When people think about new televisions these days, they think “big” and “flat” and, well, “big”.  Televisions are being designed with large, modern, sexy, and sleek at their core. These impressive entertainment machines can be very enticing but they are not practical for every home. Some home theaters require a large video display because the size of the room and the seating requires it.  Others simply don’t have the wall or floor space for such a TV. Some home theater rooms can hold a TV of a very large size but the size of the rest of the room makes viewing it painful or distorted.

Here’s the rule of thumb for finding a television size right for your room:

Select a plasma or LCD flat-panel TV screen with a width half to one third the distance from the main seating area and where you plan to place the television.  The main seating area can be where you placed your set of theater recliners or your family’s favorite sofa – wherever most of your viewers will be sitting.

For example, if your sofa is roughly 8 feet from where you plan to mount your new television, you should purchase a flat-panel display approximately 32-48” wide. This will provide you with the best viewing screen for the layout of your room.