And I'd also disagree.
BiL has an 80' Samsung in his 14ft lounge, and it a) looks ridiculous and b) makes for uncomfortable watching.
At that distance, you are simply sitting too close. Like sitting on the front row at the cinema.
I'm with
@viv1969 on this one.
I went to view a house the other day and in the lounge one whole wall was taken up with a massive TV, it was miles to big for the room it was in, looked silly and made the lounge feel small.
I have a 32inch TV myself and I find that plenty big enough and it sits well in my lounge
Those are two two extreme examples and what I said was:
"The strange thing is that after a few days that new behemoth flatscreen seems perfectly normal in ones living room. They do not overwhelm in the same way that CRT's did." - in other words after a few days of ownership you
become accustomed to the size of the television and it doesn't overwhelm you.
Of course, visitors coming over for a few hours, may well find the television too much. Particularly if they are used to a smaller screen in their own home. I was looking at things from the owners perspectives not a visitors.
That said; the simple rule is that if the TV screen size and the seating distance from the screen is such that you can see the pixel structure of the picture then you are too close. Or if the seating cannot be moved further away; then the set is too big.
Several years ago a friend had decided to buy a 50" flatscreen TV. He was going to be sitting about twenty feet away from it. I told him that combination of screen size and distance was such that he would be unable to distinguish between High Definition and Standard Definition material. The set he was thinking about was a high end TV. I told him that he should buy a bigger screen for that sort of distance. I also said that if he couldn't stretch his budget; he'd be better off buy a bigger set of lower quality than the high end set he was considering. He ignored my advice and proceeded with his purchase. After about two weeks of ownership of his new TV he called me to say I was right. He couldn't tell the difference between between DVD's and Blu-ray's. He's regretted his decision ever since.
Most people I know decide what set to buy on the basis of price and screen size. I've never known anyone to complain that they have bought a TV that's too big; but I have known several to regret that they had not bought a bigger TV.
At the end of the day; it's down to how we watch TV and expect of it. If you're just watching the news and some light entertainment pretty then pretty much any television size will do,
If you're watching Lawrence of Arabia and want to appreciate the cinephotography; then you really do need the largest set you can afford and accommodate.
