TVs Are Getting Bigger. Your Living Room Isn’t.

If you’ve walked into a Best Buy recently, you’ve probably seen them—massive 85‑inch, 98‑inch, even 110‑inch TVs lighting up the walls with vivid colors and jaw-dropping sharpness. Prices are lower than ever, and sales are growing fast. But unless your living room has grown too, you’re likely paying for pixels you won’t even notice.

So Why the Surge?

Big-screen TVs used to be luxury items. Now, models that once ran over $10,000 are dipping under $3,000. Retailers are expanding their supersize selections, and consumers, thanks in part to the pandemic shift toward home entertainment, are biting.

But just because a 98‑inch screen technically fits on your wall doesn’t mean it fits your space.

It’s Not Just Width That Matters

TVs are measured diagonally, but the real issue is viewing distance. Home theater experts generally recommend that your seat should be about 1 to 1.5 times the diagonal screen size away from the display. For a 98‑inch TV, that means somewhere between 8 and 12 feet.

Plenty of home theater enthusiasts have reported finding the sweet spot around 9 to 11 feet. Sit much closer and you’ll need to move your head to follow the action. Sit too far and all those extra pixels fade into irrelevance.

A Quick Size Reality Check

For a 98‑inch screen:

The minimum comfortable distance is usually about 8 feet.
Ideal is around 10 feet.
More than 12 feet, and you may as well have stuck with 75 inches.

Even for 4K content, this distance is necessary to take full advantage of the resolution without eye fatigue. If you’re watching HD or compressed streaming video, blowing it up to 98 inches could actually make it look worse.

Check out: 65″ Smart TVs on Amazon

The Comfort Tradeoff

Beyond visual clarity, supersize screens introduce new ergonomic problems. Eye-level placement becomes tricky. Wall-mounting may push the screen too high. If you sit too close, it becomes hard to absorb the whole image comfortably.

And then there’s the audio. Most built-in speakers can’t fill a large room, so now you’re looking at a full sound system too – just to make the big picture worth it.

Is It Worth It?

If you have a dedicated media room with a 12‑foot throw, by all means, go big. But for most living rooms, a 98‑inch screen is overkill. You’ll either be too close, too far, or too aware of the flaws in your content.

Instead of chasing size, consider investing in things that improve the overall experience: better lighting, sound, and seating. A well-balanced 75‑inch setup with solid speakers and thoughtful layout often delivers more immersion than a 98‑inch screen crammed into the corner of a modest living room.

Bigger might be trending. That doesn’t mean it fits your space or your needs.