TVs – 32″ to 40″ – will I notice a big difference?

Apart from the 8″! 🙂

Got a 32″ HD Samsung and fancy upgrading to this…

https://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue40nu7120-hdr-4k-ultra-hd-smart-tv-40-inch-with-tvplus-360-design-ultra-hd-certified-black/p3531207

…but is 32 to 40″ a big enough step to notice a difference? I just can’t get a bigger set in the place it goes without it looking stupid.

You’ll wonder how you managed with a 32.

You’ll wonder why you didn’t get a 48″

We went 37 to 49, yes you do notice.

But looking on the internet the trend in size seems to have changed, I went with slightly bigger as the physical size of the frames has changed and I didn’t want to overpower the room.

Most sites now seem to be saying sit closer so you can tell you have a 4K tv.
The reality is unless you search out 4K content from Netflix, Apple etc very little is in 4K so the TV upgrades it.

I bet if you look at TV sites they may say go 65 inch.

There is no such thing as a tv that’s too big. People who say “its too big for my room” are just wrong. Get the biggest one you can afford.

Isn’t it all about how far away you sit?
I seem to remember that the optimal viewing distance is two and a half times the size of the screen.
Move your chair backwards by 20 inches and you won’t notice any difference.

Measure the distance between your chair and the TV and divide by 2.5 and this should tell you the optimal size of screen to go for.

I went from 42″ to 40″ and almost immediately regretted it. Not enough that I paid out for a new TV (I’m a tight git), but certainly very noticeable. So yes, you will.

It’s not about optimum – it’s about physical space! 🙂

40″ TV is 90cm wide. A 43″ TV is 97cm wide. The extra 7cm would mean the TV touches a wall on the left and encroach into curtain on the right.

I’ve never heard anyone saying “I’m sorry I went for the bigger model”. Heard quite few regretting not going another size up though.
I’m still on the first flat screen I ever bought, a 37″ plasma. If it ever gives up the ghost I’m going quite a bit bigger!

edit

It’s not about optimum – it’s about physical space!

Ah, I see. Get that wall moved and fit some blinds then.

No it’s not about how far away from the screen you sit. That is all about equivalency… so if I’m sat further away what size screen do I need to get a viewing size equivalent to what i’ve got now. Utterly irrelevant, useless and widely misunderstood.

Just get the biggest screen you can fit in the space or can afford. They shrink very quickly, smart apps, which is they way most people watch content these days, squeeze more content on the screen so more screen real estate is always handy, and when you’re watching something it is not going to make your experience worse having a larger screen. Also a bigger screen means more space for better speakers so if you’re not bothering with external audio equipment then a bigger tv will have better speakers.

we went for the full council estate spec tv in our modest terraced house. 65″.
never once ever have we wished we had a smaller one. several times i have pondered if we could have stretched to a bigger one. genuinely an 80″ one would not be too big.

main issue now is smaller tv’s are unwatchable.

We went from 40″ to 42″ because the smaller frame size meant that the overall TV size was pretty much the same.
However, we also change the room set-up so that we were sat closer to the TV than before. I felt that it was too big for this and it was like sitting too far forward at the cinema where you are looking around at parts of the screen rather than viewing the whole screen.
We’ve now moved the room back to the previous set-up (about 4m from the screen) and it’s much more comfortable viewing. I know it’s a personal choice, but I just don’t find massive screens enjoyable to watch.

You can go too big, a 50″ TV in a small, narrow room is silly. There are lots of articles on the web about viewing distance and screen size.
For example, John Lewis say “Ideally, your viewing distance should be 1.5 times the size of your screen. Screen sizes are measured diagonally.”

I did exactly this a few months ago. 32” Panasonic to a 40” 4K Samsung. I didn’t really notice the bigger screen size and should have bought another 2” (fnar fnar).
That said the new TV is phenomenal.

No it’s not about how far away from the screen you sit.

It is if you’re interested in seeing the benefit of higher resolution.

You can go too big, a 50″ TV in a small, narrow room is silly. There are lots of articles on the web about viewing distance and screen size.
For example, John Lewis say “Ideally, your viewing distance should be 1.5 times the size of your screen. Screen sizes are measured diagonally.”

So according to JL you’d want to be sitting 75″ away from the 50″ screen you’re calling silly in a “small, narrow room”. I’m not sure I agree with them on the 1.5 thing but surely a small narrow room is the only kind where you’re likely to be able to sit 75″ away without having to plonk yourself down in the middle of the floor in front of the TV?

The reality is unless you search out 4K content from Netflix, Apple etc very little is in 4K so the TV upgrades it.

Netflix may stream at 4k resolution but bitrate leaves a lot to be desired. We can spot compression artifacts at 1080p even on our 80meg connection. Not all the time mind but really noticeable in black areas. If you want full quality you want local media as was always the case.

I upgraded from an old LG 37″ which had quite a big bezel around the screen to a 49″ 4K Sony, it didn’t look that much bigger in the room due to the Sony having a small bezel. Wish we had gone up to 55″ now.

I upgraded from an old LG 37″ which had quite a big bezel around the screen to a 49″ 4K Sony, it didn’t look that much bigger in the room due to the Sony having a small bezel. Wish we had gone up to 55″ now.

That’s a very good point. Newer TVs are smaller than older ones for a given screen size, my old plasma has 40mm of bezel top and sides and a massive slab of “wasted” real estate under the screen.

42 to 50, although the footprint wasn’t that much bigger because the 42 had a big thick plastic border round the screen, it seemed like a big difference in screen size.

I watched Rogue One for a bit on the old telly, which i knew had a beautiful picture during the end battle, that became my test for the new telly, it was an amazing leap in quality.

You’ll see the benefit of the higher resolution no matter how far you sit from the TV, but resolution is a minor contributing factor to overall picture quality so that is the main reason why it’s BS. Just get as big a TV as you can accommodate and afford. Simple.

32-40 is a really big change – that was our CRT to Plasma move and it’s a very different experience. We then to a 50 but our old Pioneer Plasma is at a mates house and is still a decent size.

My Bravia is a 40”, but it’s now fourteen years old, and it has quite a wide frame, about 3cm. Bearing in mind screen sizes are measured diagonally, the width doesn’t increase as much when the size is increased; I reckon I could easily get a 50” in the space, in fact I’ve just measured it, the actual size diagonally across the tv is 48”, a modern set with the tiny frames they come with means even a 52” would probably fit into the same space.

I’ve never heard anyone saying “I’m sorry I went for the bigger model”.

Let me be the first. I bought a telly that was very good, fantastic value but made me think I was living in the box it came in. It went back.

” Just get as big a TV as you can accommodate and afford. Simple.”
Erm, we chose our TV based on the picture quality. We all have different eyes so this is really important.

I’ve never heard anyone saying “I’m sorry I went for the bigger model”.

Let me be the first. I bought a telly that was very good, fantastic value but made me think I was living in the box it came in. It went back.

Your contribution doesn’t fit my worldview so I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear it.

I’d rearrange my room and change out furniture to allow a big 55″+ screen rather than going back to a 40″.

Oh Renée!!!!!

@OP. Did exactly the same 32 to 40 upgrade. Last years version of that Samsung as it happens. Tiny room in a small terrace house so no room for anything bigger.

You will notice the difference

One’s class is inversely proportionate to the size of one’s telly.

Jokes aren’t any funnier on big TVs.

I remember when I bought a Philips 32” CRT, to replace my then ten year old Panasonic 21” FST, which was a cube, basically. Two of us carried the thing in from the car, and put it onto the stand, when my mum came down stairs, took one look and said, “oh my God, it’s huge! It takes up so much room!”*, which to be fair, it did. 32” widescreen CRT tellies were enormously deep. After a couple of days we didn’t even notice the size, just how stunning the picture was.
*Cue Mutley snigger…

We switched from a 28″ CRT to a 40″ Samsung, much smaller case but screen massive. We have a 32″ Samsung at the caravan, and it appears small compared to the 40 at home, but would have been too big there (obscured a whole window).