How far should your sofa be from your TV? What is the perfect distance from sofa to TV? Most people just guess or put their TV and sofa on opposite sides of the room. But there is an optimal viewing distance for each TV. You can find out exactly what the distance between your sofa and TV should be based on two things – the size of the TV screen and the resolution of your TV.
Why screen size matters
The first thing you need to keep in mind when deciding where to place your TV and sofa is the size of your TV. It’s quite simple – if you have a larger TV, your optimal viewing distance will be further away. This is because if you sit too close, your eyes will not be able to focus in a comfortable way. In addition, you can sit further away from a large TV and still see all the details without straining your eyes.
On the other hand, if you sit too far from a smaller TV, you can not see all the details. But if you have a small space, you may want a small TV screen that allows you to sit closer.
Why resolution is important
Of course, it is logical that the size of your TV screen affects how far you sit. But why does TV resolution matter? First, you need to understand what resolution is. The resolution of a TV refers to the number of pixels per square inch. More pixels mean you get a higher resolution.
The resolution of a standard TV is 720p or 720 pixels per inch. But almost every new TV on the market is an HD or HD TV. HD TVs have a resolution of 1080p – they have more pixels per inch and thus a clearer picture. Finally, there are Ultra HD or 4k TVs with a resolution of 4000p.
But how does this affect the distance between your sofa and your TV? The higher the resolution of your TV, the closer you can sit to your TV – provided the TVs you are comparing are the same size. On a 50-inch TV with 1080p resolution, the pixels are larger than on a 50-inch TV with 4k resolution. This is because there are more pixels. So you can sit closer to the 4k TV and still not bother to see every pixel, which makes the picture look worse.
On the other hand, if you want to sit away, you do not have to worry about buying a higher resolution TV. From a certain distance, your eyes can not tell the difference between HD and UHD.
Calculate the distance from the sofa to the TV
It is difficult to calculate exactly how much distance you need between each TV and sofa, but there are some guidelines you can follow.
1080p (HD) TVs :
- 32-inch screen – 1.5 meters away
- 42-inch screen – 1.8 meters away
- 50-inch screen – 2.1 meters away
- 60-inch screen – 2.5 meters away
- 70-inch screen – 3 meters away
4K TV (Ultra HD) :
- 32-inch screen – 1 meter away
- 42-inch screen – 1.25 meters away
- 50-inch screen – 1.5 meters away
- 60-inch screen – 1.8 meters away
- 70-inch screen – 2.1 meters away
These are just guidelines, but you can use them as a baseline to design the layout of your living room or other TV viewing spaces. Stay within a foot of these guides and you will get a better view when watching TV.