March 25, 2021
Since TVs became portable, the need to figure out where and how to position and mount them has also become a constant question. TV mounts were created in response to this, but the TV mounts we have today bear no resemblance to how they used to be in the past. Let’s take a quick look at how TV mounts have improved over the years leading to the high quality and variety of options provided by TV mount experts like Tigermount.
The earliest portable TVs used cathode ray tube (CRT) technology, which was boxy and left TV screens sticking out far from walls. They were also relatively heavy, restricting the size of TV screens and also limiting the ways they could be mounted.
CRT TV mounts were therefore usually heavy-duty and made of stainless steel, which was itself heavy. Most CRT TV mounts were rigid as the heavy TVs made it hard to include moving parts for fear of wear and tear, or worse, part failure. A heavy CRT TV falling from a snapping metal arm mount, for example, could pose a serious threat of injury. As a result, only lighter TVs were able to be mounted on simple arm mounts at most.
With the increasing spread of flat screen TVs in the last couple of decades, and their increasing affordability as technology improved, flatscreens have become the norm for TVs today, with CRTs all but phased out except in antique shops. The advent of flatscreens has led to lighter weights and flatter profiles that lend themselves to new ways of TV mounting.
Wall-mounting a flat-screen TV became more feasible, with mounting plates becoming smaller and lighter. This accompanied a demand for more TVs and more mounting locations as they became more cheaper and widespread.
In addition to the size of TV mounts themselves shrinking as flat screen TVs became the norm, how they were made also changed. Steel gave way to lighter aluminum alloys, such as those used in aerospace, which could give equivalent strength for a fraction of the weight.
Ironically, despite the advances in flatscreen TV and TV mount construction and availability, the proliferation in flatscreen TVs actually created a lot of confusion and inconvenience, because TV mounts at that time had not been standardised, restricting TV buyers to using only compatible mounts from their TV maker, restricting their options.
This was changed with the adoption of VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) standards for TV mounts, ensuring that all TV and TV mounts used the same system of screw spacings so that they could be freely matched.
The final step in TV mount evolution came with the creation of dynamic mounts such as gas strut TV mounts, as well as full motion mounts, which are able to move in various directions, such as tilting, swivelling, and rising, even rotating, through a variety of mechanical and pneumatic means.
Tigermount’s TV mount products are the result of decades of improvement and progress, and they offer to you and your TV nothing less than the best and most convenient viewing experiences! Get in touch with us to get one for your home!