HDTV Screen Size: How Big Is Big Enough?
It's easy to fall into a bigger-is-better mentality when you're trying to choose a television, but the right size for your set depends on how far away from the display you'll be sitting.
Because HDTV is much sharper than old-fashioned TV broadcasts, you can sit closer to an HDTV and not see a blocky, blotchy mess, as you would if you were watching a standard TV. In fact, sitting a bit closer to an HDTV with surround sound can give you a wonderful home theater experience.
On the other hand, sitting too close can be like sitting in the front row of a theater, so in a small room you'll be better served by a smaller screen--especially for non-HD programming.
If you're likely to sit about 6 feet from the set, the mail-order electronics distributor Crutchfield suggests a 30-inch screen. But if you're watching only HD content, you can go with a larger set. A 60-inch HDTV can look good from 8 feet to as far as 15 feet away.
Remember that flat-panel or rear-projection sets look better from directly in front (or nearly that), so you might want to move your seating back if more than one or two people will be watching.
Is there a point at which a TV is too small to bother with HDTV? Die-hards would say no, but we think that with anything under 15 inches, trying to distinguish between HDTV and a crisp, high-quality digital cable or satellite picture is tough. You probably won't use a screen that small as a primary set--and few HD sets are that small anyway.
Edward B. Driscoll Jr. is a Silicon Valley-based freelance journalist who writes regularly on a wide variety of topics.
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