Over the past few years, consumers have seen television screens get bigger and bigger. The selling point of these big screen monstrosities is that a bigger screen means a more immersive experience. However, when it comes to immersing yourself in your entertainment, size isn’t the only thing that plays a role. You’ll also want to look at the components and features offered by the TV, as different brands may offer different features and even different types of display panels, all of which play a role in the overall immersion of your experience.
Whether the screen is a miniLED or a standard OLED panel can make a huge difference in how light and dark colors appear on the screen. Even the overall refresh rate of the TV and the upscaling technology it uses can change the way you view your favorite media. Many companies would have already packed their best technology into the biggest TVs they offer.
And while that may be a negative for those who need a smaller screen, it also means you want to be sure the brand you choose has the features and functionality you’re looking for, especially considering the price of some of these big screen TVs. That’s why it’s always a good idea to figure out what the best smart TVs are on the market and then start looking at everything these brands have to offer in their larger sizes.
Why screen size seems so important
The sad truth of the industry is that, overall, technical advancements in hardware appear to be mostly at a standstill. Although new panel technology is available in the form of mini RGB LEDs, many of the new “big” features consumers are seeing are AI-related, such as Google’s Gemini Assistant on Google TV systems. For most, however, this doesn’t always constitute a big step forward. On the other hand, seeing manufacturers like Samsung, LG and Sony adopt even larger TV screens seems like a step forward, probably because it’s a difference that can be seen directly, especially now that 4K screens are helping to make content less pixelated.
And this trend will likely only continue, as current trends seen in the TV industry suggest that there will be even larger screen sizes, perhaps even some that will surpass the 100-inch screens announced in 2025. There is, of course, nothing wrong with going for a large screen, especially if you’re hosting a lot of people and just want to have a super-immersive entertainment space. However, there are other factors to consider when looking at a large TV, beyond the type of display panel it uses and the features it has under the hood.
Size can only do so much for your immersion
Unfortunately, the way the human brain translates the information provided by your eyes is not as simple as you might think. You may actually have a TV that is way too small or too big for your space. To fully understand what this means, you first need to understand why TV size and distance are important. It all depends on the field of vision of your eyes.
If you have a TV that is too small, it will leave a lot of free space around the device, which can detract from the immersion of your experience. Likewise, if you have a TV that is too large and you are located too close to it, your field of vision may be cut off, causing you to miss parts of the picture. This is why I never sit in the front row at the cinema.
For this reason, you should always look at the size of your space and then judge whether or not a large TV is suitable for that space. If you want something larger, like Hisense’s 100-inch budget TV, you need to make sure you can be at least 13 feet away from the TV when watching it. This will ensure that you do not miss any displayed content. If you need help determining how far away you need to be for optimal viewing, RTINGS offers a handy TV viewing distance calculator.
