How far to sit from the TV
Screen size and shape set the sweet spot between immersion and eye strain — the field-of-view way.
Tools used in this guide
The job
Sit too close and the screen dominates your field of view; too far and the detail you paid for never reaches your eye. Standards talk in field-of-view angles: ~40° is cinema-immersive, ~30° the comfortable middle, ~20° relaxed TV.
Size plus shape
Enter the diagonal in inches and pick 16:9 or 21:9. The tool reports the distances that produce a 40°, 30°, and 20° field of view — in meters and feet, plus the screen's own width and height.
Worked example
A 55 in 16:9 screen is 121.8 cm wide: 40° ≈ 1.67 m (immersive), 30° ≈ 2.27 m (mixed), 20° ≈ 3.45 m (relaxed). Pick the band that matches your couch.
Where it stops
Pure geometry from diagonal and aspect — resolution and pixel visibility are not modeled (a sharp 4K panel tolerates closer seating). Seating, taste, and content type move the real answer.