It is often the case in the custom channel that the most important products to integrators seldom get much fanfare in the press. While mounts are critical to allowing integrators to do a good job, they don't tend to get people excited. But the fact is that A/V mounts are not a dime a dozen; a well-engineered model can greatly increase an installer's efficiency on the jobsite. And time, after all, is money.

Mounting hardware can be problem-solver for tricky or challenging installations. Since it's always a good idea to have a variety of tools in the toolbox, I polled some mount vendors to find out about their favourite options.

According to Omnimount, the ULPC-X is a perennial favourite with installers. The reasons for that include a supplied paper installation template to help line up the mounting holes with the wall studs, a universal adapter for the back of the flat panel, Lift n' Lock, and cable management that will accommodate a surprising amount of wires.

One popular feature that the ULPC-X offers is for homes that were built with a nook for an old-school 20th Century CRT RPTV. The double swing arm allows a flat panel to be mounted in the nook, then deployed so that it is flush with the exterior trim of it.

Putting a projector into a retrofit installation isn't always easy. ChiefMounts has a bracket called the CMS390/391 Dual joist ceiling plate.

"When installing projectors in residential applications, quite often you need to place the mount between joists," explains David Galos, National Sales Manager for ChiefMounts Canada. "By offering a 'track' for centring the pipe drop, the CMS390 allows for perfect placement of the projector." Galos also recommends it as a fix for replacing a projector with one that has a different throw ratio.

While it may not seem immediately apparent as a problem solver, the B-Tech BT8504 A/V cart for flat panels up to 50-inches really can be. Jack Yeager, President of Rocelco, who manufactures both the Rocelco and the B-Tech lines, describes the SKU as "hot," and seemed almost as surprised as readers are at its popularity. The reason may well be because the line between residential and commercial A/V integration has been narrowing rapidly in the past year or so. Whether it's the economy or something else, more and more residential integrators have expanded into commercial work, and vice versa.

Boardroom and related office A/V installations are central to this trend. And while an "AV cart" may make eyes roll with visions of clunky, unwieldy things from an integrator's elementary school days, the fact is that not every commercial client is going to want to spring for a motorized ceiling lift for a flat panel or a projector. In that light, a stylish cart for mounting a big flat panel may be the ticket to winning a profitable commercial installation.

"Video brands get praised and damned on A/V forums all over the Internet for everything from their picture quality to their pricing," Galos points out. "But nobody devotes that kind of attention to mount makers."

Next week, we'll explore a few more problem-solving hardware options in flat panel and projector mounts.

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