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HDTV Guide

  

Buyer's Guide - Screen Size

  

Also in this section: Introduction | Getting started | Providers | Buying your HDTV | Jargon buster | Optimize

 

  
  HDTV Buyers Guide
1. What screen technology is right for me?
2. What size screen should I buy?
3. What will I be using my TV for?
4. Connections
5. My Budget
6. Editors top choices

 

Choosing the size of your TV

We have suddenly been given a huge amount of choice in terms of what size TV we can buy. From 19in and under up to 60in and over, with a vast selection in between, it has all become rather confusing.

Of course, we are all tempted to go for that 50in LCD or Plasma, but whatever size you go for, it is important to consider the size of the room where you plan to position your TV.

Consider your viewing distance

With our old CRT TV's, viewing distance wasn't such a large concern. Very few consumers watched TV on anything larger than a 32in screen and were happy to sit at roughly the same average distance from the screen.

Modern flat panel TV's are composed of lots of tiny squares (pixels) which are tightly packed together in a grid, emitting various levels of light and different colours to produce a picture. Get too close to a large screen and you will be able to distinguish individual pixels, get too far away and you will experience a loss of detail. Somewhere in between is a happy medium in the form of a smooth picture.

So there are two problems we could encounter. We might buy a TV that is too small for a room (yes, we can always bring the settee nearer, but we might be wasting space). More seriously, we buy a TV which is too big for the room, we can't get far enough away to perceive a smooth picture.

Does the quality of your TV pictures matter?

You might get your pictures from an aerial (Freeview etc) or Satellite (Sky, Freesat) or Cable (Virgin etc). These different sources offers different levels of picture quality.

The 576 or so lines of a Freeview source offers less detail than the 1080 lines offered by some channels on Sky. Does this matter? Well, in our opinion, the difference is negligible and factors such as personal preference become more important.

However, if you are watching High Definition pictures rather than Standard Definition, detail will be greater and viewing distances can be reduced.

Where does this leave us?

While there are numerous tables giving minimum and maximum viewing distances for various screen sizes we believe that you should take a slightly simplified approach.

The 2-5 principle (described below) will give you an idea of where to start. Then we think it would be a good idea to visit your local retailer and just get a feel for the size of TV you would be comfortable with and how far away from the screen you feel is a natural viewing distance. Remember to look at screens with High Definition as well as Standard Definition content.

The 2-5 principle

For an optimum viewing distance with Standard Definition material, the nearest seating position should be limited to around twice the screen width while the furthest seating position should be no more than around five times the width of your screen.

For an optimum viewing distance with High Definition material, the nearest seating position should be adjusted to around 1.5 times the screen width while the furthest seating position should be no more than around four times the width of your screen.

Size and your room

Generally, 26in and smaller sets are perfect for bedrooms or guest rooms, but too small for the main living room. Sets with bigger screens are large enough for the whole family to enjoy and will probably be too much for most small bedrooms.

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