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What size TV do I need?
Veven Naidoo · updated
The television is the easy part. The two things that decide it are the distance from the screen to where you actually sit, and the clear width of the space it has to go in — and those two answers frequently disagree, which is what this page is for.
Skip to the calculator if you have a tape measure to hand.
Measure to the seat, then to the wall
Distance first, because it sets the size you want:
| Sitting at | General viewing | Films |
|---|---|---|
| 2.0 m | 55 inch | 55 inch |
| 2.4 m | 55–65 inch | 65 inch |
| 2.9 m | 65–75 inch | 85 inch |
| 3.3 m | 75–85 inch | 85 inch or larger |
The films column is larger at every distance, and that is not a mistake: a film wants a wider slice of your vision than the news does, and the only way to widen it from a fixed sofa is a bigger screen. If the room is used for both, take the general-viewing answer.
Then the wall, because it sets the size you can have. These are body widths, and a bracket needs clearance beyond them:
- 43 inch — 96.4 cm
- 55 inch — 123 cm
- 65 inch — 145.1 cm
- 75 inch — 167.2 cm
- 85 inch — 189.4 cm
An alcove of 140 cm takes a 55 inch and not a 65. A 160 cm wall takes a 65 and not a 75. Those two sentences settle most of these decisions before anything about picture quality comes into it.
| Used for | Sit | In feet | Field of view |
|---|---|---|---|
| General TV | 2.4 m – 2.9 m | 7 ft 9 in – 9 ft 6 in | 28–34° |
| Sports | 2.2 m – 2.7 m | 7 ft 3 in – 8 ft 10 in | 30–36° |
| Gaming | 2.1 m – 2.7 m | 6 ft 10 in – 8 ft 10 in | 30–38° |
| Movies | 2 m – 2.4 m | 6 ft 6 in – 7 ft 9 in | 34–40° |
| Home cinema | 1.7 m – 2.2 m | 5 ft 8 in – 7 ft 3 in | 36–45° |
The two answers often disagree
The common case is a room long enough for a 75 inch and a chimney breast that will only take a 65. The screen you can hang wins, every time — an oversized television that overhangs its space looks wrong from the moment it goes up, and no amount of picture quality fixes it.
The less common case is the opposite: a wide wall and a short room. Here the limit is your neck rather than your tape measure. A screen that fills more than about 40 degrees of your vision needs head movement to follow a panning shot, which reads as tiring rather than as immersive.
Height matters as much as size
Get the centre of the screen near seated eye level, which is about 105 cm from the floor for most sofas. Above a fireplace usually is not: it puts the centre at 140 cm or more, which means watching a two-hour film with your chin up. If the fireplace is the only wall, the honest answer is a smaller screen mounted lower rather than a larger one mounted high.
Try it on your own wall
On a 200 cm wall at 2.5 m, the strongest match is a 65 inch television. Open the calculator to use your own measurements.
Common questions
- What size TV should I get for a 3 metre viewing distance?
- A 75 inch sits in the general-viewing band at 2.7 to 3.3 metres, so three metres lands in the middle of it. A 65 inch at that distance is comfortable but no longer immersive.
- How much wall does a 65 inch TV need?
- About 145.1 cm for the body. A 140 cm alcove will not take one; a 160 cm wall leaves roughly 7.5 cm each side, which is tight once a bracket is on it.
- How high should a TV be mounted?
- Aim for the centre of the screen near seated eye level, which is about 105 cm from the floor for most sofas. Higher than that and you are looking up, which is tiring over a film.
- Is a bigger TV always better?
- Up to the point where it stops fitting the room. Past roughly 2.3 metres of distance per 75 inches of diagonal, a larger screen asks you to move your head during panning shots.