What size TV should I buy?

Most people go to the nearest big box store when they’re ready to purchase a TV and get the biggest thing they can afford or fit in their vehicle but if you’re seeking to find a tv that actual matches the distance you intent to watch the tv at then that is a more complicated decision.

Even though TV resolution is a factor in

how close and how large of a tv that one should buy, since most tv’s today are 4k and up there are diminishing returns once you go above a 4k television since unless you sit extremely close to the TV,  pixel distortion, even for someone with perfect vision isn’t noticeably distracting at anything above 4k.

So with resolution out of the way let’s talk about optimal viewing distance. Optimally you’ll want to sit at a distance and have a tv that fills approximately 30 degrees of your field of vision for a mixed use case and 40 degrees if you are looking for a cinematic viewing experience. So in short, you should be able to view the tv in a normal field of vision without picking up distractions from around the room or in the vicinity of the TV. You should be able to see the tv with very minimal background noise like home decor items, TV stands, pictures, etc. So you should view the TV with a small boarder around it from the surrounding wall, that is typically what a 40 degree cinematic viewing is considered, with a 30 degree field of view having a slightly larger view of the surrounding wall. And you don’t want to put the tv so close that your eyes are fixated on one part of the screen, this can quickly become nausiating. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers recommends the 30 and 40 degrees depending on the desired experience as previously noted, which requires a bit of math but I have simplified it for you. For a cinematic experience, take the size tv that you intend on buying and place a decimal in between the number. For example, if you intend on buying a 75” TV then this would become 7.5, and when used as a feet measurement this calculates almost perfectly to the recommended distance for a cinematic experience.  Another example is a 65” TV, placing a decimal in between this number will give you 6.5, so the optimal viewing distance for a cinematic experience of a 65” TV is 6.5’ away. Now this can be a straight head on measurement, or a measurement at an angle if you intent on mounting the tv a bit higher than usually recommended due to room size.

Here is a chart with the recommended distances given the particular size TV you intend on buying

To determine the distance, sit or lay if you are using for a bedroom and measure from your viewing height to the center of where you want to place the tv on the wall. Here at MBS, we recommend placing the bottom of the TV at 40-45” for a living room which would put the center of most TV’s at the 52-60” from the floor range. For a bedroom, we recommend a height of 52” to 60” from the floor, which would put the center of the TV at approximately 72-80” from the floor. Now as for size for the bedroom, considering practical use, a 65” TV is going to be a perfect fit for most average bedrooms where you are between 9-11’ from the TV. To give another example, if you intend on purchasing a 75” TV, which is very common size at the time of this writing, the recommended distance between the height of your eyes from where you will be viewing the tv from, to the center of the tv should be 10’ 2” for a mixed use experience and 7’ 6” for a cinematic theatre experience.

These are recommendations, but this is your living space so it’s is up to you to make it as comfortable and enjoyable as possible, so feel free to tweak these measurements as you see fit. The recommendations are just a guideline to give you somewhere to start.