In my house there is a 42'inch panasonic viera and it is no overkill.there is also a 32'inch lg lcd tv which fits nicely too but in a smaller room.I have no idea of what the viewing distance is but i think it is not too much.according to your budget you can go with samsung,lg,panasonic, whichever pleases you.i dont have any relaibility issues with mine TV's and i will tell the model number if interested.the LG model i have provides the Pen drive option and i have succeeded in playing mkv's and many other formats though not in hd yet.both my TV's are HDTV's and on the bigger one the quality of the sd channels is certainly not upto par,although i watch some HD channels too as i have airtel HD connection.