3 Simple Tips for Choosing the Right Size TV for Your Room

We all want a big TV. The bigger, the better if you ask me. But sometimes the room we are going to put the TV in just doesn’t accommodate the enormous screen size we dream about. How can you determine what size TV will work best in the room where you want to put it.

There are actually a number of factors involved to figure this out. Here are some tips for you to consider before buying that new HDTV:

Wall Mount or No Wall Mount?

First things is first. Will this TV be hung on the wall or not? You need to figure this out before even heading to the store because this decision will affect everything else after it. TV’s that are hung on the wall actually allow for larger screen size because rarely are there TVs that are bigger than the walls of a room. Also a larger sized TV that is hanging on a wall can work better in smaller rooms because it allows for maximum viewing distance from where you are seated instead of having it place inside or on top of a TV cabinet. Plus, if budget is a concern there are peripherals and installation costs to consider when wall mounting a new set.

How many walls surround the TV?

This seems like an odd question, but the number of walls surrounding the TV can impact the perception viewers have on whether the room feels crowded with a large TV. If your TV is surrounded by 4 full walls (front, left, right & behind) it can make the room feel smaller and a TV over 50″ can feel overwhelming unless the square footage of the room is large. If your TV is surrounded by 3 walls (left, right, behind) and connects to another room so that the back wall is farther away, a TV over 50″ will work as the room has enough depth to warrant the extra large screen size.

What’s the Viewing Distance?

Everyone likes sitting close to the TV. We did as kids and got yelled at, but now that it’s our home we can sit as close as we want! That is unless you want a super sized HDTV. Sitting closer to the TV can actually diminish the quality of the viewing experience not to mention the acoustics if you have a surround sound system. Let’s say you have your eye on a 52″ HDTV. You’re going to want to make sure your viewing area is at least 6 feet away from the TV to be able to enjoy the optimal cinematic experience.

Amazon.com has come up with a simple formula for determining the best size TV based on your viewing distance from the screen. To determine the maximum size TV screen you would divide the length of your viewing distance by 1.5. Instead of messing with the math I love this quick reference chart that Amazon developed to show you the TV sizes you should consider based on where you’ll be seated to watch TV:

So there you have it. You now have enough information to figure out just how big a TV you should get based on the room  you’re putting it in. Now you just have to pick which TV you’re going to get. 3D? LED or LCD? Vizio or Sony? Decisions, decisions, decisions…