57 is too big! now what :( (1 Viewer)

Just had my 57 inch HDTV (Toshiba 57H82)delivered today and though it looked perfect in the store, and I thought I measured correctly but it just seems to big for my living room. The picture itself does not seem too big, but just to close if you can understand what I mean.

My living room is about 11' across, and from the wall to the edge of the couch is 8'. So my question is would me downgrading to a 50inch be the best bet, or would I have to go all the way down to a 42inch? I like the big picture, but it just seems to close. I do want to stick with a HDTV 16:9 though no matter what.


HELP!!!

Thanks,
Jason

Give it a few days. RPTVs seem to shrink. Mine at first seemed huge and now I wish it was bigger.

Phil gave great advice. Watch it for a week or two (depending on your return policy), make sure you watch your favorite films, then decide!

My 47" seemed too small after the first month

Roger that on the too small syndrome.

My 57" looked huge when I got it home a month ago (upgraded fro a whoping 27"). The wife kept saying "Its going to be too big, lets get the 50"!" I stood strong and now she is a happy camper.

I would have gone with the 65" if I had the room for it (I have a built in nook for the TV and 65" was about 3" too wide)

Like the others have said give it a week or two and then make up your mind.

Then I guess my next question is how far away from your TV do you sit? Like I said above I have a 57inch now and the couch is about 5 feet away from it right now. It just seems to be too close.

I bought it at best buy, so I have 30 days to return it I believe. I will give it a few days and see what happens. But generally how far away do people sit from a 57inch? And if I did go smaller, how small would I need to go considering I sit 5feet away?

Thanks again,
Jason

Go down to the 50". Your salesperson should not have sold you a 57" with 5' of viewing disatnce. Did they even ask? At Best Buy probably not. You need more like 10' (or more) for a set of that size. I doubt you will be happy with that set in the long run. Jason

I have a 56" in a 11 ft. room. Viewing distance about 7 ft. to my eyeball. This is perfect for me, but if I lean forward too much I begin to distinguish scanlines and the picture degrades. If you are truly only 5 ft. screen to eyeball, swap it for the 50. If you are 7 ft. or more screen to eyeball, keep it. I too thought it was huge at first, but that goes away real fast and I would have deeply regretted downsizing. As long as you cannot distinguish individual scanlines on anamorphic DVDs, keep it or you will regret it too.

Note: Do not judge the TV by analog or "digital" cable. These are usually so bad, you'll end up down to a 27 inch. Judge it by HDTV or anamorphic DVD content only. Cable/satellite will go to HD sometime in the future and you do not want to judge your tv with the lowest quality signal that is on it's way out.

Are you too close like you see scanlines, too close that the picture looks blurry, or are you too close like you feel claustrophobic? The first shouldn't be an issue with HD sets, the second can be somewhat alleviated by calibrating your set (esp. convergence, but GIGO is GIGO) and the third requires counseling ;-)

I have a 53" sit and I set 7' away. I mean, yeah it seemed huge when I first got it, but now it's normal. In fact, now I wish I went up to 65".

I concur with the others -- see if you get used to it before exchanging it.

We sit around 8-9' away from the 47". I've been moving us a bit closer each week to find the sweet spot between viewing and listening.

Thanks again for all the responses!

To answer a few questions from above, the picture is not bad at all. And if it is distance to my actual eye, it is closer to 7 feet I guess. The very front of my couch is about 5.5 feet from the TV screen.

But like I said, it is not the picture resolution that is bad, but that feeling that "this TV is too HUGE!". It looks massive in our living room (and the girlfriend is having a fit, which I find funny). If it only didn't stick out from the wall so much, but I guess all projection sets are about 2 feet deep.

I will watch it for about a week, and then decide. How much of a difference would a 50inch make? This is my major question.

Many thanks again to all,
Jason

I say keep it....i got a 65inch and at first thought the same thing....viewable distance from screen only bout 8 ft back but after a few days i was happy with it. Now after 2 months my once HUGE 65inch seems small to me ugh.

Sadly with how the room is set up I cannot change it around. I am going to give it about a week and see. The sad thing is that I talked the guy at Best Buy down to selling me the set for $1900 instead of the $2199 that it was priced at. If I did return it for the 50 inch Tosh (same model 50H82) that set is selling for $1800.

So it seems silly to get a smaller set for the same price. After 2 days, the set is shrinking, but still huge

Jason

From the screen to my eye I am 7' away from my 56" widescreen and its perfect. Like everyone else, the TV was huge when I got it, but now its not a big deal.

I started with a 55" thought it was to big after a month returned it for a 65" and I said to my self wow thats big! 6 months later I sold it to a friend and now 123" is perfect!


go biggggggg!!!!



Bob

LOL see i am not spoiled

This happened when I bought my 32" direct view. It looked massive, then after awhile it seemed tiny.

Now I've got a 53" widescreen and it's turned out the same way. At about 6-8ft it seems just right. Wish I woulda saved up for that 65" Toshiba. Wonder how hard it would be to get that in an apartment....

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but the material you are watching is an important part of this as well. For standard definition over the air or cable, you'll want a smaller set or to be seated further away. But with HDTV or even DVD you'll have greater tolerance for sitting up close.

With that said, 5.5' is really close!

Who has links to the multiple distance/size calculators and spreadsheets I've seen before?