As the market for Flat Screen, LCD and Plasma TV’s accelerates and there is a strong growth in the secondary market for the supply of TV Brackets, Wall Brackets, TV Stands and other related Audio Visual (AV) accessories.

Understandably owners of these TV’s want to show them off in their homes and offices to best advantage and this really does mean in most cases wall mounting the TV. Whether the LCD or Plasma TV is mounted flat on the wall, mounted with a slight tilt (typically downwards) or on a bracket that allows the TV to be pulled away from the wall and turned (often referred to as cantilever arm brackets) really depends on the room the TV is being installed in, the customers own personal preference and the customers budget.

AVNow supplies a range of TV Wall Brackets and Mounts from “Best of Breed” manufactures including Vogels, Premier Mounts, Edbak and B-Tech. These manufacturers all have a long pedigree in the development and manufacture of Audio Visual equipment, TV Brackets and Accessories. They have excellent Quality Control standards and all of their products have been rigorously tested and approved by the leading safety bodies. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of many cheap imitation TV Brackets and TV mounts that are now making their way into the UK from China. The advice from AVNow when buying a TV Bracket is to ensure you buy a bracket from a known and trusted brand  - there is little point in spending hundreds and in some cases thousands of pounds on your TV and AV systems and then fixing them on a cheap TV bracket that might fail.

All of AVNow’s TV Brackets and Mounts come with a minimum guarantee of 5 years, many have a 10-year guarantee and some even have a lifetime guarantee.

Whilst there is a significant growth in the sale of TV Brackets and TV Wall Mounts for many customers the only way to show off their new, large flat screen Plasma or LCD TV is to put in on a stunning TV Stand and the AV market has responded with it usual flair and imagination. There are now some superb stand options from ATECA, Alphason, Jual Furnishings, Vogels, Elite and Spectral to name just a few. TV stands with smoked black glass shelves and high gloss piano black finishes have followed the trend towards “must be black” finishes in all things LCD and Plasma TV related.

When mounting a TV on the wall with a TV Bracket or Wall Mount its worth thinking ahead about how you plan to manage and run the Scart, HDMI and Mains Cables because there is nothing worse than a fantastically mounted TV with a bundle of spaghetti cables hanging below the TV. If possible the best solution is to sink the cables into the wall to hide them completely but for many this is simply not possible. In such circumstances there are a range of cable tidy, cable trunking and wireless scart options that can help. The Vogels EVO 6000 Column Systems have proven particularly popular with audio enthusiasts because not only does the EVO6000 system allow you to hide your cables but you can integrate shelves into the system as well.

According to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Association (JEITA), a Japanese industry group that tracks these things, flat panel television sales (both LCD and plasma) are expected to more than double to 180 million units by 2012. Largely this is being driven by a growing Chinese economy and of course the ever-increasing purchasing trends of the United States, Europe and Japan is no slouch either, but in terms of volume the big players seem to be making an impressive dent.

This trend is being lead largely by LCD displays (in terms of volume, not percentage) which continue to drop in price as technology advances and larger screen sizes flow into the market. Demand for LCD TVs, according to the report, is likely to reach 155 million units in five years, up from 74.8 million sold in 2007.

Plasma TVs are not left out of the picture, with a likely total of 25 million units being sold in 2012, compared with 11.4 million sold last year. Currently the ratio of LCD to plasma (worldwide) has reached 6.5 to 1. By 2012, that ratio is expected to be around 6.2:1, projecting an actual gain in market share for plasma. There was no explanation for this reasoning, however we'd wager that we'll see a continued erosion of the plasma market over time.

The reported forecasts are based on expected demand from 51 nations, which JEITA says represents the majority of the developed world.