The viewing distance to my tv is 12' ...

[Punkavenger]

What size TV do I need? The 32" Samsung which I love is just not cutting it now that I've moved to a bigger house. Research on the internet shows anywhere from 40" to 60". That's a wide range! I don't need a "theater experience" but I don't want to have to squint either.  I guess because tv's are so cheap these days price isn't really an issue but I would rather spend my money on a new bass.

 

 

 

[mrjamiam]

I'm watching a 50" plasma from 14' and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.  Definitely not squinting, because I put my glasses on.

It replaced a 46" model that had a board die in it.  I wasn't unhappy with that, either, but 50" is a little better.

[cynic]

55" plasma here, viewed anywhere from 14-35' and I've never not seen something I should have. 

The hype will be here soon. Don't buy it.

Turn your phone sideways and put on a video. Get in the area from where you'll watch tv. Hold you phone at a position you like the screen size. Now look past your screen at the wall and you should be able to kinda visualize how big your tv needs to be at the greater distance to match your phone screen size at the nearer distance. 

[kizanski]

Twelve feet?  Go with a 70".
You'll never go to the movies again.

[Armitage]

The rule of thumb is to take the TV's width (not the diagonal) and double it and that's how far your eyes should be. Anything bigger and your eyes and neck will ache.

[kizanski]

3 minutes ago, Armitage said:

...your eyes and neck will ache.

When?

[Armitage]

After watching a game or long movie.

[kizanski]

3 hours ago, Armitage said:

After watching a game or long movie.

Yeah, that's what people keep telling me, but I'm not buying it.
I have a 60" AQUOS and I sit about 7' from it. For about 4 or 5 years now.

[Armitage]

I've gotten  a 132 inch projector and moved back...

[hamerhead]

I'm about 10 feet from a 9' wide screen. The only pain I get is from the sound BEING CRANKED TO THE HILT!!

Just like at the movies.

[JohnnyB]

I have a 60" diag. (about 52.5" horizontal) and I sit about 110" from it. It works well, and after 5-1/2 years I'm not particularly craving something bigger. I could go for a 65" or 70" (diag.) and enjoy it a little more but I wouldn't want it bigger than 70" diag. at that viewing distance. 

I visited my brother a year ago. He has a 50" diag.  and I estimate their viewing distance at 12 feet. I felt like I needed opera glasses the entire time I was there.

Both of our TVs are Panasonic plasmas, so that should give you reliable data for good ratios vs. bad.

The horizontal measurement of a 16:9 ratio HDTV screen is .875 of the diagonal measurement. So a 70" diag. screen is 61.25" wide. Double that and you're at 122.5", a little over 10 feet. That will probably work OK, but by Bill's formula, the ideal would be around 80" (80 x .875 x 2 = 140"). 140 divided by 12" equals 11-2/3 ft. viewing distance.

Given the rapid rise in cost when you get to 70" and larger HDTVs, you might consider scooting the seating forward two feet and get a 60-65", which would work fine.

You can get a 60" for $698 if you know where to shop, but a 75" is more like $1898. 

[cynic]

16 hours ago, Armitage said:

The rule of thumb is to take the TV's width (not the diagonal) and double it and that's how far your eyes should be. Anything bigger and your eyes and neck will ache.

So when I was a kid, my family should have been gathered 43" from the screen of our 25" tv?  Hell, I'd practically have to wear the 13" I had in my bedroom.

[Punkavenger]

Thanks for the responses so far guys ... keep em coming!

[JohnnyB]

7 hours ago, cynic said:

So when I was a kid, my family should have been gathered 43" from the screen of our 25" tv?  Hell, I'd practically have to wear the 13" I had in my bedroom.

No, Bill gave the formula for HDTV, which has 1280 horizontal lines of resolution . 4K UHDTV has 2160 horizontal lines. Standard def TV has--under ideal conditions which we seldom experienced--480 lines of resolution, usually 240 lines at a time alternated at 60 Hz. You didn't want to get too close to that gravelly, grainy picture. You wanted to keep enough distance to where you could pretend that it looks real.

With 4K UHD TVs, you have to get within 10" or less to detect the pixels at all.

[cynic]

2 hours ago, JohnnyB said:

No, Bill gave the formula for HDTV, which has 1280 horizontal lines of resolution .

My bust I guess?  His statement looked much more general without all the info you've extracted from between the lines. 

I'm just trying to keep in mind the OP stated he doesn't need a cinema experience, so all that between the lines info seems less relevant than some are trying to make it. 

[Armitage]

It's the THX Standard guys...

[JohnnyB]

5 hours ago, cynic said:

My bust I guess?  His statement looked much more general without all the info you've extracted from between the lines. 

Standard Def TVs haven't been on the market for around 10 years. There was no leaping assumption nor extrapolation needed. Check Sears or Amazon online and sort the TVs by low price to high price. Even the cheapest TVs are at least 15-24" 720p 16:9 ratio LED or LCD HDTVs. Punkavenger's 32" TV is too small for his needs. In the era of 25" TVs of which you speak, 32" would have been considered gigantic.

I'm just trying to keep in mind the OP stated he doesn't need a cinema experience, so all that between the lines info seems less relevant than some are trying to make it. 

He also stated he doesn't want a squinting experience either. I have direct experience with viewing distances from 8 to 12 feet. My visit to my brother's house made it clear that 50" is inadequate for a 12' viewing distance. It used to be that viewing distance calculators had formulas for HDTV and for SDTV, but Crutchfield, for example, doesn't address SDTV at all anymore.

 

[Bloozguy]

On 4/8/2017 at 10:19 AM, Punkavenger said:

I guess because tv's are so cheap these days price isn't really an issue but I would rather spend my money on a new bass.

Buy the cheapest TV you can find and then get the new bass...

[JohnnyB]

Sam's Club has 60" and 65" UHD 4K TVs ranging from a 65" Hitachi 4K UHD Roku Smart TV for $748 to a Samsung 4K UHD for $1048. In between is a 60" LG 4K Super UHD Smart LED TV w/WebOS 3.0 for $998.

 

[kizanski]

It's amazing how cheap these things have gotten.

I remember paying $5,200 for my SONY Bravia 52" a hundred years ago...

[hamerhead]

 

I always try to wait 'til the newest thing is the 2nd-newest thing. It's better than the previous thing, but not as expensive as the latest thing.

[kizanski]

Still works!! My dad loves it!

[JohnnyB]

4 hours ago, kizanski said:

It's amazing how cheap these things have gotten.

I remember paying $5,200 for my SONY Bravia 52" a hundred years ago...

My first HDTV was a POS 55" 720p rear projection model that cost something like $1400 in 2006. An equivalent direct-view plasma or LCD would have been something like $4400 at the time.

In 2011 I replaced it with a direct view 60" 1080p plasma for $998. At that time it was quite a score. Now you can get a 65" LG or Samsung 4K Ultra HD for that price, or a 60" LG Super HD for that price.

Still, my 60" plasma 1080p Panasonic looks mighty good. I'm glad I got a plasma before they disappeared.

[Carl.B]

We have a 7 - 8 year old 50" Pioneer Elite 1080P  and we sit any where from 10' to 19' from it and have no problem seeing everything. I wish Pioneer had kept making TV's the picture quality on this is still outstanding. At the time we were looking this was one of the highest rated TV's out there. Just buy something that has a good reputation for quality, I was just at our county recycling center and there were lot's of the cheap Walmart, Sam's Club, Cost Co TV's sitting there waiting to be torn apart.    

 

[Punkavenger]

Ok ... went with the Sony 49" Bravia 4K Ultra high def 49X800D    ... wow. The picture is incredible. I'm totally happy. Best Buy 7 hundred and something bucks. The 55" might have been a more appropriate size but it was also over a grand. And this way I still have enough left over for that bass.  

[JohnnyB]

6 hours ago, Punkavenger said:

Ok ... went with the Sony 49" Bravia 4K Ultra high def 49X800D    ... wow. The picture is incredible. I'm totally happy. Best Buy 7 hundred and something bucks. The 55" might have been a more appropriate size but it was also over a grand. And this way I still have enough left over for that bass.  

Cool. Glad it worked out for you. 4K is great!