What size TV for my room?

Almost nobody returns a TV for being too big. Plenty of people wish they'd gone up a size. Still, the right size isn't "the largest that fits" — it depends on how far you sit, how wide the wall is and what you watch.

Start with distance

Measure from your eyes to the wall. Then use this as a guide for 4K TVs:

Seating distance	Comfortable	Cinematic
5–6 ft	43″	50–55″
7–8 ft	55″	65″
9–10 ft	65″	75″
11–12 ft	75″	85″
13 ft and beyond	85″	98″+

"Comfortable" fills about 30 degrees of your view — the long-standing recommendation for mixed viewing. "Cinematic" is closer to 40 degrees, the feel of a good cinema seat. With 4K resolution you won't see pixels at either. The maths behind the table is in the viewing distance guide.

Then check the wall

The screen's width is about 87% of its diagonal: a 65 is roughly 57 inches wide, a 75 about 66, an 85 about 75. Leave a few inches each side, don't exceed the width of the mantel or console, and see measuring your wall.

What you watch

• Sports and films: bigger is better; sit in the cinematic column.
• News and daytime TV in a kitchen or bedroom: the comfortable column, or smaller.
• Gaming: large screens are immersive, but competitive players often prefer to see the whole picture without moving their eyes — stay in the comfortable column.
• Mostly old DVDs and low-resolution cable: a very large screen magnifies soft sources.

Room by room

• Family room / main living room: 65–85″.
• Smaller living room or apartment: 55–65″.
• Primary bedroom: 50–65″.
• Guest and kids' bedrooms: 43–55″.
• Kitchen: 24–43″.
• Home office: 43–50″.
• Game room or basement theater: 75–98″.
• Covered porch: 55–75″; people watch from further back.

Reasons to size up

• New TVs have thin frames; a 65 today takes little more wall than a 55 from ten years ago.
• Price gaps between sizes have narrowed.
• Everyone's eyes adapt within a week. The screen that seemed huge in the box looks normal by the weekend.

Reasons to hold back

• The room is also a living space. A black rectangle 6 feet wide dominates when it's off.
• Above a fireplace, a bigger screen sits even higher. See fireplace mounting.
• Weight and wall. At 85 inches and up, TVs are 80 to 130 pounds and need a two-person install and wide brackets.
• Getting it into the house. Measure doorways and stair turns against the box.

Try before buying

Tape the outline on the wall or cut it from cardboard. Sit down. If your first thought is "that's big", wait a day; if it's "that looks small", go up.

Mounting cost by size

Our labor is by screen size: $94 up to 42″, $114 for 43–65″, $144 for 66–85″ and $184 for 86–100″. Dimensions and mounting heights for each size are on the TV size pages.