What is the best TV viewing distance?
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What is the best TV viewing distance?

The distance you sit from your TV plays a big role in getting an immersive experience. If you sit too close, you might notice pixel imperfections or strain your eyes, but if you sit too far away, you might miss smaller details.

The ideal TV viewing distance

But if you're looking for an ideal distance for watching TV, there's no single recommended standard. Instead, many suggestions on the subject, including those from industry groups and manufacturers, state how much of the human field of vision a display should cover. Based on this, you can calculate the ideal distance for the screen size.

Point: If you're unsure of your TV size, learn how to properly measure a TV screen.

For example, one of the most frequently cited recommendations comes from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). It recommends a distance from which a screen would occupy a field of view of 30 degrees. This distance is approximately 1,62 times the display size of a TV. So if you have a 55-inch TV, you should sit about 89,1 inches or 7,42 feet from your TV.

Screen size SMPTE recommended
purchase
30 inches 4,1 feet
35 inches 4,8 feet
40 inches 5,5 feet
45 inches 6,1 feet
50 inches 6,8 feet
55 inches 7,5 feet
60 inches 8,2 feet
65 inches 8,9 feet
70 inches 9,5 feet
75 inches 10,2 feet
80 inches 10,9 feet
85 inches 11,6 feet
TV viewing distance

Similarly, THX, known for its high-fidelity audio-visual standards, suggests a minimum distance at which the screen covers 40 degrees of your field of vision and the maximum distance at which coverage is 28 degrees. Therefore, to calculate the distance according to the THX recommendation, you will need to multiply 1,2 by the screen size for the minimum and 1,8 by the screen size for the maximum distance.

Screen size THX recommended
minimum distance
THX recommended
maximum distance
30 inches 3 feet 4,5 feet
35 inches 3,5 feet 5,25 feet
40 inches 4 feet 6 feet
45 inches 4,5 feet 6,75 feet
50 inches 5 feet 7,5 feet
55 inches 5,5 feet 8,25 feet
60 inches 6 feet 9 feet
65 inches 6,5 feet 9,75 feet
70 inches 7 feet 10,50 feet
75 inches 7,5 feet 11,25 feet
80 inches 8 feet 12 feet
85 inches 8,5 feet 12,75 feet

While the SMPTE and THX recommendations provide a reasonably good estimate of how far you should sit from a screen and are ideal for a comfortable viewing experience, both were issued for cinemas. They therefore do not take into account the high resolution nature of modern televisions. To see and enjoy the detail provided by UHD TVs, you need to sit relatively close to the screen. Otherwise, the higher resolution will not matter.

Sony is one of the few TV manufacturers to offer a viewing distance recommendation based on both screen size and resolution. According to the company, the ideal viewing distance for a 4K TV is 1,5 times the vertical screen size. So based on that, if you have a 4-inch 55K TV, you should be sitting at around 39,36 inches (3,28 feet).

Similarly, according to Sony, the recommended distance for HD and Full HD televisions is three times the vertical size of the screen and six times for standard definition (SD) televisions. Since Sony doesn't offer viewing distance for 8K TVs, the recommendation for 4K TVs is a good place to start.

Of the other manufacturers, Panasonic sides with Sony and has the same distance recommendations.

Screen size Vertical size Recommended by Sony
distance for 4K TVs
Recommended by Sony
distance for HDTVs
Recommended by Sony
distance for SD TVs
32 inches 15,7 inches Two feet 4 feet 8 feet
40 inches 19,6 inches 2,4 feet 4,9 feet 9,8 feet
43 inches 21,1 inches 2,6 feet 5,2 feet 10,4 feet
50 inches 24,5 inches 3,1 feet 6,2 feet 12,4 feet
55 inches 27 inches 3,4 feet 6,8 feet 13,6 feet
60 inches 29,4 inches 3,7 feet 7,4 feet 14,8 feet
65 inches 31,9 inches 4 feet 8 feet 16 feet
70 inches 34,3 inches 4,3 feet 8,6 feet 17,2 feet
75 inches 36,8 inches 4,6 feet 9,2 feet 18,4 feet
80 inches 39,2 inches 4,9 feet 9,8 feet 19,6 feet
85 inches 41,7 inches 5,2 feet 10,4 feet 20,8 feet

TCL's recommendations for HDTVs are similar to Sony's but not the same, as the company suggests a range rather than a fixed distance. Additionally, it asks viewers to sit close to the TV for small sizes. TCL doesn't share a 4K TV viewing distance but does note that you can choose to sit closer than the recommended HDTV distance to take advantage of the higher resolution.

Screen size TCL recommended
distance for HDTVs
40 inches 3-3,5 feet
43 inches 3,6 to 5,4 feet
50 inches 4,2 to 6,3 feet
55 inches 4,9 to 6,9 feet
60 inches 5-7,5 feet
65 inches 5,4 to 8,1 feet
70 inches 5,8 to 8,75 feet
75 inches 6,3 to 9,4 feet
80 inches 6.7-10 feet
85 inches 7.1-10.6 feet

The downside to the recommendations from Sony, Panasonic and TCL is that if you watch lower resolution content on a higher resolution TV, you will easily notice pixel imperfections. And it can be quite common on 4K TVs if you watch cable, DVDs, YouTube, and older content. So you have to keep that in mind.

Other key factors

Family watching TV

While screen size and resolution provide a good basis for choosing the most appropriate viewing distance, there are a few additional factors you should consider before deciding, such as what you're watching and with whom. you watch.

It's important to consider what you frequently watch on your TV. For example, you might want to sit close to your TV if you play a lot of video games or watch movies to get the most immersive and cinematic experience. But if you usually watch TV shows or news, you don't need to sit very close. Likewise, if you consume fast sports while sitting very close to the screen, you may experience temporary eye strain or nausea.

Also, if you're watching with a group of family or friends and your seat is too close to the screen, people sitting on the sides may not get the best experience due to their viewing angle. So, moving your seating arrangement slightly will allow everyone to enjoy the content in the same way.

Which recommendation to choose?

As you have seen so far, there is a wide variety of recommendations. It is therefore a good idea to consider these recommendations as general guidelines and a starting point rather than as firm rules. And, depending on your personal preferences, eyesight and other related factors, you can choose the ideal distance for you.

SMPTE and THX recommendations are suitable for people who are not looking for the most immersive experience or want to absorb all the detail offered by high resolution images. But if you want both of those things, Sony and TCL's recommendations are better for you.

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