelines about light. First and foremost, direct sunlight should be avoided either from hitting the TV screen or your eyes. Curtains or blinds can control outdoor light even in the most windowed downtown loft.

Plasmas are more reflective than LCDs, which I find much more noticeable when the TV is turned off. If you are really bothered, then with a little time and ingenuity, you should be able to reposition the TV or any offending lamps or light sources. Considering how rowdy your Super Bowl bunch is, you may want to clear the room of any breakables anyway.

Of course, much, much more can be said about home theater design and we plan on covering that topic in greater detail in future articles.

For tomorrow, Day Four, we'll assume that you have your HDTV positioned and hooked up to high definition programming. (Please tell us that you are, at the very least, connected to CBS HD.)

Day One: Buying the HDTV