Calculate The Perfect Distance Between TV And Sofa
28th Sep 2022Posted by Alice Ewens on 28th Sep 2022
Wondering what the distance between TV and sofa should be? We've done all the hard work and researched it for you, so you don't need to. Everything on how far to place your TV from your sofa all in one place.
Remember when you'd watch cartoons and the adults would tell you not to sit so close or you'd get square eyes?! Well, we know that's not technically possible BUT you can definitely give yourself eye strain. Sitting too close or too far from your TV can be a nusiance. So, how do you know how far away from your sofa you should put the TV? Fortunately, there's some handy formulas to work out (don't worry, we've done the maths for you, scroll down for the handy table).
Field Of View For Perfect TV to Sofa Distance
The Guidelines from the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers recommend sitting at a distance where the screen fills up about 30° of your field of vision as a minimum for a good experience. This means you're able to focus on smaller details easily without feeling sick. Imagine sitting right in front of a huge TV so it fills your entire field of vision and then watching a football match - trying to focus on the moving ball would make your eyes move a lot and you'd end up feeling a bit sick! Sitting further back, so your TV takes up around 30° of your total field of view means your eyes don't need to do so much work to focus!
This is why it's also good to have your TV positioned at eye level or slightly above on a TV stand - so you don't need to crane your neck to high or low to watch.
Your TV Screen Size Affects The Distance It Should Be From The Sofa
It kind of goes without saying that the smaller your TV is, the harder it will be to see clearly from further away. Likewise, larger TV placed close to your seating space might feel overwhelming. However, if you've got a smaller room to start with and enjoy the cinematic experience, then go for it with a bigger screen. The ultimate aim os for your living room experience to feel comfortable. You don't want to have to be putting in a ton of effort just to relax!
TV Screen Resolution Matters Too
As technology improves, the resolution of our TV screens improves too! Resolution refers to how many pixels per square inch. The more pixels per square inch, the higher the resolution and the sharper the image will appear. These days, TVs are offered in 720p (HD), 1080p (full HD) and now 4k. If you were comparing a TV of the same screen size (say, 35" screen) in both 720p and 1080p, you'd be able to sit closer to the 1080p screen before you noticed fuzziness or blurring.
Calculate The Perfect Distance Between TV and Sofa
It's hard to pinpoint exactly how far it should be BUT we've done the research. Taking into consideration TV screen size (usually measured as the diagonal width across the screen), the resolution and the optimum field of view:
720p TVs: the ratio is between 2 and 2.5 times the diagonal width of the screen
1080p Full HD TVs: the ratio is between 1.5 and 2 times the diagonal width of the screen
4k TVs: the ratio is between 1 and 1.5 times the diagonal width.
And here's our handy table to help you figure out what that means in terms of distance
(we've greyed out some cells because Full HD and 4k TVs don't tend to come in 30" screens. The lower resolutions screens don't hold up when viewing from further away).
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