Why do TV screen sizes vary by country?

[Karellen]

Okay.

All mid-size TVs sold in Thailand (where I live) are 21", 29", and 34" inches. To compare prices I’ve been surfing US sites like Best Buy, etc. Yet Best Buy doesn’t have a single 29" or 34" TV (except wide-screen dimensions, which doesn’t count).

I checked the Sony site, as well as Philips and others, and noticed that 27", 32", and 36" all seem to be standard sizes in the US. But switch to the same Sony websites in Asian countries (sony.co.th. sony.com.sg, etc) and we’re back to 21", 29", 34". As far as I can tell NO ONE in the US sells a 29" TV. And NO ONE sells a 27" in Thailand or Singapore. Yet all these various TVs are being made by the same companies.

Why the difference? Is it because Asia uses PAL and PAL requires slightly bigger tubes? Is it some marketing strategy based on research about what certain consumers want? Or is it some way of preventing black-market sales? Or are these 29" televisions sold in Asia really 27" inch USA TVs that are being relabeled under less strict consumer laws?

Petty, I know. The world won’t stop turning if this remains unanswered. But I’m curious…anyone know?

[Yeah]

“Or are these 29” televisions sold in Asia really 27" inch USA TVs that are being relabeled under less strict consumer laws?"

I think you’ve hit on it. Measure a few sets available locally (diagonally, plastic to plastic) and someone in the U.S. can measure some sets here and we’ll get to the bottom of this (unless someone out there has certain knowledge and can save us the effort).

[Philster]

I think the difference is how each country has come to interpret the measurements.

Some don’t do it on the diagonal…
Some do…
Some do diagonal WITH the console included in measurement

USA = diagonal screen only
USA computers = diagonal w/ console

[Dilbert]

*Originally posted by Philster *
**USA = diagonal screen only
USA computers = diagonal w/ console **

I thought computers were measuring tube size, and then included the viewable area. It seems that if they measured the “console” that they could add extra plastic to bump up the measurement. I believe that TV measurements correspond to the viewable area. Maybe TV’s use the whole tube since distortion at the edges makes less difference?

[Philster]

*Originally posted by Dilbert *
**

I thought computers were measuring tube size, and then included the viewable area. It seems that if they measured the “console” that they could add extra plastic to bump up the measurement. I believe that TV measurements correspond to the viewable area. Maybe TV’s use the whole tube since distortion at the edges makes less difference? **

You are being more specific, buts that the gist of what I was saying…the console just covers more tube than actual viewing area. But in some countries, nothing would suprise me…

[Karellen]

Right. Hmm. So, no one has a definitive on this. Fair enough, let us experiment then.

Tomorrow I’m going shopping for TVs again. While at the local PowerMall, I will whip out my tape measure and go plastic corner to plastic corner.

Meanwhile, a quick survey of my existing, Asia-market-specs 21" Sony Wega Flatscreen reveals:

1. Corner to corner is 20. 5 inches.
2. Viewable area is only 20 inches.

We may be onto something here–can someone else measure a USA TV and report back?

[Arnold_Winkelried]

This site claims to have the rules governing adveritising of TV sizes in the USA:

For the purposes of this part, measurement of the picture area on a single plane basis refers to a measurement of the distance between the outer extremities (sides) of the picture area which does not take into account the curvature of the tube.

…

Examples of proper size descriptions when a television receiving set shows a 20-inch picture measured diagonally, a 19-inch picture measured horizontally, a 15-inch picture measured vertically, and a picture area of 262 square inches include:

``20 inch picture measured diagonally’’ or

``19 inch 0A 15 inch picture’’ or

``19 inch picture’’ or

``19 inch’’ or

``262 square inch picture.’’

Examples of improper size descriptions of a television set showing a picture of the size described above include:

``21 inch set’’ or

``21 inch diagonal set’’ or

``21 inch over-all diagonal – 262 square inch picture’’ or

``Brand Name 21.’’

[Mr.Blue_Sky]

I have seen TV’s marked, “20” Diagonal (21" in Canada)". I read somewhere that certain countries require a measurement of the actual face of the picture tube as opposed to the viewable area.

[elmwood]

*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky *
**I have seen TV’s marked, “20” Diagonal (21" in Canada)". I read somewhere that certain countries require a measurement of the actual face of the picture tube as opposed to the viewable area. **

That’s because old Canadian inches (before the country went metric, that is) are shorter than American Standard inches.

[Laughing_Lagomorph]

*Originally posted by elmwood *
**

That’s because old Canadian inches (before the country went metric, that is) are shorter than American Standard inches.
**

Which is also why people could drive further on a Canadian (Imperial) gallon than a US gallon. Those little old Canadian inches added up into shorter Canadian miles.

[Karellen]

But does anyone out there have a 21" TV that they could kindly measure for our discussion? Or a US TV of any size for that matter. I just want to know if there’s a 1 inch difference between viewable area and the “official” measuremnt, as here in Asia.

Thanks in advance…