# TV diagonal measurement
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 18, 2024, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406 "2024-07-18T04:47:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2024, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/81 "2024-07-20T19:24:40Z")
> [@ftg](#):
>
> I have personally run into the problem of trying to replace an old “2x4” with a new “2x4” and finding that they weren’t the same size.
> **[2x4 Lumber Sizes - The History Behind The Mystery - The Working Forest](https://workingforest.com/2x4-lumber-size-the-history-behind-the-mystery/)**
>
> Discover why a 2x4 is not 2 by 4 inches. Follow the evolution of lumber size over time. Learn about nominal vs actual dimensions in modern standardized lumber
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/82 "2024-07-20T20:31:01Z")
> The modern-day dimensions of a 2×4 are smaller due to historical practices and practical considerations. Thinner pieces of wood were favored over time to reduce shipping costs and increase efficiency in transportation. These dimensions eventually became standardized to strike a balance between cost-efficiency and structural integrity.
In other words, unregulated shrinkflation bullshit, according to that article.
There is even a picture:
[ ](https://workingforest.com/wp-content/uploads/fPGz_1yj7oV-ATI2DxeEE.png)
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2024, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/83 "2024-07-21T02:46:38Z")
> [@Schnitte](#):
>
> It’s certainly less of a system than metric/SI, whose units have been intentionally designed in such a way that units for different quantities can easily be converted into each other.
That’s called “coherence”, and it’s another point on the list of why metric is better than American units.
> [@DPRK](#):
>
> That only goes so far. Otherwise there would be no magic numbers, i.e. you would just have G=1.
Of course, there are systems of units where you do have G = 1 (as well as c and hbar). Even there, though, there are still a few magic numbers (IIRC, about 20 of them), such as the fine structure constant and mass ratios of some fundamental particles.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2024, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/84 "2024-07-21T03:07:23Z")
The fact we’re stuck with a few magic numbers in any system we care to devise seems to me to be a good sign.
It’s proof there wasn’t an intelligent designer behind the whole thing. Stuff just happened this way, and here we are trying to sort it all out.
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### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2024, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/85 "2024-07-21T15:26:23Z")
> [@ftg](#):
>
> I have personally run into the problem of trying to replace an old “2x4” with a new “2x4” and finding that they weren’t the same size. The mill lobby doesn’t give two cents about compatibility with your (slightly) older house.
My old house in Chicago was built sometime around 1900, and the “floorboards” in the attic were12x2s. There were a number of gaps in the floor, and after I insulated the space under the floor (which did wonders to improve the heat in the rooms below) I decided to fill in the gaps. That’s when I found out that modern 12x2s were not the same size as the ones in the attic. I ended up just putting in a new floor using plywood sheets.
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### Author:  [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/86 "2024-07-21T16:19:20Z")
Back to the OP: I worked for a CRT manufacturer in the early 90’s. I remember all of our 14" and 16" computer monitor models were relabeled 15" and 17".
When I asked my boss, he said the newer measurement is the physical size of the front of the tube whereas the older measurement subtracted out the portion blocked by the bezel (it measured the usable portion).
He also said that some competitors started using the newer measurement and so the industry was switching over so that they compare equitably.
Does anyone else remember this change in the early 90’s? I could have misunderstood at the time. It is a bit hard to search for; he Internet has mostly forgotten about CRTs.
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/87 "2024-07-23T18:06:41Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> > [@Pardel-Lux](#):
> >
> > And does the bezel count as part of the screen?
>
> That probably depends on whether you are the seller or the prospective buyer.
I’ve never seen the diagonal size/ selling point padded with the added distance for the bezel.
Depending on which item it is, it could be a small amount or a HUGE addition to the diagonal.
Speaking from the professional video equipment end of things, since I’m a working cinematographer/ videographer for 44 years, I’ve never seen a single monitor whose specs include anything beyond the CRT’s nominal corners ( see above re: rounded or truly circular CRTs ) or the true screen distance on any kind of a flat-panel display, be it LCD or LED.
I currently use a Samsung Galaxy S-24 Ultra. Out of its case, the screen edge is just insanely close to the physical edge of the device.
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### Author:  [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/88 "2024-07-23T18:23:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> One of the biggest problems with the “customary system” is that it’s not a system; it’s a whole bunch of different systems. As evidenced by the number of people who refer to the American system as “imperial”. The imperial system and the American system are two different systems that just use mostly the same names.
You would have loved the Navy Nuclear Power program (a.k.a. Nuke School).
Everything we did was in customary units. All of our thermodynamics and nuclear physics calculations. All of our chemistry calculations. All of our material science calculations. On top of that we used some obfuscated notation for the nuclear-physics stuff that dated from the Manhattan Project, when nobody wanted to write U-235 the normal way lest their notebook fall into enemy hands.
What great joy it was to be dealing with BTUs, pounds force, pounds mass, and a proportionality constant of 32 ft-lbf/lbm (or something like that) that we salt and peppered liberally throughout our equations. Ever heard of the Rankine scale? That is to Fahrenheit what Kelvin is to Celsius. Guess which one we used.
My favorite unit? The [“barn”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_(unit)), though that one appears to be metric. It’s used to measure the apparent cross section a nucleus presents to oncoming neutrons, for predicting reaction rates. Named after “couldn’t hit the broad side of a…”
I think they finally saw the light a few years after I attended and went metric.
But darn if it wasn’t a good unit-analysis workout!
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/89 "2024-07-23T18:34:24Z")
Posts like the one above have convinced me that if I had been born in the US, I never would have become an engineer. Thanks so much for the metric system and SI units.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2024, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/90 "2024-07-23T18:35:58Z")
We entirely used SI when I studied mechanical engineering in the 80s.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/91 "2024-07-23T20:06:27Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#):
>
> I’ve never seen the diagonal size/ selling point padded with the added distance for the bezel.
It used to be extremely common. The more honest companies included both the size with the bezel _and_ the size without it, the others did not. Here’s a typical ad: a 17 inch monitor with 16 inches viewable, and a 19 inch monitor with 18 inches viewable.
[ ](https://i.postimg.cc/0Nw2C1gK/s-l1200.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/92 "2024-07-23T21:38:20Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#):
>
> I’ve never seen the diagonal size/ selling point padded with the added distance for the bezel.
I’ve seen it on smartphones - specifically the kind of smartphones that play fast and loose with all of their specifications and/or masquerade as iPhones, but are actually just Android with a skin.
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2024, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-diagonal-measurement/1004406/93 "2024-07-24T01:30:09Z")
Touchy, touchy. I think my new Android’s a new Android. It’s the first new cellular device in more than 20 years. I kid ya not. I have been buying used cell phones on Craigslist since that site was launched and before that, I’d find them here in NYC some other ways.
Couldn’t pass up Verizon’s deal last spring. After all was said and done, I traded in a Galaxy S4 ( yes, a 4 ) for the aforementioned S24 Ultra. I pay $ 5.00 a month for the privilege. Surreal.
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