TV Screen Height and Width Dimensions & Viewing Distances

Discover What Size of TV is best for Your Room: TV Screen Height Width Dimensions

Buying a television was as easy as taking a walk in the park back in the good old days. The variations of TVs available were few, and the idea of a big screen topped at approximately 21 inches during that time.

Now that technology is far more advanced, televisions became more energy efficient, thinner, screens also grew larger, and now has a number of features. Who can tell but it’s only a matter of time when TVs can become as good as computers or computing devices. Making it very crucial to know more about TVs such as features, performance, and dimensions to measure and ensure that they fit perfectly where you want to place them.

How Are TV Screens Measured?

All electronic screens are measured diagonally as opposed to measuring them from side to side or bottom to top. This is true for all whether they are on a laptop computer, a tablet, or a flat-screen TV. This measurement gives the actual size of the screen.

A tape measure can be used to measure from the top left-hand corner of the screen to the bottom right-hand side corner or vice versa. The tape measure must be stretched straight across the centre of the screen, and any form of slack is avoided.

The measurements are taken within the bezel of the television and that excludes the bezel itself and the TVs’ frame. It’s the visible part of the screen or the display itself to be precise, instead of the whole housing of the television.

Common TV Aspect Ratios

Most of the televisions that are available today are wide and has an aspect ratio of 16:9. This ratio is known as the perfect viewing ratio for high definition TV shows.

Nonetheless, movies are normally filmed with a ratio of 21:9.

Movie Aspect Ratio 21:9

This results in black bars at the bottom and top of the picture when it is shown on the average television. To rectify this, some manufacturers are making TVs with a 21:9 aspect ratio.

Black Bars on TV

The size and position of the black bars on your TV depend on two factors:

• The aspect ratio of the video that you are viewing.
• and the aspect ratio of your TV.

Any divergence between the two will be filled with black colour. This practice is referred to as letter-boxing.

Televisions with a 21:9 aspect ratio are quite rare and are only worth it if you solely watch movies with it. If you view normal 16:9 content, for instance, an HDTV channel on it, you will notice black bars on its sides.

4:3 Aspect Ratio Video on 16:9 TV

This significantly reduces the viewing area for the 16:9 video. A 58 inch 21:9 TV matches the same viewing area as a 47 inch TV for 16:9 video.

Most of the TV manufacturers such as Sharp, Vizio, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, LG, and Samsung manufacture TVs of 16:9 and 21:9 aspect ratios.

The Formula for Calculating Length and Width using Diagonal and Aspect Ratio

Often it is very helpful to match the area of a TV screen display. For instance, if you go from a 22 inch to 24-inch screen, how much bigger will it be in terms of length and width? Will it fit the space you have?

The calculation needs several steps and the use of Pythagorean Theorem which is a basic and pure algebra.

Here are a few steps that you can follow in the calculation of the width and length of a TV:

1. To begin, you must know the aspect ratio. Usually, this will be 16:9 but in some cases, it can be an aspect ratio of 16:10 — The aspect ratio gives us the relative values of the height and width. In the case of a 16:9 ratio, it is essentially stating that for every 16 units of width there will be 9 units of height.
2. By the use of the Pythagorean Theorem, you know that in case you add the squares of the height (9) and width (16), you will get the value of the hypotenuse (diagonal) squared. In the case of a ratio of 16:9, 16² + 9² = 337. If you calculate the square root of this sum (√337), you will get 18.4.

This means simply that, when the height is 9 units and width 16 units, the diagonal will be 18.4 units. As the two screens with the same aspect ratio will always have the same diagonals, width and height, it is easy now to compute the exact dimensions based on the length of the diagonal.

Calculating Width and Height in Inches

The first step will be to find the ratio of the diagonal in inches, to the aspect ratio diagonal, which happens in this case to be an aspect ratio of 16:9 and a 22-Inch screen will be 22/18.4= 1.198.

Use this number (1.198) to convert directly the width and height in inches. Therefore, the width of the TV will be 16 x 1.198 = 19.17. The height, on the other hand, will be 9.0 x 1.198 = 10.78

TV Screen Sizes & Dimensions: Height Width Viewing Area

Below is a list of 16:9 TV sizes and their respective dimensions. In the list, the viewing area is also included in square inches (sq.in).

Ideal Viewing Distance

Sitting at the correct distance from your television is a crucial part of improving the viewing experience. If the TV is your first big HDTV, FHDTV, or 4K UHDTV, you may end up being forced to re-consider your setup and watching distance.

The old-school tube characteristically had screens 36 inches or less, and you did not want to watch it too close as you would notice the screen’s scan lines. However, with the current television model, sitting too far away from the TV may mean that you will miss some of the high-definition detail that you paid for.

Screen Viewing Distance Range

To determine the screen size that will best fit your room and the ideal viewing distance, please refer to the table below:

• 32 Inches » 4.0-6.7 feet
• 37 Inches » 4.6-7.7 feet
• 40 Inches » 5.0-8.3 feet
• 46 Inches » 5.7-9.5 feet
• 50 Inches » 6.3-10.4 feet
• 55 Inches » 6.9-11.5 feet
• 60 Inches » 7.5-12.5 feet

The Ideal TV Dimensions for Spaces: Bedroom, Living Room etc.

If you are planning to purchase a TV for your home, you must consider two things first and these are:

• How far away from the television do you intend to sit?
• How much room you have available to place your television?

Small Rooms – Ideal TV Size and Viewing Distance

For small living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms (4 x 3) pick up to 32-inch televisions. View from a distance of not more than 1.5M(4.9ft).

Average to Large Rooms – Ideal TV Size and Viewing Distance

For larger bedrooms and average-size rooms, pick TVs with sizes between 32 to 39 inches. Set the TV to have 1.5M to 2M(4.9~8ft) viewing distance.

Really Large Rooms – Ideal TV Size and Viewing Distance

For even larger rooms, you can try TVs from 40 to 45 inches. These TVs can be viewed from 2 to 2.5M(6.5~8ft). If you are living in a much bigger room and have a dedicated home cinema room (4.6 x 8.5M), pick a TV of between 46 and 55 inches. Then make sure you sit 3M(10ft) away from it while watching.

Other Things to Consider When Buying a TV

When it comes to thickness, it is mostly for impressing your pals with the good appearance. A TV that looks slim appears a lot better in your living room compared to a bulky one. The thin TV will also be easy to mount on the wall as there is less bulk in the back.

An OLED, LCD or ULED screens are lightweight TVs perfect for wall mounting. The TV can be a simple plastic. OLED TVs are the slimmest as each light emitting diode produces its own light and is not backlit.

When it comes to the installation the TV to your room, most of the TV wall brackets can support different kinds of TVs. What you must verify only is the load capacity of the wall mount TV bracket. The load capacity must be more than the weight of the TV that you intend to purchase.

If you get a strong mount, it won’t matter if the television is an LED or the good old Plasma. Plasma TVs are phased out though and there’s no manufacturer producing them anymore.

Best Soundbar For Your TV