SuzanaD

Lurker Lee

I have a 42" (I think). I inherited it from my mother, otherwise I doubt I'd have bought one that big. As it is, I can't figure where to put it! I'm not one to just sit and watch TV, so I'm usually playing on the computer or something while watching TV (thank goodness for dvr's and rewind!). Right now the big tv is sitting against the wall directly behind where I sit at the computer, so I'm actually watching a 15" crt tv next to the computer.

1inxs

Now all you need to do, is install a mirror where the 15" CRT TV is, invert the signal from the PC video board and view the 42" through the mirror. Just think of all the space you'll be saving.

Piggie

I have 32 inch and a 27 inch widescreen.
The 32 is in a room that is 12 ft by 18 ft. The TV is in the middle of 18 ft side. It is big enough for my budget. It replaced a 25 inch 4:3, and when a 32 in wide shows 4:3 it's about 27 in equivalent so to me it's a bigger TV. That said, I would love a 42 in but it was not in my budget. I pay cash for stuff like that so getting what I wanted involved what I could afford, not what the payments would be.

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Lurker Lee

Or I could get one of those little bicycle mirrors to put on my glasses, but I guess that kinda defeats the purpose of "big screen", . Oh well at least after this discussion, I don't feel so extravagant for considering getting a 26" tv for the bedroom, on the theory that I could see the picture w/o my glasses. (And no there isn't enough space in the BR for the 42" because of window placement).

CadDad

We've got a 55" Toshiba HD rear projection TV in the living room. It's the perfect size for us only being 5'8" viewing distance from it. I believe the recommended viewing distance per THX standards for my size TV is something like 6.1'...though my Toshiba definitely isn't THX certified. I've been feasting my eyes on the 50-inch 50PS80 plasma, so we might move down in size but up in picture quality. With High Def, bigger size is definitely a negative.

Piggie

I believe the viewing distances are artificially shortened to sell larger more expensive TVs.

I sat 10 ft from a 19 inch Sharp when that was a $200 TV and I could finally afford color in the 1980's. Then I bought a 25 and then a 27. But my living room was smaller by then, and I sit 8 to 9 feet from them. If you measure a 32 inch widescreen showing 4:3, it's about 27 inches diagonal. This then is like watching a 27 inch TV SD 4:3

But the books all said I needed a 47 to 48 inch TV at least. Whose standards?

My son has a 42 inch Vizio and it looks pretty good, but shows mega blocking and artifacts more than mine. His is 720p as well as mine. Bigger does show more faults in the video, why those with big 1080p screens are the first to complain that the sub channels on OTA mess up the main HD video, where on my set 1080i barely looks better than 720p.

Big sets are fine, but I know so many people driving to work on old tires because they can't buy new ones, credit maxed out , late on other bills, but spent $4000 on their TV. Just saying that is not my priority. Ine the end all the pretty pictures mean nothing if the content stinks. Billy Mays looks just as dead in 480i.

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DTVuser2009

I find it funny that my 30" magnavox (i was wrong originally i measured it) in comparison to my new 25" Curtis Mathes set actually had a smaller viewing area. the picture's bigger on th 25" for some reason

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Yes616

My Toshiba 57" Model 57H84 sits in my finnished basement family room sized 24' x 24' (except for a small half a bath that takes up one of the corners).

Most people watch from a 3 person sofa placed 10 feet in front of the screen. I sit 4 feet behind the sofa (usually) from where I am sitting right now (at the computer).

The sound is generated by a Yamaha RX-V863 Receiver (7.2 channels) and Theater Reasearch 1610 / 1611 speaker packs and 2 YST-SW315 sub-woofers. Not counting the sub-woofers, I am using 5 speakers and I keep the receiver set to a 7 channel enhancer mode that simulates 7 channels. Sounds pretty good.

My Dish ViP722 receiver is hooked to the Yamaha receiver with an HDMI cable and the TV is also hooked up to the Yamaha receiver via HDMI as well.

I also have a Sony DVD upconvert player hooked to the Yamaha via component cables plus 2 RCA type cables for sound. No Blue Ray here just yet.

EscapeVelocity

92" Optima H31, on Draper Luma Screen.