HDTV... How Big???

Seems like a No-Brainier to me,

 As Big As Possible!!!!    

 I'm in the Middle of a remodle of several parts of my house...

 But, at the moment, I'm stuck in the Time Old Battle of the Sexes as to how big The Family TV should be ...

 My CEO    The More Rational and Sensible type,  feels a more conservative approach with a mere 46" class........  

  ( Fine for the Bedroom if ya ask me.... )

 I, architect of the Huge remodel and has reinforced the wall to hold a few tons, wants to leave as little space as possible on either side and this could be accomplished with a 55" class....  

    Viewing distance would be about 16'

 And as a second question,

 I've researched 120Hz Vrs 60Hz, and it seems more emperor's new clothes and really not worth the expense...

Any wise KayakFishermen (or Kayak FisherWomen ) who have traveled down this dangerous path have advice....

 I really need to go Fishing......

  It's going to be a long Summer........

 

The big one. At 16 feet you'll like it better. We have a 50" but our room is smaller.

I don't know but love the mock up! 

with 46" you should be sitting about 8-12 feet back...else even in 1080p you start to see the pixels (at about 6 feet or so). We ended up with 46" and our main viewing area (commonly called the couch) is 9.75 feet back and its PERFECT

For a 16' view distance, I'd go for at least a 55" tv.

I currently have a 50" plasma viewed from 13' and I think it's barely big enough now.  When I first got it over 2 years ago, I thought it was big, but I got use to it quickly.  It didn't take long to wish for bigger.

I know it's very common or convenient to mount a tv above the fireplace mantle, but it's far from the ideal height if you're watching it from the couch.  Eye level is best and less strain.

My goal is to create an affordable theater like experience in sight and sound.

We have a 42" plasma in one room, we are seated about 10 feet away, and Chuck is right, eye level is the best mount level, it's teamed with a Denon 7.1 theatre sound system. Awesome sight and sound. Except the boss :queen:doesn't share my enthusiasm for "real" sound levels. She doesn't like seeing the windows shaking.....

In the family room we have a 46" and we are seated about 10 feet away, its also perfect for that viewing distance.

Great insight on the eye level thing and distance for viewing....

 Good Ammo for the battle....  

 

Except the boss :queen:doesn't share my enthusiasm for "real" sound levels. She doesn't like seeing the windows shaking.....

 I Feel your Pain, .....

 Anyone have feedback or experience with 120Hz vrs 60Hz,,,?

 From what I've researched,  it's barley noticeable, if at all,

 and mostly with fast action on Blue Ray...

 Thanks All......  

Danglin,

All I know is that on LCD HDTV's, the higher refresh rate will minimize motion induced artifacts, so perhaps for sports programs that would help. But they also talk about the side effects fo 120hz, which for me would negate the desire for 120hz.

I've looked at Blu-Ray, but with the Denon progressive scan DVD player I have, the picture is so incredibly clear, I just can't seeing the need to upgrade at this time. I'm sure if I put two plasmas side by side and the 2 different players, I'd see some difference, but I'm good with what I have.

Hope it helps!!

Rich

I'm on my third plasma. My first was a 42" for $3K and wasn't HD. My current in a 50" Vizio that I got at Costo for $1500. It's the 1080p. I would recommend the biggest you can get, and I do recommend the Vizio brand because they are reasonable priced, consumer reports rates it high, and you can always bring it back to Costco or even WalMart (since they  sell them too).

They are also cool because you can hook your computer up to them and surf the net or play games using a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Good Luck!

forget the blu-ray....what do you need it for? most of the HD content you'll view will be via on-demand or PPV (including Netflix,etc) - hardly any is 1080p now, but certain it will be shortly. the days of carrying around some piece of hardware to view your content are nearly over. bandwidth, streaming software, hardware and (probably more likely) software graphics processing all have nearly killed the "disc"...

as for the motion artifacts-- you'll be hard pressed to notice on a modern machine. if you are a hard core gamer maybe-but then you'd be more concerned with refresh rate....

BluRay is nice. But you can get a unit that will upconvert to 1080-type quality for a reasonable price nowadays. And then everything is BluRay-like and no need to buy a bunch of new DVDs. I'm just saying...

But yeah, if you have 16' of space, then definitely go with 56" (or maybe even 65"). I have a 46" and it seems small even though I only have about 10' of space.
Like Chuck said, don't mount it too high if you plan to watch TV on the couch! I mounted mine above the fireplace mantle and my neck gets sore from watching TV around 10pm each night. And that's just sad...for numerous reasons.

Get a Samsung or a Sony Bravia and you won't be disappointed.

The way the CA Air Quality Board is talking you'd better get as big a screen as you can as soon as you can.

It won't be long before a "big screen" will be the size of your wristwatch.

Kill your TV! 

I'll help you win the arguement...the BIG one looks better in the space you have shown. We all know the picture will be better. Her friends will all envy her.

Can you imagine how big a Roland Martin LMB will look on that screen when he jams it in the camera?

We had the same argument about a year ago. If the tv is NOT mounted on the wall, the 46 is good. If you're putting it on the wall, go bigger. We have a 46in that originally was on a stand and seemed bog for the room. Once my son became mobile we had to get it and the cords out of reach. Now it sits on the mantle about 4.5 feet off the ground and we easily could have gone bigger and our living room is smaller.

Put your foot down. How many times has she made you wear a collared shirt or put product in your hair before going out.