It seems like tv screens have become enormous in the last few years but after spending some time at my folks and watching my brothers 42" monsters I have to say i'm pretty drawn to thinking bigger is better. I've never bought a telly and our current handmedown is taking longer to fire up than normal and the sound is doing strange things so I'm not sure how long it is before it heads to the big richer sounds in the sky (or the dixons down below, i can't attest to the sins of it's life previous to me)
So I started looking at tvs on richer sounds and given you can get an LCD tv at either 37" with full hd or bigger (40") without for around 300 quid I started daydreaming bout them. However, wanted to see what folks on here think, bigger is better or 32 is enough? Doesn't need to be the centre of an entertainment suite and don't have sky sports or hd so the only hd action it will see is via an xbox.
Wow that's a long post to ask how big a telly should i think of getting!
You could either..
a) measure the distance from where you sit to where the TV is going to be, and stand that far away from theh TVs in the shop to see what is going to be OK, or
b) buy the biggest one you can to try and swamp your front room, and achieve the council house scumbag chic look of having a completely inappropriate telly monopolising your room
(we went with 37")
lol
we're in a rented house and it's a lounge/dining room/kitchen space so it could take a pretty huge telly but maybe i should look at projectors to get the same effect 😀
Some of the ones I see through the windows round here must be about 50" in tiny rooms!
IIRC, the rule of thumb is the distance from you to the screen should be approx. the screen size (diagonal) x4 or 5.
Above 42", plasma still has the edge
Do your research wisely if buying LCD. Find out what type of panel they are made using, and avoid the TN (cheap) panels. IPS is where you want to be.
Also identify the difference between LED backlit, and LED side-lit screens.
I went from 26 to 40, at first 40 was absolutely massive, now it's not quite big enough...
50! bloody hell
cheers dave sounds good, tbh i had just thought pick up something like [url= http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/sony/bravia-kdl37ex401/sony-kdl37ex401 ]this[/url] from richer sounds and might put it off until this tv actually has a wobbly and dies but maybe i should read up a bit more
treksimon - Member
I went from 26 to 40, at first 40 was absolutely massive, now it's not quite big enough...
Agreed.
We went from 32 to 42 and I now wish that I had gone to 46 or more.
I'm sitting watching my 40" Bravia, sat with my head 100" away, and if I stretch my arm out and spread my hand thumb and little finger pretty much touch each side of the screen. It looks about right to me in my room. My parents use a much smaller room and have a 32", which actually looks a tad small. I would go at least 37", widescreen 16:9 TV's take up less room and go further back towards a wall than a CRT will, so angle of view let's you get away with a wider screen.
IMHO bigger is better. We bought a 40" and quickly went for a 50" for watching films. The 50" is in a medium size room, and it's a bit to big for watching 16:9 TV, but for films it's really good for getting 'immersion'. A 50" TV in a typical room is still much, much smaller than watching a film at the cinema.
50" might be a novelty now, but IMHO, in 5 years time (once Freeview HD has been around a while) it will be the norm. Unless your stuck for space, I can't see any reason to got for a TV smaller then 42".
LOL about the 'council house scumbag'...at least they didn't buy a TV that's too small 😉
hmm had thought maybe save a few pennies and go 32" but from what you've said and i thought originally i think i might save up and go 37 or 40, now i just have to decide on a 'better' 37" against an 'inferior' 40"...
I went for 37" 3 and a half years ago, when the 37" hadn't long been an option. Its pretty perfect in my humblest. Fits my 19' living room perfectly, and doesn't encroach on my window, which was the main reason I hadn't went with the flow and bought a 42" before that! 😀
I also haven't mounted it on the wall, for the uber-chav look.....
Depends what you mean by better, you def. do [i]not[/i] need full HD at that screen size, but don't but some cheap tat, because there are some nasty looking TV's about. Most of the big names produce decent TV's for little money at the moment.
what i meant was the 37 bravia above versus [url= http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/samsung/le40b530/sams-le40b530 ]this[/url] 40 which is actually cheaper but having just checked doesn't seem to have any weaker spec?!
I brought my Bravia from Richer Sounds - great customer service.
A Bravia plays really nicely with a PS3 - the TV remove runs the Bluray player etc.
Like most men you will always want an extra inch.
we have a couple of these at one of the studios I work at.
[url=
Suspect they're a wee bit on the large side for home use though.
general rule of thumb is that ideal viewing distance is 6 times the screen height away from it.
Big TV in small room = watching pixels rather than the whole image
Cinema is somewhat higher in resolution than broadcast TV... HD solves the pixel problem to a degree but not everything is in HD.
Like most men you will always want an extra inch.
No thanks!! The 7" i got hurt enough already!!
42" Bravia Plasma here in a good size lounge. Pretty much spot on.
When I bought it 18 months ago I also looked at LCDs at £1k, but when watching sports it was quite "smeary" (is that a word) on 42" sets. Something to watch out for. Plasma beat them hands down, but newer ones may be much better.
As CountZero says above, with a flat TV it will go much further into the corner of a room or closer to the wall than a CRT telly, so will be further away than your current box.
A couple of mates have just bought 42" LG LED TVs and the picture quality is superb.