Big televisions certainly look impressive. They help draw you into what you’re watching, making every movie an hilarious, heart-wrenching or terrifying experience. They are easy on the eyes at all ages, and as producers start designing their shows with finer details, they are definitely more future ready. However, size overkill for your LCD television is a real possibility – not every customer needs a 55? screen. Our HDTV size guide explains the situations where each sizing range is suitable, and what other features you can expect along with that screen diameter.

How do HDTVs measure up?

HDTV size guides all refer to the diagonal measurement of the television’s screen – don’t measure from left to right, and then go yell at your retailer! This is the industry standard for size measurement.

How low can I go?

In standard LCD televisions (not portables or computer-connect screens), you’ll find sizes as low as 11 inches. When you consider that optimal viewing distance is between 1.5times and 3 times the diagonal screen measurement, though, you would want to sit around 16 to 33 inches away – between half a metre and a meter – to get the best out of your display. That’s little more than the distance from a desk chair to a computer monitor!

What size LCD television will be best for me?

As we just mentioned, optimal viewing distances with LCD technology are between 1.5 times the diagonal width of the screen, and 3 times the diagonal width of the screen. So the easiest way to figure out what size television will suit you best is to measure the distance between your planned seating, and planned TV placement. Multiply it by 1.5 to get the smallest LCD television that you can view optimally, and by 3 to get the largest that will suit your space. The ready-reckoner below helps give you a rough guide to viewing distances for common screen sizes.

What is the acceptable range?

This HDTV size guide isn’t hard and fast; people still managed to watch The Simpsons not that many years ago, on 10 inch cathode ray sets, and still laugh at all the jokes. If you will be sitting further than 3 times the screen distance you can afford, your television certainly isn’t a waste of money – you’ll understand things perfectly, and probably not be annoyed by loss of picture quality minute to minute. However, you do miss out on the immersive feel of widescreen and HDTV.

Other sizing considerations

• If your television will be placed inside an entertainment unit, don’t base your space calculations on the screen size. Look for total dimensions in the product information – if they aren’t available, consult the retailer.

• You will need to leave space for ventilation if placing inside an entertainment center, also.

• If you want to wall mount your television, make sure you look at the total weight as well as the total size. LED televisions are generally best for wall mounting – they are usually quite thin.