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Welcome to Home Theater Helpdesk, the place where Tom’s Guide’s team of AV experts helps to answer your biggest questions around TVs, speakers, HiFi equipment and more.
This week, let’s tackle the question: “What TV should I buy for the Super Bowl?”
I’m Tom’s Guide’s Managing Editor of Home Entertainment, Nick Pino, and with over 10 years of experience covering TVs and home theater, I’ve got you covered.
The best TV for the Super Bowl
Ah, the Super Bowl. The teams may change, but the TV deals are a perennial fixture. TVs might not see their absolute lowest prices (nothing beats Black Friday), but that doesn’t mean you won’t score an extremely good deal on last year’s best TVs.
For this year’s game, I recommend scooping up the LG C5 OLED. Not only does it have superb motion handling and upscaling capabilities — two key aspects you need to consider when shopping for a sports-focused TV set — but its OLED panel gives it wider viewing angles than its Mini-LED competition.
Now, there are scenarios in which you want to consider a Mini-LED — or even another OLED TV — over the LG C5 OLED, but the C5 is going to deliver that ‘wow’ factor you’re looking for when you have friends and family over to watch the game at a reasonable price.
But what screen size should you buy?
So this is actually a much harder question to answer, as it depends entirely on how far you sit from the TV, how much wall space you have available and how far your budget stretches.
If the budget is the sticking point of the equation, your best bet is to go for the 65-inch LG C5 OLED from Best Buy for $1,399. It’s 50% off the regular price, and it’s a very reasonable size for most living rooms. It’s the best value of the bunch.
Measure the distance between where you sit on the couch and the wall or home entertainment stand ... and divide by 1.5. That’s the size of the TV you should buy.
If budget isn’t a factor in your decision, then you can start taking measurements to determine the right size for your living room. To do this properly, measure the distance between where you sit on the couch and the wall or home entertainment stand where you plan on putting your new TV. Take that distance and divide by 1.5. That’s the size of the TV you should buy.
Say you plan on sitting 10 feet away from the screen (120 inches). Divide that by 1.5 and you’re looking at 80 inches. Unfortunately, OLED TVs aren’t made in an 80-inch screen size, but now you roughly know you’re looking at either the 77-inch LG C5 or the 83-inch model.
Finally, we look at how much space you have on your wall or entertainment center to determine which of the remaining choices is right for your space. TV screen sizes are the distance from corner to corner, which means their width is actually a bit smaller than what it says on the box. (The 77-inch model is actually 67.4 inches wide, for example.)
Break out the tape measurer and some painters tape to see what looks right in your space — and, when in doubt, err on the larger side. This is a TV that you’re going to be looking at for the next five to nine years of your life, so it’s worth splurging on something good.
We’ll be back in two weeks with the next Home Theater Helpdesk. In the meantime, shoot any comments and questions my way at Nick.Pino@futurenet.com.
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