Ask Engadget HD: What size HDTV should I buy?
By Richard Lawler 
posted June 23rd 2010 12:55PM
posted June 23rd 2010 12:55PM
We've addressed this before, and our old buying guide for choosing the right size may still be a useful read (rule of thumb: Distance away from the TV (in feet) x 6 for HDTV (in inches)) but 2005 was a different time, now there's many 1080p screens out there, Blu-ray discs to watch, and videogames with lots of teeny tiny text you'll need a massive screen to decipher clearly. So do you think Mike has the right idea size wise, or is there anything else he needs to take into consideration before buying? Speak up in the comments below."I'm going to be purchasing my first LCD, and I'm coming from a very old, 27" Zenith CRT. I will be sitting about 6 to 8 feet away. I have asked salespeople, forums and other people, but cannot figure out the size I need. I went into Best Buy several times to look at the LCD's, but they all look "small" in the store, and I know once I get them home, it will look a lot bigger. I will be using the TV to watch a lot of HD sports, TV shows, the news, Playstation 3, some movies and some standard definition. I do not want to feel "overwhelmed" by the size, or have a "movie theater type experience", but I also don't want to regret that I should have gotten a larger TV for a little bit more money. I know it's a lot of personal preference, but in general, from 6 to 8 feet away, would a 40" or 46" LCD be ideal? It would be in an apartment living room, and I am planning on getting a Sony EX500 LCD."
I would say a 46" is a good size before you start getting too big for your room. 40" would do perfectly fine too, but going off your description (usage, space, etc) then i would say go for the 46".
I say 46-50 inchs is where you should be
but here is a guide that might help
http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html
Dang, I can't imagine 46-50" as you guys say from a max 8' away. That seems to be overkill.
My parents bought a 47" LG and it's big for their living room. Max distance is maybe 12'.
I would say 40 or 42" if you don't have a lot of space cause it's a cramped room. Maybe 46" if you are at 8' and have plenty of space for a TV that big.
Err on the larger size. I'm on my 3rd TV (2nd living room, 1st bedroom) and each time I find myself craving something larger, especially for movies. The ratio below is probably accurate, I'm 10ft away and would love a 60 in
My couch is about 8 feet from my 52" screen, and it seems like the perfect size. 46" or 42" should be fine, though.
Go with the 46". I feel it's the sweet spot for most people's living rooms. Believe me, you'll want that "immersive" experience because the larger the TV is, the less you're looking at other stuff in your home.
Anything higher than 46/47" I consider to be a boutique TV because it's often hundreds if not thousands of dollars more for 7 more inches. Not worth the price.
@Jeff Kibuule
Depends what you're buying...I just picked up 50" LG PK550 plasma approx 3 weeks ago + a free BD550 Blu-ray player for the low price of $957 and tax. I wouldn't call that boutique considering there are plenty of 46" LCDs that cost more.
The biggest you can afford
@hodedofome YEAH!
And don't get a 52 LCD if you are used to CRT, it will disappoint....
Well ok it is personal choice, I'm still shocked at how crap LCD tv's look compared to a nice Pioneer Plasma.
@Nerdo but when gaming plasmas tend to be the shit choice
@xJavonta What the heck are you talking about, plasmas don't suffer from motion blur like some LCD's do. And the response time on a plasma is just fine. Burn-in is a thing of the past. So what's left?
It can be a matter of personal preference, but there are guidelines that you can chose to follow.
In terms of range, you do not want anything smaller than a screen that fills 24 degrees of your field of view and nothing larger than a 40 degree field of view. SMPTE recommends a 30 degree field of view, and if you want absolute maximum detail from a 1920 x 1080 resolution display, then you'll want a 32 degree field of view.
To figure out all of those numbers, first figure out the exact distance from your eyes to the screen in inches. Take that distance and multiply it by: 0.4877, 0.835, 0.615 and 0.658. That will give you the min size, max size, SMPTE size and maximum detail size respectively.
For an 8 foot seating distance from eyes to screen, simply plug in 96 inches and you will get:
Min size: 46.8 inches
Max size: 80 inches
SMPTE size: 59 inches
Max detail size: 63 inches
The sizes can change a lot with just a small change in distance, so you'll want to carefully measure the exact distance from your eyes to the screen. Personally, I love a 32 degree field of view for maximum detail with 1080p resolution, so for a rough distance of 6-8 feet, I would recommend something in the 50" - 60" range, but it's going to depend a lot on your exact distance.
@FirstReflect1 By the way, I would NOT recommend the Sony EX500 series. Some people like them, but they were one of four LCDs that I returned before I settled on my current LCD.
The EX500 have a strong purple tinge to the screen and some of the worst off-axis viewing I have ever seen with an image that dims and washes out dramatically from even just a small step to either side of dead center. There is a strong blue/purple tinge to dark areas. And the screen uniformity is awful with brighter corners, washed out edges and rather poor black levels. Color is also inaccurate and the 120Hz mode does not allow you to disengage the weird "MotionFlow" soap opera look.
Avoid!
I went through two Sonys (EX500 & HX701) and two LGs (LD650 & LE5400) before I found an LCD with acceptable image quality in the LG 55LH90.
Screen uniformity, bright corners/edges, blue/purple tinged blacks and horrible off-axis viewing were common problems to all of the LCDs and LED edge-lit displays that I saw. Only the full-array, local-dimming LED backlit LCD displays gave an acceptable image to my eyes (in a home, not a store) and the LH90 was the only local-dimming set with a non-glossy screen!
So don't waste your time and money, IMO. Skip past all the crappy LCD choices and go straight for a local-dimming set is what I say.
@FirstReflect1 I completely agree with you on the uniformity of the panel of most LCDs. LED backlight is the best LCD option out there; however, if you can control your lighting, even if only partially, PDPs are still the best bang for the buck. The Panasonic G25 and VT25 are the best on the market, they also avoid the uniformity issues that you get with 99% of LCDs.
Going from a 27'' CRT to anything over 40'' HD is going to be a major upgrade. I've found that if you start with the bigger of the two choices and live with it for a week or two, you'll get used to the overall size increase from your old CRT.
46-50" is the sweet spot for 6-8 feet and 1080p (I'm at 9 feet and I wish I had gotten a 52" instead of a 46). Start going smaller than that and you're just wasting pixels.
Keep in mind that 16:9 and 4:3 sizes are not all that comparable because of the difference in proportion so 46" is not as big as you might think. You would need a 31-32" HD TV to give you the same screen height as a 27" CRT. This is especially noticeable on 4:3 pillar boxed content. My dad got a 27" flat panel to replace his 27" tube TV and couldn't understand why the picture looked so much smaller. He essentially had bought 23-24" TV.
I'm always tempted to go with a 50" plasma at 8' away. However, my 42" panny plasma is a pretty darn good size... a 50" would give me that "geez this guy has a freakin' huge tv in his living room" look... and I live in a house with only one place to put a large TV.
Recently bought a 50" LG PK550 plasma and my seating distance is 8-9 feet away. It's just about perfect, although I probably would've gone 60" if my budget allowed for it. So I agree with kristcnj and hodedofome, err on the larger size and go as big as you can afford. Your eyes can always adjust to the larger screen (50" seemed huge at first compared to the 30" CRT it replaced) and you'll never have to say "I wish I went bigger."
@VICinCLT Yup, got a groovy Pioneer 5000EX and sitting 7 ft away and thinking about getting a 60. Too bad nothing out there can beat the quality of this plasma so will wait a few years... oh well.
Keep in mind, the larger you go, the more you're stretching the same number of pixels out. For that distance, I'd say 40-46 is good. I'm at the same distance and have a 40, but might be going with a 46 next time if possible. Anything bigger at that distance and it'll just look worse, not better.
First I would go with a pany plasma. I would then get the biggest model you can afford. However if you're that close I wouldn't go above 50, as your going to really notice any imperfections in the source material.
ditto,
I have a 73" and even OTA HD can look like crap at times.
I'm about tha distance, and I have 42" but I want 58-63", for bluray movies the bigger the better, specialy if you're looking to get 3D, for this case I would say 52 or 55".
The best suggestion is the biggest you can afford.
I'm about 8-10 ft away and went with a 50" Samsung B650 plasma last year. Been really happy with it and was just under $900. Glad I got at least 50", as really even bigger at this distance would be fine. especially if you had a theater type room. 42" might be okay at 6-8 ft, but think 46" would be better and would still probably go for 50" myself. To me it's kind of crazy the prices on all these 42 - 50" or so LED LCD's that you might spend 2K or more on. Think my plasma has a nicer picture and generally larger size than those for a much lower price. The only con to me is a bit of image retention, if you have a constant scoreboard on the screen for awhile or something like that, but it is hardly noticeable and quickly goes away... Other that, these are the way to go to me.
Get the biggest you can afford. Don't worry about all the distance measurements. The TV will look small very quickly because your perception will change. I sit about 8ft away from a 52in and I think it's too small. I could use a 60in for more peripheral vision coverage.
Go a size bigger than you think and you will be happy. I would say a 50" to 55". I would recommend AGAINST the Sony, however. Everything I have been reading is showing them to be inferior to the Samsung or Panasonic sets. I have a personal bias towards Panasonics new VT series plasmas, as I value picture quality over all else. If cosmetics are an issue (i.e. you want a thin TV), take a look at the Samsungs. Good luck and have fun!
Thought I should mention as well...I sit 6-8 feet away from my set, and I have a 61" DLP, and I would probably go bigger next time!
46-65", 50" is probably the sweet spot. I have a 46" samsung LCD and I kinda wish I would have gone bigger, but I have 10ft ceilings so the perception is skewed lol
I just went through the same dilemma my self the past week. I spent hours asking people in stores, reading articles and forums on line and I never could get a straight answer. In fact, reading the comments above, everyone is all over the board on this.
One thing I found during my research, bigger is not always going to be better. If you are too close to a big TV, it will still be big, but won't look good. What really helped me is by going to friends and family's houses that had various sizes and standing the distance. This is better than in the store, since you are right they all seem small in the store.
I had about 6 feet between the edge of the couch and the TV screen. I ended up getting a 42" Plasma. 46 may have worked, but would have been pushing it at 6 feet. At 8 feet I think you would be okay. If you go to 50 or greater you may not like the results. If cost is not a worry, I'd suggest a 46", if your keeping a budget, 40-42" is where you want to be. My 2 cents.
well the best size is of course 152"
42" anything bigger will seem too large from that distance and look strange in an apartment.
46" should be fine also since you want to watch blurays you should get 120hz because it helps because movies are filmed @ 24hz
Without knowing the cowsumer's corrected vision, the room (size, ambient lighting), the intended seating distance, budget, expectation, viewing material, etc., etc., etc. how could anyone posting the article or responding to it state a size, let alone technology, for a completely unknown set of variables?
Honestly, these things are more important than anyone blind recommendations. Hugh FAIL, here.
@barkingghos Maybe you should consider, I don't know, READING the text of the article where pretty much all of your questions are answered?
Fail, indeed.
At 6-8ft viewing distance, I'd probably stick with a 42". It all depends though. If the room is quite a bit larger, but you have your couch positioned that far from the tv, you could go a size up and it wouldn't be too bad. If it's a narrow/smaller room, anything much larger than 42" is going to dominate the room.
I sit 8-10' from my tv and opted for a 42" tv for aesthetic purposes. It's like having large tower speakers. They sound amazing, but is your room large enough that they can be aesthetically pleasing? However, if you don't care about aesthetics, by all means, get that 50" and burn out your retina's on awesome huge screen gaming goodness.
What size tv should I get or how far away should I sit for optimum viewing?
Assuming that you have a 16:9 television and you'll be watching hd digital content, you'll want to sit in front of the television so that your field of view is around 30 degrees horizontally. The tv is measured on an angle, so a 52 inch diagonally measured hdtv is 45.3 inches wide.
Formula: 52 * cos [ tan-1 ( 9/16 )] = 45.3
Keeping it simple, just sit 1.87 times the screen width away (measured horizontally) to have a 30 degree wide viewing angle. In other words, sit 7 feet away (1.87 * 45.3) from a 52 inch tv for a 30 degree optimum viewing angle. This is the recommended distance by the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE) for the best viewing experience.
Formula: [1/tan (30/2)] / 2 = 1.87 ratio.
THX certification recommends a standard range rather than a single optimum position. The back row should have at least a 26 degree viewing angle and the nearest seated position should have no more than a 36 degree field of view. Again, to keep it simple, use 1.54 and 2.17 times the screen width to get the closest and farthest seating postions for the best viewing range. Our 45.3 inch wide screen would let you postion the viewers between 5.8 and 8.2 feet away for that immersive viewing experience.
Formula: [1/tan (26/2)] / 2 = 2.17 ratio.
Formula: [1/tan (36/2)] / 2 = 1.54 ratio.
Use this formula if you want to vary between a minimum 24 degree and maximum 40 degree field of view. (The min and max ranges). Our 52 inch hdtv has a minimum distance of 5.2 feet and maximum distance of 8.9 feet to stay within the 24 and 40 degree range. At the minimum range, you tend to notice the individual pixels and you'll be moving your head and eyes an awful lot. Step into the next room to watch your tv. It works, but it's just not an immersive experience. Depending on your eyesight, you might have to adjust for your own visual acuity. Some picture detail will be lost due to the limitations of your own eyesight. Therefore, the 30 degree angle and resulting distance work great for almost everyone. The THX setup works great if you have two rows of seating in your home theater or if your furniture or room layout requires some variation. If you're watching analog or SD content, you can sit at the far end so you'll notice less of the images flaws. Upscaling tvs and dvds also help to improve lower quality content.
Max Formula: [1/tan (24/2)] / 2 = 2.35 ratio.
Min Formula: [1/tan (40/2)] / 2 = 1.37 ratio.
The best overall recommendation guide I have found is from Crutchfields learning center, “Choosing Screen Size and Placing Your TV”. It takes into account a lot of factors such as height, projection tvs, and even room lighting.
I live in an apartment and I have set up a 135" projection screen at a viewing distance of 14ft. I would not want it to be any smaller. I could do larger but I'm at the limits for the projector and throw distance.
I purchased a 40" TV for roughly the same situation. While it does the job quite well, I always feel that a 46" would have been a better choice. Like someone said earlier, better too big than too small.