What Size Screen or Television Do I Need?

[admin]

We get asked this question alot and we have, in fact, addressed it during the course of various projector and flat panel reviews. It is an important topic, however, and we feel that it is truly worthy of some personal attention - especially given these times of rapidly dropping flat panel display prices. While many believe that "bigger is always better," getting the right screen size means that you can truly optimize your home theater budget and allocate your money in teh best way possible to make sure you get the best visuals and sound possible. We'll take you through several ways to effectively determine the best screen size for your room, and give you some general guidelines for figuring out your own needs.


Discuss "What Size Screen or Television Do I Need?" here. Read the article.

[Wayde Robson]

"so it's probably best to err on the side of going a bit larger."

I like that rule.

Great measurement excercise, I'll have to try it at the local cineplex.

I know I am probably not alone in my preference to have most of my peripheral vision taken up when I'm watching a movie. My pref is to sit comfortably, stare at the middle of the screen and not see much but the screen.

I want to feel vertigo in the dragon flight scenes in Eragon. Yeah, I'm the type that sits near the front of the theater, although if it's going to be crowded I usually try and take a seat near an edge, because I have to pee at least once - it's a bit of an annoyance.

I should stop drinking beer before going to the movies.

[Jim Robbins]

Wow, that's an excellent article! I haven't thought about it in this way before. That's a pretty simple formula for figuring out what you think "big" is. Yeah, erring on the side of big is good, but if you get motion sick, like Wayde there, you might want to go to the slightly smaller size. Of course, there is always the WAF to consider. (Wife Acceptance Factor) *grin* To be fair, I have met a couple of women who wanted a bigger screen than their husbands. It's a rare occurrence.... Even though my wife isn't one of those, she still allows me to have a 106" screen. Yeah, that's big. Hmmm... I wonder if I could go bigger.

[BobMac]

Bigger is better.

[GlocksRock]

I agree with the article, when I was 8 feet away from my old 50" tv it was just right. So when I moved into my new house, and was sitting 12 feet away, it seemed too small so I got a 73" tv, and it's just right. It's definitely a big tv, but it was a better option for me than going with a front projection setup. But it all comes down to personal preference, and budget. But for the money you can't really beat a DLP when it comes to screen size for your money.

[ivseenbetter]

But it all comes down to personal preference, and budget. But for the money you can't really beat a DLP when it comes to screen size for your money.

You can beat it with an LCD front projection system

[supervij]

That is a such a simple formula, I never woulda thought of doing it that way! Nice! It also confirms a handy rule of thumb I discovered: take your eyeball-to-screen distance and divide by two. That will give you a ballpark figure of what size (diagonal) screen to look for. Worked great for me: I'm 100 inches away from my 50-inch TV. For SD, it's a tad soft, but for HD, it's just a wee too small -- a good balance, since I watch both.

cheers,
supervij

[jaydog67]

I have a living room at my apartment that is 14 feet deep by 18 wide. I had a smaller room at our last place. We have a 60" phillips HD projection tv and it fits alot better in our new apartment. The last house's room we had the tv in was about 12 feet deep. So there is the possibility of having too much of a tv.

[Phil Taylor]

I sit 9ft away from my 7ft wide front projector screen. Does that make me abnormal?

[PhillipCann]

i like the rule! bigger the better