(ARA) - Want to make a dramatic change to your home's feel and décor? You don't have to replace the carpet and furniture, or even paint the walls. Just get rid of that fossil of a television set that has cluttered the family room for who knows how long and replace it with a flat panel TV.

When they first hit the market in the 1990s, these futuristic looking sets were out of a lot of people's price range. Now that supply has caught up with the demand, they are becoming more affordable and people are eager to bring them into their homes. Flat panel TVs have many attributes -- better picture quality than the old picture-tube sets, they take up less space (are only three to five inches thick) and are available with wider screens. LCD (liquid crystal diode) screens are readily available with screens of up to 42 inches; plasma screens, which use charged gas to make a picture, with screens of up to 80 inches.

As their popularity grows, flat panel TVs are attracting new attention and products from furniture manufacturers who are designing ways in which consumers can "show off" their sleek, modern new TVs. The new sets offer options that never existed before.

"Instead of simply placing the set on a counter, dresser, TV stand or the floor, you can turn them into the focal point of a room," says Keith Pribyl, director of consumer sales for Sanus Systems, a St. Paul, Minn. company that designs and builds a broad variety of audio video furnishings, mounts and accessories. "They can be mounted flat on the wall; under a cabinet on an articulating arm that allows them to be swiveled; from the ceiling so they can be watched in bed; on a sleek TV pedestal; or recessed into a wall so they're flush with the surface."

Pribyl's company offers five categories of wall mounts.

1. Low Profile -- designed to mount flat panel televisions of any size less than 1.5 inch from the wall. (Made of heavy gauge steel, these mounts are solid and reliable).

2. Tilting -- designed to mount a flat panel TV of any size to the wall while allowing up to 30 degrees of tilt for optimal viewing angle.

3. Tilt and Swivel -- designed for a wide range of viewing angles; this allows the optimal viewing from almost anywhere in a room.

4. Tilt Swivel Extend -- designed for superior range-of-motion and viewing angle. Once installed, allows TV to be positioned at virtually any angle, even 90 degrees to the wall.

5. Ceiling and Cabinet -- designed for mounting a TV when there is no wall available or suitable. Also allows TV or projector to be mounted on the ceiling, in or on cabinets -- and these also offer tilt and swivel actions.

"Unless they're quite handy and experienced with audio-video work, we recommend people hire a professional A/V contractor to install Flat Panel TVs using our mounts," says Pribyl. "Although the sets are slender, Flat Panel TVs usually weigh over 100 pounds and require specialized work to install them correctly and securely."

For more information about Sanus Systems products, log on to www.sanus.com or call (800) 359-5520.

Courtesy of ARA Content