That issue has pretty much been eliminated with the new 1080p tvs. As long as you get a tv with the 1080p feature, it will not make a difference, in fact, the larger the tv, the better the experience. Our plasma is 55 inches and our room is only 12 feet deep. It's fabulous especially when we use the 3D feature.

If you google it there are standards for this. That said, we experimented with a piece of cardboard taped to the wall. Its also really important to get a sense of the best height for you to hang it.

We just got the Quatro 60" and it is amazing. I'm about 10' away, the other chair is 14'. Due to the amount of resolution now offered and additional colors, plus your ability to adjust color (think Adobe Photo Shop abilities)...large TVs are now a different breed.

Let your husband go for it. You will be pleased with the new experience.

I'm glad to see this post, as I was just talking to my Mom about this. I want a 46" flat screen someday, but she says I sit too close to my 27" TV as it is. Well, why would I buy a 46" and then sit waaaaay across the room and still feel like I'm watching my 27"? Doesn't make sense to me. I didn't know about newer tvs not having that issue, that is, the viewer needing to sit so many feet away according to screen size. Thanks.

Crutchfield has helpful info/videos on choosing the right TV/video equipment.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crutchfield

I have a Mitsubishi Diamond and couldn't be happier with it. It's a 1080 and I've had it for a few years now. No service calls ever. I used the Crutchfield site to help me figure out what size to buy. Ideally, the middle of the tv should be in line with your eyes when you are sitting down.

Thank you very much all for your replies. I will check out the Crutchfield site. I did hear about the middle of the tv being in line with your eyes while seated - thanks again!

however, I've heard of folks being sorry they got ones too big when you can't sit far enough away from it.

I've pretty much heard the opposite: people usually wish they had got a bigger TV.

If the screen appears diagonally bigger than the span of your hand (thumb-pinkie) extended toward the TV, then it's not too small. So in the showroom, stand as far away as you will be at home, and do the test. That's the rule of thumb (and pinkie) :)
Casey

Thanks - I hadn't heard that one!

We sit just over 13ft from a 65" plasma. I would recommend Panasonic. I would NOT recommend a Samsung Plasma, we tried 4 replacements with a 63" Samsung, before we told the company that we had enough, we wanted them to pick it up and our money back. They agreed ... what else could they say. No problems with the Panasonic.

Thanks for the info about Panasonic vs. Samsung - good to know! The only TV we currently have is the one DH bought after college in 1987 if you can believe that.

We've had nothing but good luck with Samsung, and we have quite a few of them (I think 10, between 2 houses). However, they are all LED and not plasma. One of them stopped turning on. It was out of warranty but they fixed it anyway as it was a known problem.

Our TV (bought last January) is a 55 inch Plasma Panasonic Viera and we've had great success with it. I did a ton of research before we bought and the consensuses at the time was that in regards to the 3D Plasmas only, the Samsung was inferior. One reason was because of the black technology offered by Panansonic and the other was that there was a lot of complaints about a consistent humming noise with the Samsung and this wasn't just on one site, it was something I read often on various sites. The humming noise was a real turn off to us.

I'm not sure why the Plasma Tv isn't more popular than it is. I kept reading how they are not at all energy efficient but I almost wonder if that is a hype set up to promote the LCD & LED platforms because after we switched, I never did notice a difference in our energy bill.

I was very torn between the Panasonic 55 Plamsa and the Sony Bravia 55 LED. I went w/the Sony 55 LED. I don't have a real reason, except that the Sony was stock and could be delivered the next day. I LOVE IT....Only thing I don't like is it doesn't have a sleep timer and I fall asleep in front of the tv all the time. It does have a motion type sensor, the screen goes black but the volume stays on, I guess it's like a computers screen saver.

We have 2 LCDs ... Sony and Samsung. The Sony has a better picture, but they're both good TVs.

I had a humming problem with my LG flat screen I bought earlier this year. I had the cable guy out thinking maybe it was input from the cable company, but the humming when away after the guy put on an HDMI cable that replaces the 3 colored pronged plug...No humming noise anymore.

"That issue has pretty much been eliminated with the new 1080p tvs."

If you sit close enough you can still start to see lines and other distracting features.

It is a resolution problem, and not likely to be "eliminated" in the near future.

Thank you for the additional feedback - I'm showing it all to DH (I don't really watch TV, so he cares about this much more than me).

Brickeye, I'm not familiar with issue you're referring to. All I know is if you sit too close to tvs with 720 your eyes go crossed eyed. This issue was fixed with 1080p. You can sit 5 feet from it and still see things comfortably without it hurting your eyes.

I agree. Not an issue on our 1080p.