Wednesday, January 8, 2014

ScreenDeck - A Shelf for Your TV Things

ScreenDeck - A Shelf for Your TV ThingsI bought this shelf to support my Definitive Technologies ProCenter 1000, which weighs about 12 lbs. I was a little worried that this would be a flimsy excuse for a shelf, and that my speaker would be too heavy for it.

I got the shelf this morning, and after installing it I am happy to report that it holds my speaker well. I wouldnt want to go much heavier than 12 lbs though.

BUILD QUALITY: The shelf platform itself is made of molded plastic, and the two "L" brackets are made of steel. The brackets are the true load bearing component in this shelf, and they are definitely well made for the task.

DESIGN QUALITY: The shelf is designed in a way that is configurable the two "L" brackets can be several widths apart. Figuring out where to attach the brackets for my TV was done by eyeballing it. I got it on the first try. Unfortunately, there is no forward/backwards configurability. For height, you can also configure how high above the TV you want the shelf to be. Additionally, these brackets bolted into my TV with two bolts (included) to both the shelf, and two more the the TV. This is a very strong connection.

SPEAKER SHELF: The one thing that bugs me is that the shelf does not come as far forward as I would like it to. My speaker is all the way to the front of the shelf, and is still a solid 1" from being flush with the TV screen.

BOTTOM LINE: Though pricey, this shelf delivers on what it says it will. This isnt like HDMI cords, where there are cheaper options available this shelf was about the only product I found on Amazon. I could build one myself that would probably end up being as good (maybe not...), but that would take a trip to the hardware store and half a saturday. With no shipping costs thanks to Amazon Prime, this was a good buy.

Does not fit my Panasonic 42" Viera plasma TV. Good luck determining if your TV has "VESA standard screw hole patterns..." No existing screw holes on my TV come close to fitting the brackets. Product is good quality so I'm going to keep it and figure out how to make it work. Brackets can be spread from 6" to 16" apart and each bracket is 24" long with 19 screw holes for mounting flexibility. Screw holes are 1" apart. Shelf measures 5" x 17 3/4".

Buy ScreenDeck - A Shelf for Your TV Things Now

This shelf currently supports a center speaker on my Panasonic 50GT30. I was worried initially that it wouldn't fit and that I would have to move up to the next larger shelf. However that was not the case; it is screwed into all four vesa points on the display. For those with an 50ST30 encouraged by the previous, note that the bezel is an inch larger than the 50GT30; it is likely that this will not fit.)

I did have to use rubber spacer grommets due to the way the vesa mounting points are recessed on my unit. This allowed the top of the shelf to mate flush with the back of the display. Unfortunately since I found the grommets I needed in our slowly growing mass of random bits and pieces in our junk drawer, I cannot directly advise as to what size grommets would be ideal.

It easily supports the weight of my center speaker. ~14 pounds, or 6.35 kg.

The only negative is this: I feel that this is slightly overpriced. I do not make that sort of commentary often, as generally it is unfair. However this is merely two metal structural pieces and a molded plastic shelf, and isn't even built to support a significant amount of weight, just as the manufacturer admits. That said, it was just what I needed and provides a clean looking final install. Four stars.

Read Best Reviews of ScreenDeck - A Shelf for Your TV Things Here

The website for Screen Deck is: They have a nice description and several videos.

Screen Deck makes 3 sizes of shelfs.

I agree with other reviewers that this shelf seems overpriced at $30 but it serves it's purpose. This shelf is especially useful for attaching a center speaker on a TV connected to a swivel stand. The problem with a typical speaker setup and a swivel tv stand is when you swivel your TV your center channel speaker is still facing forward. With the Screen Deck the center speaker is facing in the same direction as the TV, which is optimal.

It seems like a do-it-yourselfer could put together something that would be stronger for a lot less money. The shelf would be stronger if it extended into the back so the center speaker could be centered on top of the bracket.

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I am very pleased with this product. It is of good quality, and looks very nice attached to my 47" TV. It was VERY easy to install. The brackets only fit on the shelf one way, so it is impossible to mount it backwards, and they give you multiple sets of screws to fit various implementations of the VESA standard. My favorite part of the packaging is that they have each set of the different types of screws packed in an separate, well-marked compartment. Somebody actually gave some thought to design of all aspects of the product.

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