Manufacturers often get some of their biggest profits from selling accessories that are used with another product they make. One good example of this is the often outrageously expensive ink cartridges that you need to buy when your ink jet printer runs out of ink. Ink jet printer manufacturers keep the price of their printers low, and make most of their money from the ink cartridges. They will urge you not to use an alternative ink supplier, arguing that another, cheaper brand of ink will not work as well, but this is not true. And there are many, many other overpriced items like this. You should be very skeptical of any claim by a company that using any other brand but theirs for something that works with the main product will cause some kind of problem. Yes, there are bargain brands that are of poor quality, but in the great majority of cases, the manufacturer’s accessory is greatly overpriced and a cheaper alternative will work just as well.

Another good example of an overpriced add-on is a bracket you buy in order to mount a flat TV to your wall. In this article I will discuss some brands and types of wall mounts you can buy that will work just fine with your television, while costing much less than the versions offered by the manufacturer of your TV. Just how overpriced are these versions? Well, Panasonic makes some excellent big flat TVs, but their wall mount for a 50″ plasma set costs over $400! You can buy one that is works just as well for $300 less.

But before I discuss mounts, a few words about what type of TV you should mount to your wall. Which brand is not that important, because Samsung, Panasonic, and several other manufacturers make models that are considered to be of high quality by independent testers and reviewers. What is important is that the TV be a plasma rather than an LCD model. Plasma TVs no longer have the problem of some logos getting permanently burned onto the screen, and they have the best image quality. Blacks are richer, you can view the TV at an angle without much loss of quality, and motion is smoother than with an LCD. Also, the biggest sizes, which you will definitely want for a wall-mounted set, are less expensive than LCDs of the same size. So get a plasma set with a screen 48″ wide or wider.

A plasma TV mount needs to be sturdier than one for an LCD because plasma sets are heavier. To get a good one, do a thorough search online. You don’t need to include your TV’s brand name in the search, but you should specify that it is plasma and indicate the size. Even though you will have to pay for shipping, your cost will be less than if you bought one in a store. Manufacturers who make a quality plasma TV mount at a good price include Omnimount, Peerless, and Sanus. Get one that tilts, but one that swivels from side to side is not necessary for most situations. Read customer reviews before buying, and don’t spend more than $150 total.