How to Choose a TV Stand: Size, Height and Decoder Fit

Last updated: July 2026

Most people choose a TV stand by looking at it. Then the television overhangs the edges, the decoder overheats behind a closed door, and the remote stops working through the cabinet.

Getting this right takes three measurements and one thing almost every guide ignores: the equipment that lives underneath. If a DStv, GOtv, or StarTimes decoder sits in that cabinet, the stand has to work around it.

Start With the Width, and Use the Actual Number

Televisions are measured diagonally, corner to corner. Stands are measured horizontally. Confusing the two is the single most common buying mistake.

To find your television’s real width, multiply the screen size by 0.87. A 55 inch television is roughly 122cm wide. A 65 inch is about 144cm. A 75 inch reaches 167cm. An 80 inch measures around 177cm.

That last figure matters. You will see guides claiming a 160cm stand handles an 80 inch television. It does not. The screen would hang over both edges.

How much wider should the stand be?

Aim for the stand to extend 8 to 15cm beyond the television on each side. That means the stand should be roughly 15 to 30cm wider overall.

So a 55 inch television wants a stand of about 137 to 152cm. A 65 inch wants 160 to 175cm. A 75 inch needs 183cm or more.

This is not only about looks. A wider base spreads the weight and reduces the risk of tipping, which matters enormously in a house with children. It also leaves room for a soundbar, a console, or a decoder to sit beside rather than behind the screen.

A television that overhangs its stand looks precarious because it is.

Then Get the Height Right

The centre of the screen should sit at your eye level when you are seated. Too high and you spend every film with your neck tilted back.

Work it out rather than guess. Sit on the sofa you actually watch from and measure the height from the floor to your eyes. For most people this lands between 102 and 107cm.

Then find half your television’s height. Screen height is roughly the diagonal multiplied by 0.49. A 65 inch screen stands about 81cm tall, so half is around 40cm.

Subtract one from the other. If your eyes sit at 105cm and half your screen height is 40cm, the top of your stand should be around 65cm from the floor.

Larger screens need lower stands, which is the opposite of what most people assume. Many stands sold today are taller than modern flat panels need, a leftover from the era of deep box televisions.

Do Not Ignore the Depth

Depth gets the least attention and causes the most frustration.

Your television’s feet or central base must sit fully on the surface with room to spare. Beyond that, you need clearance behind the stand for plugs, cables, and connectors.

This is where decoder owners get caught out. A satellite or aerial cable screws into the back of the decoder with an F connector that projects straight out. Coaxial cable also performs badly when bent sharply, so it needs a gentle curve rather than a right angle against a wall.

Leave at least 8 to 10cm between the back of the stand and the wall. A stand pushed flush against plaster will kink your coaxial cable, and a kinked cable loses signal quietly over months. Our guide on installing a DStv satellite dish covers why cable routing matters as much as the dish itself.

For depth itself, 40 to 50cm suits most setups. Go toward the upper end if you stack a decoder, a games console, and a soundbar.

Check the Weight Rating Before You Buy

Televisions have grown lighter, but everything around them has not.

A 65 inch screen weighs roughly 20 to 25kg on its own. Add a soundbar, a decoder, a console, and a surge protector, and you clear 35kg comfortably.

Look for a stand rated to at least one and a half times your television’s weight, and preferably double. Manufacturers publish this figure, though cheaper stands bury it.

The material matters more than the finish

Particleboard and MDF stands typically rate for far less weight than they appear to, and they sag visibly under sustained load within two or three years. The dip in the middle shelf is the tell.

Solid wood carries several times more without deflecting. In Nigerian conditions there is a second reason to prefer it. Particleboard swells and delaminates in humidity, particularly during the rainy season, and once the edges lift there is no repairing them.

If you do buy solid wood, ask what treatment it has had. Untreated softwood attracts termites, and a stand is not something you want to discover has been hollowed out.

Tempered glass looks light and suits small rooms, but check the rated capacity rather than assuming. Glass also shows every fingerprint and needs mats under drinks.

What Decoder Owners Must Check

This is the part furniture guides never cover, and it is the part that determines whether your equipment survives.

Ventilation

Decoders run warm. Shut one inside a closed cabinet with no airflow and the trapped heat shortens its life considerably. Overheating is a quiet cause of decoders failing early and behaving strangely long before they die.

Choose a stand with open shelving, ventilation holes, or a cut-away back panel. If the cabinet has solid doors, leave them open while watching. Our guide on installing a GOtv decoder explains why placement affects reliability as much as the installation itself.

Infrared line of sight

Your remote talks to the decoder using infrared light. Infrared cannot pass through solid wood or opaque panels.

If you want the decoder hidden behind doors, those doors must be slatted, meshed, or made from infrared-transparent smoked acrylic. Clear glass generally lets the signal through. Solid timber does not, and you will find yourself opening the cabinet every time you change channel.

Cable routing

Look for purpose-cut cable holes in the back panel rather than an open void. An open shelf leaves coaxial and HDMI cables trailing visibly, and it offers nothing to secure them to.

Count what needs a route: coaxial from the dish or aerial, HDMI to the television, power for the decoder, power for the television, and the surge protector everything plugs into.

Somewhere for the surge protector

Given how much damage a voltage spike does to a decoder, a surge protector is not optional. It needs a shelf or a floor space behind the stand, not a tangle under the sofa. Factor it into the depth you leave behind the unit.

Anchor It

A large television on a stand is top heavy. Anti-tip straps anchor the stand to the wall behind it, the television to the stand, or both.

Most stands ship with them. Most people never fit them. It takes ten minutes and it is the single most effective thing you can do to prevent a serious accident, particularly with young children who use furniture to climb.

Wall Mounting Instead

Mounting the television on the wall solves the width problem entirely and frees floor space in a small room.

It does not remove the need for furniture. The decoder, the surge protector, and the soundbar still need somewhere to live, so you will want a low console beneath. The same rules apply to that console: ventilation, infrared access, cable routes, and clearance behind.

Apply the height rule to the mount rather than the stand. The centre of the screen still belongs at seated eye level, which usually places the bottom edge of the television slightly above the console top.

A Simple Order to Follow

Measure your television’s actual width, not its diagonal. Add 15 to 30cm and that is your minimum stand width. Measure your seated eye level, subtract half the screen height, and that is your stand height.

Then check three things the shop will not mention. Can air reach the decoder? Will the remote work with the doors closed? Is there room behind for the coaxial cable to curve rather than kink?

Get those right and the stand will serve you for years. Get them wrong and you will replace a decoder long before you replace the furniture. For a deeper technical breakdown of stand weight ratings and how particleboard behaves under load over time, furniture maker Walnutry publishes a detailed media console sizing guide with the underlying numbers.

Frenzy valentine

Frenzy valentine is a passionate blogger, developer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and author of myfreshgists.com.