I am looking at buying a new projection HDTV for my living room but am unclear as to what size would be perfect. I have tried the local shops and have heard everything from "I can't use a RPTV" to "I can use a 65" RPTV". I feel some of these stores are just trying to make a sale but I'm really not sure. My room is 12' by 13' with 13' being the distance for tv viewing(actual distance between my seating area to the tv is around 10' or so). Could someone please help me out with this as I don't want a tv to large but I also don't want to get a smaller 1 if I don't have to. I currently use a 36" Toshiba and plan on getting a WIDESCREEN TV so I don't really want to go smaller. Thanks for any help you can provide.

I think you're looking at around 55", maybe just a bit more.

This is what I was told when I was purchasing my big screen:

08-10ft - 46"
10-12ft - 55"
12-14ft - 65"

...and so on. All distances are the distance from your head to the screen. Those are for widescreen RPTV, so 46" widescreen is about 40" normal, 55" widescreen is about 50" regular and so on. I was right at 10ft, so I went with the 55", which was perfect for my room. Any bigger and the TV would have been too big.

I sit 8.5" from a 53" (46" wide) set and would prefer being a bit closer. I can move farther away but it really gets too small and non-movielike at another foot away.

I have seen the formula of the screen width being 1/2 to 2/3 your seating distance the range you can work with. That would give you about 69" diagonal being on the big size and 46" being on the small size (if my calcs are correct). Kind of a big range. But I would definitely not go smaller than 53" based on my experience.

What sources will you watching, and what percentage of the time will you be watching them?

E.g., 50% dvd & 50% cable tv, or 50% dvd & 50% hdtv, etc.

I would think this would play a part in how close you can sit.

This will be my main tv for everyday watching. I will use it for DirecTV & Digital Cable(50%), LD & DVD(45%) and some VHS(5%). I'm not sure about HDTV yet as I'm not really sure how much is availiable in my area.

My only concern with the TV viewing would be that you might want to be a bit farther back from it (or buy a smaller set) depending on how good the signal is and the quality of the line-doubler of the set. Both of mine are very good and I can still watch it at the same 8.5 feet, but I don't mind if I sit farther away because it's only TV and that isn't much of a real movie experience to me. Now if I got HDTV, that would be a different matter.

I sit 10-1/2 feet away from my 65 inch widescreen. You might want to read this article about a 64 inch Pioneer widescreen. It says "The best viewing distance is about 4-5 times the screen height. The picture height of the SD-641-HD5 is 31 ". Four times this picture height is 10 feet, and 5 times this picture height is 13 feet. Sitting at this distance, the 16:9 image will fill up about 30% of your horizontal viewing angle, and completely envelope you into the entertainment experience."

Thank you all for the replies. I was also wondering if you could recommend a decent HDTV for around $3000 or less? I think I may stay in a general size of 57" or less.

edited for the wrong question asked.Looking for tv not DVD player. sorry.

The new Denon DVD-9000 should be around that price when it comes out in April. It is top of the line and loaded with features.

Sorry. I meant to ask about a HDTV set not a player. Edited my above post.

In that case, are you looking for Rear Projection or tube? If you are looking for a RP, I will have to strongly recommend Mitsubishi.

That would be some player!

Don't feel too bad, I knew what you meant. Just don't have any hands-on recommendations at that price.

You might take a look at this Pioneer set. It's this year's standard model with the excellent line-doubler of last year's Elite model (since you will be watching so much TV that is very important). I have last year's Elite model and TV (and satellite) looks very good.

Although that set is only 53" it may not be big enough. But personally I'd rather have a great picture than a little bigger one. And I believe it's on wheels (the Elite's are) so you can always roll it closer to you. At least check it out!

I agree. I currently have a Mitsu 55" and couldn't be happier.

How much broadcast TV are you watching? How happy are you with the line doubler?

X I also have a Mitsu and I know where you are going. The line doubler isn't the best for standard cable, but I think most people would be happy with it for standard TV I know I am, where these TV's truly shine are in their HD and DVD programming, they are the Best TV for the money, not that if I didn't have more to spend that I would not blow it on one of those beautiful Elite TV's but they were out of my price range.

Actually I wasn't going the Elite way. This year's standard Pioneers have last year's Elite electronics. I just think it would be worth a look since you can get pretty good quality for a regular price with them.