DOES SCREEN SIZE MATTER?
Now that pretty much every TV you can buy boasts a native 4K resolution, it makes more sense than ever to buy as big a screen as you can. The bigger the screen, after all, the more you’ll benefit from all the extra pixels of detail and image density 4K has to offer. With large-screen HD TVs, for instance, you may well be able to see the visible pixel structure in the image, or notice jaggedness over curved or diagonal edges. These issues should largely disappear with a 4K TV, leaving the image looking more like a window onto reality than a mere TV screen.
Bigger screens fill more of your field of view too, creating a more immersive experience in a typical living room, kitchen, or bedroom setting. In fact, as a general rule we’d recommend that you actually try to push up one size from the screen you think you want. We’d also treat with some suspicion many of the screen size ‘calculators’ out there, as they tend to be more conservative with their results than many people would expect, especially if they’re seeking a cinematic experience to match today’s increasingly high-quality TV shows. While bigger is usually better, though, there are a couple of scenarios where sticking with a smaller screen can be the right choice. Relatively small screens can work well for some gamers, for instance, as it makes it easier for their eyes to take in the entire image at once, spotting all potential enemies in a single instant. One other interesting aspect of resolution and screen size is that 4K TVs with smaller screens boast a smaller pixel ‘pitch’ (the distance between rows of pixels). This can increase the sense of realism and sharpness you see in the image for people who typically sit unusually close to the screen.