Analog TV’s are now coming to an end. What is “in” today are the HDTV. HDTV is a plaything for the rich and self-indulgent, some cryptic form of digital television designed for Freemasons, just one more ridiculously overhyped and overpriced technology aimed at parting care-worn folk from their hard-earned cash. Right?

Wrong. The analog television standard we’ve been using since just after World War II is ludicrously obsolete. It was designed for round-cornered five-inch pictures that were mere portholes compared to the big screens that today’s home theater buffs demand. Trying to build a home theater system around 1948-vintage technology is like riding a horse in the slow lane.
As a very loose rule of thumb, minimum viewing distance should be three times the height of a widescreen set (HDTV is a widescreen medium) or roughly 1.5 times the diagonal measurements that manufacturers and retailers use.