What is the VESA Standard?
If you’ve read through any reviews of LCD wall brackets on this website or another, you are likely to have heard of the acronym ‘VESA’, perhaps without initially understanding its relevance to the selection of your bracket. This article will explain exactly what the VESA standard is, just what those threaded holes on the back of your LCD or Plasma television that seem to serve no purpose are for, and how to measure the holes correctly to enable VESA mounting on your own TV set.
What is VESA?
Video
Electronics
Standards
Association
Not particularly exciting. But it is this association who initially came up with the idea to create a standard for mounting any flat screen LCD or Plasma television to your wall. The majority of modern TVs are now built according to this standard, making it much easier to find an appropriate LCD wall bracket for your particular model.
What is VESA Mounting?
Now that we’re aware of what the VESA standard actually is we can consider the prospect of VESA mounting your flat panel television set. If ever you have looked at the back of your TV, you should hopefully have seen an assortment of threaded holes that seem to serve no purpose, four of them to be precise. It’s these holes that will be used for the mounting of your TV, and that will determine which VESA standard is the correct one for you.
There are several different ways in which these holes can be laid out which is determined predominantly by the size and weight of your particular television set. If you’ve ever seen the description of a bracket refer to VESA 200×200, for example, this refers to one particular pattern. The list below details every different VESA standard, including the types of screw appropriate to fasten your television to its mount:
- 75 x 75, M4 screws
- 100 x 100, M4 screws
- 200 x 100, M4 or M6 screws
- 200 x 200, M6 or M8 screws
- 400 x 400, M6 or M8 screws
- 600 x 200, M6 or M8 screws
- 600 x 400, M6 or M8 screws
- 800 x 400, M6 or M8 screws
- 280 x 150, M6 or M8 screws
What is the Correct VESA Standard for My TV?
A list of numbers isn’t much use, what you need to know is how these different standards relate to your particular television. To find that out you will need your TV set and a tape measure (please note, if you have recently bought or are in the process of buying your television it is likely that it will detail which VESA standard your TV will fit). The following step by step instructions will tell you exactly how to measure your VESA standard:
Step 1: Lay your TV set down
You need access to the back of your television in order to measure your VESA standard. The easiest way to get this access is by laying your television set down on a flat surface. Worried about scratches to the screen or surface? Put down a large towel or bed sheet before turning your TV over to properly protect it.
Please note that Plasma screens in particular should not be laid down for long periods of time. As soon as you have completed the measuring steps detailed below return it to a standing position.
Step 2: Measure the horizontal distance
With the back of your television screen in front of you, locate the four threaded holes, they should form a rectangle. Taking your tape measure, measure the distance between the far left and far right holes in millimetres. This number will form the first half of the VESA standard as detailed in the list above, for example, if your measurement is 200mm, the first part of your standard will be 200 x.
Step 3: Measure the vertical distance
Repeat Step 2, this time measuring the distance between the top and the bottom threaded holes for the second number in your VESA standard. If, for example, you discovered it to be 100mm then your specific standard would be 200 x 100. Once you are confident that you have correctly measured these distances remove your television set to a safe location.
Step 4: Find the right bracket
The vast majority of LCD wall brackets today are compatible with a range of different VESA standards. As you are shopping around for a mount for your particular television pay particular attention to the standards that will fit each bracket, this will allow you to know without a shadow of doubt if your LCD or Plasma television will fit.
This may be off-topic, but how about changing the layout every now and then? Maybe not if it won’t look right, but I just get tired of seeing the same thing all the time. My own computer has about 1000 wallpapers that randomly rotate every 15 minutes, lol. Adult ADD I guess. Good post though, thanks.
T. Saunderson
Blue wedding shoes
Thanks for the well-thought article. I’m actually at work at the moment! So I need to go off without reading all I’d like. But, I put your blog on my yandex feed so that I can read even more.
Very helpful.
My Panasonic VESA holes measure 400mm by 300mm, which is not listed above.
Is it an unorthodox measurement/TV?