TV Size Calculator

Find the TV size for your viewing distance, its width and height, whether it fits your space, and what each viewing rule says.

Your room

m cm ft in

Distance from your eyes to the screen

TV size

How you watch

Viewing style Comfort21° Everyday30° Cinema40°

The 30° figure attributed to SMPTE, and rtings' pick for mixed use.

What you mostly watch SD HD 4K

TV channels in HD, Full HD streaming

Your space (optional)

Width you have for it

The furniture top, or the free wall between whatever bounds it.

Size for your distance

65″

Fills 29° of your view

Exact 30° size: 66″. Nearest on sale: 65″.

Screen, width × height

56.7 × 31.9 in

Up to 58 × 36 in with frame and stand

From Comfort to Cinema

50″ – 85″

Front view, to scale

Screens only: the frame and stand add up to 1.2 in (3 cm) of width and 3.9 in (10 cm) of height.

From your seat, top view

Seen from above, to scale. The dashed lines are the Comfort (21°) and Cinema (40°) angles at your distance.

What each rule says at 9 ft

Rule	Size
Test-Achats At most 3× the diagonal	40″
OCU 2.3× the diagonal, from a viewer panel	50″
SMPTE (attributed) 30° of your view	65″
Darty (4K screens) 1.3× the diagonal	85″
THX 40° of your view	85″
ITU-R BT.1845, HD detail 1′ of arc per line of the picture	65″

The 30° figure is attributed to SMPTE by rtings and others; SMPTE's own text could not be read. Test-Achats' viewers settled at 2.4× the diagonal for smaller sets and 2.2× for larger ones, and it advises no more than 3×. Darty gives 1.3× for 4K, 2.6× for Full HD and 3.9× for HD; this table uses its 4K ratio.

Why the rules disagree

Angle rules size the picture for immersion. THX's 40° is its home-theater maximum, and Samsung's and LG's 1.2× the diagonal is the same angle. The 30° commonly attributed to SMPTE is the everyday figure rtings uses.

The pixel rule only says how close is too close. At 1′ of arc per pixel (ITU-R BT.1845-1), Full HD stops showing pixels at 31° and 4K at 58°. Sitting nearer buys detail you can see; it says nothing about comfort.

Viewer panels measure comfort. The 25 people tested by OCU and Test-Achats settled at 2.1–2.5× the diagonal (about 20–23°) with 4K sources, and picture quality did not move them.

Darty ties the ratio to resolution. Its 1.3× for 4K and 2.6× for Full HD work out to about 0.6′ per pixel: the pixel rule with a stricter eye. For the same room, it halves the size of a Full HD set.

TV sizes, screens and distances

Size	Screen (in)	Everyday 30°	Cinema 40°	Sharp for HD from
24″	21 × 12	3 ft 3 in	2 ft 5 in	3 ft 2 in
32″	28 × 16	4 ft 4 in	3 ft 2 in	4 ft 2 in
40″	35 × 20	5 ft 5 in	4 ft	5 ft 3 in
42″	37 × 21	5 ft 8 in	4 ft 2 in	5 ft 6 in
43″	37 × 21	5 ft 10 in	4 ft 3 in	5 ft 8 in
48″	42 × 24	6 ft 6 in	4 ft 9 in	6 ft 3 in
50″	44 × 25	6 ft 9 in	5 ft	6 ft 7 in
55″	48 × 27	7 ft 5 in	5 ft 6 in	7 ft 2 in
58″	51 × 28	7 ft 10 in	5 ft 9 in	7 ft 7 in
65″	57 × 32	8 ft 10 in	6 ft 6 in	8 ft 6 in
70″	61 × 34	9 ft 6 in	7 ft	9 ft 2 in
75″	65 × 37	10 ft 2 in	7 ft 6 in	9 ft 10 in
77″	67 × 38	10 ft 5 in	7 ft 8 in	10 ft 1 in
83″	72 × 41	11 ft 3 in	8 ft 3 in	10 ft 10 in
85″	74 × 42	11 ft 6 in	8 ft 6 in	11 ft 1 in
86″	75 × 42	11 ft 8 in	8 ft 7 in	11 ft 3 in
98″	85 × 48	13 ft 3 in	9 ft 9 in	12 ft 9 in
100″	87 × 49	13 ft 7 in	10 ft	13 ft 1 in

Screen: the panel alone, rounded. Everyday fills 30° of your view and Cinema 40°, rounded to the nearest 0.1 m (1 in); "sharp from" is rounded up.

How to measure

Sit in your usual seat and measure from eye level.
Measure to where the screen surface will be, not to the wall behind it.
With several seats, use the main one.
For the space, measure the furniture top, or the free wall between whatever bounds it.

TV sizes are panel diagonals in inches everywhere (55″ = 139.7 cm). These rules assume a 16:9 screen; the detail notes assume a 4K screen.

Choosing a TV for gaming? See which refresh rate your frame rate can use with the refresh rate calculator.

Updated: November 6, 2026

TV size calculator. The TV size to buy for your seat, and whether it fits your stand.

The TV size calculator turns your eye-to-screen distance into a TV size sold in stores, with its width, height and the angle of view it fills. Add the width of your TV stand and a size too wide for it steps down to the largest common size that isn't, while a rules table sets THX, the 30° figure attributed to SMPTE, a European viewer panel and the French retailer Darty side by side at your distance.

What size TV you need for your distance, and why the sizing rules disagree

The TV size that suits a room comes from one measurement: the distance between your eyes and the screen. From a couch 9 ft away, a 65-inch TV fills 29° of your view, and that is the size the calculator picks for everyday watching; the same couch gets 50 inches under the ratio from a European viewer panel and 85 inches under THX's 40° home-theater rule.

The calculator works from that angle. It finds the screen width that covers the chosen angle at your distance, turns that width into a 16:9 diagonal, and rounds to the nearest of ten common sizes: 24, 32, 40, 43, 50, 55, 65, 75, 85 and 98 inches. The rounding goes by proportion rather than by inches, so an exact 70″ becomes 75″, and in-between sizes that sit close to the answer, such as 48″, 77″, 83″ or 86″, appear in a note. Any of them can still be picked in the size menu.

Each viewing style uses its own angle:

Comfort, about 21°: OCU's summary of a viewer panel, which settled at 2.3 times the screen diagonal.
Everyday, 30°: the figure rtings recommends for mixed use and attributes to SMPTE. SMPTE's own document, EG 18-1994, could not be read for this page, so the calculator labels the figure "attributed".
Cinema, 40°: THX's figure for a dedicated home theater. Samsung's and LG's sizing guides, whose rule is to sit 1.2 times the diagonal from the screen, land on the same angle.

Two American guides lean large. Samsung's US buying guide has a section headed "Bigger is best", and Reviewed's sizing guide, written in 2015, tells readers to buy the biggest, best set they can afford, on the grounds that a TV that proves too small can't be stretched later. The rtings page behind the Everyday 30° also calls a 40° field of view "generally the safest way to go".

European consumer groups measured where people sit by choice. In a test that the Spanish consumer organization OCU and its Belgian counterpart Test-Achats each wrote up, 25 viewers aged 17 to 65 watched 43, 55 and 65-inch sets fed a 4K picture, and the testers measured where they settled. OCU's write-up (January 2026) puts the result at about 2.3 times the diagonal whatever the size, with 2.1 to 2.5 times acceptable, and found no significant difference between picture resolutions. Test-Achats' write-up of the same panel (September 2025) gives 2.4 times for the smaller sets and 2.2 for the larger ones, and advises sitting no farther than 3 times the diagonal. Those ratios fill about 20–23° of view, which is why at 9 ft the Comfort answer is 50″ against 65″ for Everyday.

Other rules tie distance to resolution. ITU-R BT.1845-1 takes 1 arc-minute as the typical limit of human visual acuity, so a Full HD picture shows no pixel structure as long as it fills no more than 31° of view (3.2 picture heights away), and a 4K picture up to 58° (1.6 picture heights). That rule answers how close is too close for a given source. The French retailer Darty publishes 3.9 times the diagonal for an HD-ready set (1366 × 768), 2.6 times for Full HD and 1.3 times for 4K. Those ratios work out to about 0.6 arc-minute per pixel, a stricter eye than the ITU's, and in one room they halve the size of a Full HD set against a 4K one. Panasonic, as reported by the Italian broadband provider Fastweb, uses a ladder of the same kind: 3.5 times for SD, 2.5 for HD and 1.5 for 4K.

The rules table on the page runs all six at your distance. At 9 ft it lists 40″ for Test-Achats, 50″ for OCU, 65″ for the 30° figure, 85″ for Darty's 4K ratio and for THX, and 65″ for the ITU detail limit with an HD source.

The last check is physical. A 16:9 screen is a hair over 87% of its diagonal wide and a hair over 49% tall, so a 65″ panel measures 56.7 × 31.9 in, and the page allows up to 58 × 36 in once frame and stand are added. Samsung's US guide tells buyers to check how much room their entertainment center has; the calculator makes that comparison when you enter the width of your TV stand or of the free wall. It sets the space against the screen plus 1.2 in (3 cm) of frame and answers that the TV fits, sits at the limit (within an inch either way) or is too wide, and in automatic mode a size that is too wide steps down to the largest common size that isn't.

How to use it: a couch 9 ft from a TV stand with a 55-inch top

Take a living room where the couch is 9 ft from the TV and the TV will sit on a stand whose top is 55 in wide.

1. Measure the distance. Sit in your usual seat and measure from eye level to where the front of the screen will be. The page opens in feet with 9 ft filled in, which is this room's distance.

2. Read the first answer. The card "Size for your distance" shows 65″ and "Fills 29° of your view", with the note "Exact 30° size: 66″. Nearest on sale: 65″." The next card gives the screen as 56.7 × 31.9 in, "Up to 58 × 36 in with frame and stand", and the range card "From Comfort to Cinema" reads 50″ – 85″.

3. Enter the stand. Open "Your space (optional)" and type the top's width under "Width you have for it". The width takes the same unit as the distance, so in feet a 55-inch top is 4.58 ft. The answer drops to 55″, "Fills 25° of your view", with the note "65″ is the size for 9 ft, but it is about 58 in wide; 55″ is the largest that fits your 55 in." The dimensions card adds "Fits your 55 in, with 5 in to spare." and a line about feet: near the ends they need a top almost as wide as the TV, while a central foot needs far less.

4. Weigh the smaller set. Pick 55″ in the "TV size" menu and the verdict reads "At 9 ft, 55″ fills 25° of your view: between Comfort and Everyday." That is still more than the 21° Comfort angle, so by the European panel's measure a 55″ on this stand will not look small. On a 58-inch top the automatic answer would stay 65″, with the dimensions card warning "At the limit for your 58 in: it needs about 58 in. Check the model's exact width before buying." and the size chart marking 65″ as "Tight".

5. Check the rules table. "What each rule says at 9 ft" lists Test-Achats 40″, OCU 50″, SMPTE (attributed) 65″, Darty (4K screens) 85″, THX 85″ and ITU-R BT.1845 with an HD source 65″. The 55″ that fits this stand falls between the panel's 50″ and the 30° answer.

6. Look at the drawing. The front view shows the 55-inch screen to scale between dashed 50″ and 65″ outlines, beside a 5 ft 7 in person, with your 55 in of stand drawn along the floor. The dashed 65″ outline around the smaller screen shows how much picture the stand costs you.

What each sizing rule picks at common couch distances

Eye to screen	Test-Achats, ≤ 3× (nearest size)	OCU panel, 2.3×	Everyday 30° (SMPTE, attributed)	Darty 4K, 1.3×	THX 40°	ITU-R BT.1845, HD source
3 ft	Under 24″	Under 24″	24″	24″	32″	Under 24″
6 ft	24″	32″	43″	55″	65″	43″
7 ft	32″	40″	50″	65″	75″	50″
9 ft	40″	50″	65″	85″	85″	65″
11 ft	43″	55″	85″	98″	98″+	75″
18 ft	75″	98″	98″+	98″+	98″+	No limit up to 98″

TV size examples at real couch distances

65, 75 or 85 inches from a couch 9 ft away

The calculator's own answer at 9 ft is 65″. Picking each size in the "TV size" menu gives its angle and verdict from the same seat:

Size at 9 ft	Fills	Where it lands	Screen (in)	With frame and stand (in)
55″	25°	between Comfort and Everyday	47.9 × 27.0	up to 50 × 31
65″	29°	the calculator's pick for 9 ft	56.7 × 31.9	up to 58 × 36
75″	34°	between Everyday and Cinema	65.4 × 36.8	up to 67 × 41
77″	35°	between Everyday and Cinema	67.1 × 37.8	up to 69 × 42
85″	38°	between Everyday and Cinema	74.1 × 41.7	up to 76 × 46

All five stay under THX's 40°, and the 85″ comes closest. The larger sets bring a note when the source is HD: "At 9 ft, a 75″ screen can show finer detail than HD carries; from 9 ft 10 in you can't tell the difference." The 77″ gets the same note with 10 ft 1 in, and the 85″ with 11 ft 1 in. The 85″ also needs 76 in of width, and on a 60-inch stand the page reads "Too wide for your 60 in: it needs 76 in, 16 in more."

Bedroom or small apartment: 6 ft and 7 ft

At 6 ft the answer is 43″, filling 29° of your view, with the note "Exact 30° size: 44″. Nearest on sale: 43″." and 42″ listed as sold close to it. The screen is 37.5 × 21.1 in, up to 39 × 26 in with frame and stand, and the range card reads 32″ – 65″.

At 7 ft the answer is 50″ (exact 52″, with 48″ sold close to it), a screen of 43.6 × 24.5 in and up to 45 × 29 in overall, and the range widens to 40″ – 75″. The rules table at 7 ft runs from 32″ (Test-Achats) and 40″ (OCU) up to 65″ (Darty's 4K ratio) and 75″ (THX). If the set goes on a dresser, type the dresser top's width under "Width you have for it" before choosing between 43″ and 50″.

Movie room at 7 ft: when Cinema picks 75 inches

Switch the viewing style to Cinema at 7 ft and the card shows 75″, "Fills 43° of your view", with "Exact 40° size: 70″. Nearest on sale: 75″." and "Also sold close to this: 70″ · 77″." The exact 40° size, a shade over 70″, falls just past the midpoint between 65″ and 75″, so the answer overshoots THX's angle by three degrees; the 70″ named in the note lands nearer 40°.

With an HD source the card adds "At 7 ft, a 75″ screen can show finer detail than HD carries; from 9 ft 10 in you can't tell the difference." Closer than that, the page says, how soft HD looks depends on the TV's upscaling and on compression. In a movie room this close to a 75″, a 4K source such as 4K streaming or UHD Blu-ray carries the detail the screen can show.

A big living room at 11 ft

At 11 ft the answer is 85″, filling 31° of your view (exact 30° size 81″, with 83″ and 86″ sold close to it). The 31° is a degree past the Everyday target because 85″ is the common size nearest to the exact 81″. The screen is 74.1 × 41.7 in, up to 76 × 46 in with frame and stand, and with an HD source the note reads "from 11 ft 1 in you can't tell the difference".

The range card shows 55″ – 98″+, where the "+" means the Cinema end lies beyond 98″, the largest common size. The rules table gives 43″ for Test-Achats, 55″ for OCU, 85″ for the 30° figure, 98″ for Darty's 4K ratio, 98″+ for THX and 75″ for the ITU row with an HD source. That ITU row shows the largest common size whose HD "sharp from" distance is no farther than your seat: a 75″ needs 9 ft 10 in, an 85″ needs 11 ft 1 in, one inch more than this room has.

18 ft from the screen: past the largest common size

At 18 ft the card shows 98″, "Fills 22° of your view", with "Your distance calls for 133″; 98″ is the largest common size." and 100″ listed as sold close to it. The range card reads 98″ – 98″+, the OCU ratio also lands on 98″, and only Test-Achats comes in lower, at 75″; with an HD source the ITU row reads "No limit up to 98″". A 98″ screen measures 85.4 × 48.0 in, up to 87 × 52 in with frame and stand. Its 22° sits inside the 20–23° band the European panel chose, so the 98″ already matches the panel's comfort, and bringing the couch forward is the way to reach the 30° Everyday angle.

SD, HD or 4K: what the source setting changes at 9 ft

The size answer at 9 ft stays 65″ whatever you choose under "What you mostly watch". Three other outputs change: the detail note, the ITU-R BT.1845 row of the rules table and the "sharp from" figure in the size chart.

What you mostly watch	Detail note at 9 ft	ITU-R BT.1845 row	65″ sharp from
SD	from 19 ft 1 in you can't tell the difference	24″	19 ft 1 in
HD	none	65″	8 ft 6 in
4K	none	No limit up to 98″	4 ft 3 in

With SD, the note opens "At 9 ft, a 65″ screen can show finer detail than SD carries" and ends "Closer, how soft SD looks depends on the TV's upscaling and on compression."

How to calculate TV size from viewing distance

d = \frac{\sqrt{337}}{16} \times 2D \tan\frac{\theta}{2}

$d$ = TV size: the screen diagonal in inches.
$D$ = Distance from your eyes to the screen, in inches (9 ft is 108 in).
$\theta$ = Angle the screen width fills: 30° for Everyday, 40° for Cinema.
$\frac{\sqrt{337}}{16}$ = About 1.147, the diagonal of a 16:9 screen per inch of width; √337 is the diagonal of a 16 × 9 rectangle.

For the two angle styles the formula shrinks to a divisor. At 30° the diagonal is the distance divided by about 1.63; rtings rounds it to 1.6, telling readers to divide the viewing distance in inches by 1.6. At 40° the divisor is 1.2, the multiplier Samsung and LG apply the other way round (distance = 1.2 × diagonal), and THX's instruction to divide the diagonal by 0.84 to get the seat distance is the same 40° expressed as a divisor of the diagonal. Comfort skips the angle and uses the OCU ratio directly: diagonal = distance ÷ 2.3, about 21°.

At 9 ft, 108 ÷ 1.63 ≈ 66, which is the card's "Exact 30° size: 66″" before it rounds to 65″. The reverse gives the angle a size fills:

\theta = 2\arctan\left(\frac{0.436\,d}{D}\right)

so a 65″ at 108 in fills 2 × arctan(28.3 ÷ 108), about 29°, the figure on the card.

The detail limit uses height instead of width. At 1 arc-minute per line, a 1080-line picture is sharp from 3.2 picture heights, about 1.56 times the diagonal, and a 2160-line picture from 0.78 times it. For a 65″ that comes to 8 ft 6 in for HD and 4 ft 3 in for 4K, the "sharp from" figures the size chart gives for that size with each source.

Mistakes that lead to the wrong TV size

Measuring to the wall. The distance that sets the angle ends at the front of the TV, and on a deep media console the screen can stand well forward of the wall. Measure from eye level at your usual seat to where the glass will be.
Reading the diagonal as the width. A 65-inch TV is 56.7 in wide, so it fits a 60-inch stand that sounds too small for it, with 2 in to spare. Any check against a stand, a wall niche or a cabinet opening needs the width.
Checking the stand against the bare screen. The cabinet is wider than the glass, so the calculator adds 1.2 in (3 cm) of frame before it compares. The stand top also has to reach the TV's feet, and on a set with feet at the ends that can be close to its full width.
Sizing from the room's square footage. The angle depends on where the seat is, and a floor area does not fix that. In a 12 × 15 ft room the couch can sit 6 ft from the screen or 11 ft, which the calculator turns into 43″ or 85″.
Reading the Test-Achats row as a minimum. The row shows the common size nearest to your distance divided by 3. At 11 ft that is 43″, which puts you about 3.07 diagonals away, a shade past Test-Achats' 3× limit; to stay inside it, take the next size up, 50″.

What the TV size calculator leaves out

The calculator sizes one flat 16:9 screen for one seat. It does not work out mounting height or where to hang a TV on the wall, and it has no settings for projectors, ultrawide or curved screens, several rows of seats, the width of the room or your eyesight. With more than one seat, enter the main one; from a seat farther back, the screen fills a smaller angle.

It answers with sizes and stops there: no brand or model picks, prices or picture-quality rankings, and no 8K, HDR or refresh-rate settings. The detail notes assume the TV itself is 4K. The SD setting uses 480 visible lines, the US standard for DVDs and SD channels.

The frame-and-stand allowance is a ceiling drawn from spec sheets rather than a measurement of your model, so take the exact cabinet width and the stand footprint from the model's own sheet before you order. Distances run from 1.7 to 32.8 ft and space widths from 1 to 19.6 ft; outside that range the page asks you to correct the input.

TV size questions

What size TV should I get if my couch is 9 feet away?

A 65-inch TV. From 9 ft it fills 29° of your view and is the size on sale nearest to the 30° everyday angle, whose exact size is 66″. The European viewer-panel rule gives 50″ at the same distance, and THX's 40° gives 85″.

What size TV for 10 or 12 feet away?

At 10 ft the calculator answers 75″, filling 30° of your view, and at 12 ft it answers 85″, filling 29°. In the size chart, a 75″ reaches the 30° Everyday angle at 10 ft 2 in and an 85″ at 11 ft 6 in, so those are the everyday sizes for about 10 ft and about 11½ ft; at 11 ft the calculator answers 85″, filling 31°. For a 40° Cinema picture a 98″ needs a seat at 9 ft 9 in, so from 11 ft the range card already reads 55″ – 98″+, the "+" meaning the Cinema end is past the largest common size.

How wide is a 65-inch TV?

The screen of a 65-inch TV is 56.7 in wide and 31.9 in tall. With frame and stand, the calculator allows up to 58 × 36 in, which is the figure to compare with a TV stand or a wall niche.

How wide a TV stand do I need for a 65-inch TV?

About 58 in, if the whole TV is to sit within the top. The calculator counts the screen plus 1.2 in (3 cm) of frame, so a 58-inch top puts a 65″ "at the limit" and a 55-inch top makes the answer step down to 55″, with 5 in to spare. Where the feet sit matters as much: LG's sheets put the C4's central pedestal at 30–38% of the TV's width and the UT75's end feet at 92–96%, and on TCL's US sheet the 65S551G's feet span 44.6 in of its 56.9 in width. A top narrower than the feet span cannot hold the set.

Is a 75-inch TV too big for 9 feet?

By the angle rules it fits: from 9 ft a 75″ fills 34°, which the calculator labels "between Everyday and Cinema", under THX's 40° (a 75″ reaches 40° at 7 ft 6 in). By the European viewer panel it is big, since its Comfort distance is 14 ft 5 in. With an HD source the card also notes that the screen can show finer detail than HD carries, and that from 9 ft 10 in you can't tell the difference. For a room mostly used for 4K movies, 75″ is a reasonable step up from the 65″ answer; for mixed viewing of HD channels, 65″ matches both the 30° figure and the ITU detail limit at 9 ft.

Is it better to buy a bigger TV?

Samsung's US buying guide says so under the heading "Bigger is best", and so does Reviewed's 2015 sizing guide. The European viewer panel found the opposite tendency: its viewers settled at about 2.3 times the diagonal, roughly 21° of view. A middle course is to buy the Everyday size and move toward the Cinema end of the range card when the room is mainly for movies and the source is 4K, since with a 4K source the detail limit sits much closer to the screen.

Can you sit closer to a 4K TV?

As far as pixels go, yes: a 4K picture can be viewed from about half the distance before its pixel structure shows. Under the 1 arc-minute rule of ITU-R BT.1845-1, 4K stays smooth up to 58° of view against 31° for Full HD (1.6 picture heights against 3.2). For a 65″ the size chart gives "Sharp for 4K from" 4 ft 3 in when the source is set to 4K, and "Sharp for HD from" 8 ft 6 in when it is HD. Comfort is another matter: OCU's panel found no significant difference between resolutions in where viewers settled, so 4K moves the pixel limit closer while the comfortable distance stays where the panel found it.

Which "What you mostly watch" setting fits cable, antenna TV or Netflix?

HD for cable and antenna channels. Wikipedia's article on HDTV in the United States says linear channels use 720p and 1080i and lists ABC and Fox at 720p; the HD setting assumes 1080 lines, so for a 720p channel the real detail limit sits farther back than the page shows. Netflix streams its Standard with ads and Standard plans in 1080p and Premium in 4K (plans page, read November 2026), which map to HD and 4K. UHD Blu-ray and consoles with 4K output go under 4K, and DVDs under SD. The setting changes the detail note, the ITU row and the "sharp from" distance; the size answer stays the same.

Why does the calculator say 85 inches when the exact size is 81?

It rounds to the nearest common size by proportion. At 11 ft the exact 30° size is 81″; 85″ is about 5% above it and 75″ about 7% below, so 85″ wins, and the note lists 83″ and 86″ as sold close to it. Pick 83″ in the "TV size" menu to see how much of your view it fills before you settle on it.

What size TV for a desk or kitchen counter about 3 feet away?

A 24″, the smallest common size: at 3 ft it fills 32° of your view, and the exact 30° size is 22″. If the set is HD rather than 4K, the page warns that its pixels show closer than 4 ft 9 in. At 2.5 ft the answer is "Under 24″", with the note "The 30° size is 18″, smaller than TVs come: a monitor fits."

Where does the "3 to 4 times the diagonal" rule come from?

The French tech site Clubic dates it to CRT sets and early 720p screens, and it was a minimum: sit at least 3 to 4 diagonals away. Test-Achats' 3× runs the other way, as the farthest Test-Achats advises sitting. At 9 ft (108 in) the old minimum would cap the size at 36 inches, while the Test-Achats row shows 40″ and the Everyday answer is 65″.

Is the TV size calculator free, and does it keep my numbers?

It is free, with no account to create. The inputs you change travel in the page address, so a bookmark or a link you send reopens the same distance, size, style, source and space width. Results update as you type, with no button to press.

How accurate are the width and height it shows?

The screen figures are the geometry of a 16:9 panel at its nominal diagonal, given to a tenth of an inch on the card. The "with frame and stand" line adds 1.2 in (3 cm) of width and 3.9 in (10 cm) of height. On the spec sheets checked for this page, Samsung, TCL, Hisense and Philips cabinets ran 0.2 to 0.7 in wider than the screen and six LG models about half an inch at most, while stands added about 2 to 3.5 in of height, so the allowance covers all of them.

Can I enter the distance in inches, meters or centimeters?

Yes. One switch sets the unit for both the distance and the space width: ft, in, m or cm. The distance field takes 1.7 to 32.8 ft (20 to 393 in, 0.5 to 10 m), and when a number looks like another unit the page suggests switching, for instance "Looks like inches: switch the unit to in". For other conversions, the length converter handles feet, inches and metric.

What size TV for console gaming?

The size math is the same for a console: measure from your eyes to the screen and read the answer. Choose 4K under "What you mostly watch" when the console outputs 4K, which moves the "sharp from" distance closer; a 65″ is sharp for 4K from 4 ft 3 in. Frame rate and refresh rate are a separate question, covered by the refresh rate calculator.

Sources & References

Content verified by the Smart Calculators Team