Buying a TV stand to match your television is often overlooked in terms of importance. Not only does your TV stand have to look good, it has to be suited to the size and style of your new TV, be it 32”, 50” or even bigger, as well as the weight, is it a brand new state of the art, light weight, thin LCD TV, a slightly older, slightly heavier LCD TV or a good old CRT television.

Design and Material

Design is normally number one on a buyers list when they shop for a new TV stand. How it looks and what material its made of are of great importance to how the stand is going to suit the room its going to be occupying for the foreseeable future. The last thing we want is for the stand to be totally out of place, a modern black glass TV stand in an old country cottage, or the opposite, a traditional oak TV stand in a ultra modern apartment. Clearly this is what we're trying to avoid. As unlikely as it seems, the materials and the construction even have an effect on picture quality. There are many of different details which we will be having a closer look at later.

Dimensions

While considering the design of your new TV stand you have to take into account the space that the stand is going to be occupying. If your 1 bedroom apartment isn't particularly big do you really want a 60” TV with a matching stand taking up all of the space in your living room? Of course the dimensions of the stand have to match that of the TV. A stand too narrow for your TV and you risk having your lovely TV end up on the floor when the stand buckles under the weight. Choose a stand that's too big and you lose out on all important living space. Although having a stand too big for your TV will make it the focal point of your room, should you wish it.

You have to take depth into account here as well, not so much with new LCD TVs, but with older CRT televisions you don't want the deep TV hanging off the front or back of the stand and risk it falling off, its fairly unsightly too.

Features

Most if not all LCD TVs come with the ability to be mounted on a wall, this is a potential feature of many designs. To have the effect of being wall mount but without drilling holes in your wall and having wires running all over the place is ideal. It also leaves you plenty of space on the TV stand for your DVD/Bluray player, games console Etc. Some stands come with multiple adjustable shelves which may be a bonus for you, maybe the amplifier you have for your surround sound system is taller than the average DVD player or maybe its the centre speaker of the surround sound system itself that's tall, will they fit on your stand? If the shelves can be moved it certainly will!

Another potential useful feature could be casters or wheels on the bottom of the stand. Perhaps you're having friends over for a party and the TV needs to be out of the way, either moved across the room or moved out the room entirely. Casters as going to save you a lot of trouble, moving the TV and everything that goes along with it in one move!

When you are on the lookout for a new TV bracket, you obviously need to make sure that you are selecting one that will fit your television. Not all TV bracket mountings are the same, so some wont fit your TV, even the brackets that are sold as being “universal” will not fit every single television set. There are size limits which cannot be exceeded for safety reasons. You could get a TV bracket for a specific mounting system that is rated for 22 to 42 inches or 37 to 60 inches, or a universal which can suit, 15 to 23 inch, 26 to 32 inch or 37 to 65 inch, you can even get a smaller TV bracket to suit a 10 inch screen.

When you are shopping online for your new LCD TV bracket then you want to find a store that allows you to search using four attributes, these are - TV brand, model, screen size and VESA size. By searching using these properties you should be able to find the right bracket you need out of the hundreds or thousands that are on offer. If you were to only search by screen size for example, you will end up with LCD TV wall brackets that can handle the size of your television, but they might not use the correct mounting system that you need, as most TV manufacturers will have their own styles of mounting system. So the least you want to search by is TV brand and screen size, this should narrow the choice down enough for you to make a good decision.

I mentioned the VESA mounting sizes before, this is the Video Electronics Standards Association. And what this depicts is a standard mounting system used in many new TV sets. Using a VESA mount ensures that your TV is supported by a quality item and will be totally secured. Of course you still need to make sure that you have the right bracket to support the size of your TV, if you buy the right TV bracket you can rest assured that your TV will be securely fixed to the bracket. If your TV does not offer VESA mounts then you will have to go for a universal TV bracket instead.

You also need to think about whether you want a floor or wall mounting system. If you are like me a live in rented apartment you wont be allowed by the landlord to fix anything to the walls. So in cases like this you need to consider getting a TV stand mounted TV bracket, this still gives the effect of being wall mounted, but it is firmly rooted to the floor.

If you are going to be mounting your TV to the wall then you have quite a few selections of TV wall bracket to choose from. The most popular LCD TV wall brackets are flat mounts, swivel mounts, tilting mounts and cantilever brackets. There are also motorised LCD brackets available, which are well worth the month if you can afford them, as they are quite expensive. They allow you to control the angles of the TV from the comfort your chair using a remote control, they are great if you have a number of sofas in your living room and adjust the TV to suit them at different times. Say, if there are a number of people in the room you have the TV set at a central position, or if you are in the room yourself you can turn the TV to face where you are sitting for a better view.

If you want this type of movement but are not too fussed about it being motorised you could just go for a tilt or swivel TV bracket, which offers all of the above movements but will cost you far less. On the other hand if your TV will always be facing the one way and doesn't need adjusting you could go for the flat mount TV bracket.

There is quite a lot for you to take into consideration, TV brands and their different mounting systems, VESA and universal mounts, motorised or not, tilt and swivel or fixed? If you find a decent store on line you will be able to search through all of these different types and hopefully find something that is perfect for you and within your budget.

Your TV stand comes under close inspection from visitors to your home whether you realise it or not. More often than not these days, when you buy a new TV it comes with a free, mass produced, cheap TV stand. These are only to get you home and up and running. You need to replace this low quality stand with something beautiful, something that's going to get visitors attention for all the right reasons. A contemporary TV stand is lovely piece of furniture that's going to get people talking. How long do you sit and watch your TV every night? Probably for a few hours and for those few hours you want your television to be surrounded something that's well designed and pleasant to the eye.

Of course a contemporary TV stand isn't cheap, in some cases they can cost a small fortune. What are you getting for your money? Well some might say “Buy it cheap, buy it twice” this is certainly true of some TV stands out there, but not these. They are of the highest quality and penned by top designers, to look fantastic and to last for many many years. It might cost a lot initially but you are going to be getting your money worth as the years pass by. Even in few years down the line, when it comes to redecorate and you decide that you want a new style for you home, one that maybe your TV stand no longer matches, then that initial purchase of a quality item is going to come back and re pay you. These designs will always have a place in someone's home and therefore they are going to keep their resale value up.

Paying out for the more expensive item may seem pointless or excessive right now, but in years to come you are going to be glad that you went with a quality item over the cheap one. There's a design out there for everyone's tastes, maybe it isn't new, it could be second hand, not that it matters it's still going to last you many years!

The room that the Entertainment centre is going in is going to be a big factor in your choice. Too big a centre and it overwhelms the surroundings and too small and it doesn't have that effect that such a huge item should. Along with this you need to consider TV size, obviously it the TV needs to fit. I should mention here if you plan on have the biggest TV possible for your room you may want to consider sticking to a normal TV stand, its going to take up less room and leave you with more living space, but if you have you mind set on an entertainment centre keep reading.

Next on the list is the type of screen you want. There is of course the usual LCD and Plasma screens, which have the advantage of being easy to come by, relatively cheap for what you are getting and easy to use. Alternatively you can go all out and get that home cinema feel, with a Projector. Though sadly to get real quality your are going to be spending a lot more of your money than you would do if you bought an LCD or Plasma screen.

Finally its the all important surround sound system, what home entertainment centre would be complete without surround sound? So what are going to choose 5.1 Dolby or go for 7.1? There's no point cutting corners here, if you want to full experience you can't skimp on the sound system, its probably the most important feature of any action movie and really creates that intense atmosphere.

Yes, there's a lot to consider here and its certainly not a decision that should be rushed. It takes time to sculpt a magnificent entertainment centre but the reward at the end will worth it! That's for sure!

For the serious Audio/Visual guru having a TV stuck in the corner of a room isn't ideal. This is normally reserved for your childrens bedroom and their TV DVD combo In the corner of the room all the sound is trapped and isn't able to breathe to its full potential. It also limits how you sit down to enjoy your television. You either sit you sofa in the middle of the room directly in front of the TV and at a funny angle to the rest of your living room furniture. Or you have your sofa flat against the wall leaving you and your family with sore necks at having to sit at an unusual angle to get a good view of your favourite program.

This paints the poor corner TV stand in a bad light, its not all doom and gloom. If you are limited to where you can have your television then there might be no option to have it situated in the corner of your room. Maybe you have a fireplace taking up that prime TV location, or it could be one of a dozen other reasons. Whatever the case having your TV in corner is a great way to keep things tidy. Maybe you aren't all that bothered about what I mentioned above and just want your TV out of the way and safely perched.

Just like any other TV stand, the corner stand comes in all types of finishes. Like glass, to go with that modern look that we see so often these days. Or you can opt for some more traditional, a wooden frame. Maybe some to match those mahogany sideboards that have been in your home for many years! No matter what you need you can be sure you will find the perfect match for your home.

Keep in mind though, when you're going to have your TV in the corner of the room you may well be limited to the dimensions of your television set. You don't want to have a huge TV sticking way out into the middle of your room and taking up much more space than it really should. Be realistic, if you don't have a big room for the TV and it needs to be in the corner refrain from going all out and buying that 60” mammoth that's caught your eye at the local electrical shop, it might just look ridiculous and end up being more of an annoyance than a pleasure to watch.