43" Sony Bravia X800H 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV w/ HDR (2020 Model) Expired

Ok, great. So first off, I would definitely not go lower than 75" for those distances. I'm a firm believer that going bigger (within reason) if you can still maintain decent quality is much more important than getting marginal improvements in quality (in some cases that only experts would notice) for the same price difference.

So basically we're looking at 75" sets in the $1200 range, which gives us some good options (and coincidentally I was in almost the same exact situation as you at the beginning of the year - same price range, same size, same viewing distance, even the open kitchen behind the living room - haha).

The following come to mind for good all-purpose TVs, when gaming and viewing angles aren't important. I'm going roughly by current Best Buy and Costco prices, and tried to group by price.

Lower-end (~$1000)
Sony X750H - decent all around, and I'd say better than the X800H actually for your uses, due to the VA panel. One thing that jumps out at me is that the bezels are thick by today's standards which may or may not bother you a bit.
Samsung TU8000 - essentially the same as the Sony. If you can find the 2019 RU8000 it's even better. Costco has the RU9000 for $1200 but it's not significantly better.

Mid-range (~$1200)
Samsung Q60T - a little better all around than the TU8000.
Hisense H8G - Across the board better ratings than the Q60T. The downside is that apparently Hisense's quality control is poor as is their customer service. For a 75" set that's going to be a huge pain to return, I think it's something to seriously consider.
TCL 5-series (S535, the 2020 model) - I had this but returned it kept the RU8000 over it. Comparable to the H8G, probably a bit better for nighttime, a bit worse for daytime (but honestly probably not enough of a difference for you or I to notice unless they were side-by-side). Similar quality control and customer service issues but from what I've read, to a lesser extent than Hisense. Poor sound - no bass whatsoever (though it does get loud), so you'd almost certainly need external speakers. Also I found the OS to be sluggish at times, and it had problems staying connected to my network. Finally, the remote was awful. I would not use this without an external streaming device.

Higher End (~$1400)
TCL 6-series - Frequently touted as the best for the price overall. If you are ok with TCL as a brand, spending an extra $200 for this over the 5-series seems like a wise move. Haven't heard it in person but per rtings, the sound is actually pretty good.
Vizio Quantum P - Normally $1600-$1700 but I've seen sales as low as $1300 and I'd seriously consider it at that price. I ended up getting the 2019 version early this year and my only complaints are that the upscaling from 720p isn't great, and the OS is clunky. Great TV but I would recommend using with a separate streaming device also.
Vizio Quantum PX - A pretty big improvement over everything else in the list - if you can increase the budget a bit to $1500, Costco has it, and you get their great warranty. May need speakers with this too.

I'd recommend reading up on those - hopefully that limits it a bit. Rtings' compare tool is excellent: https://www.rtings.com/tv/tools/compare/tcl-6-series-r635-2020-vs-vizio-p-series-quantum-x-2020/1579... [rtings.com]

It's always really hard and frustrating to try to answer the question "is it worth it to spend $200 more to go from X to Y" but unfortunately there's no way around it. But at least this should narrow it down for you. If you already have a Roku or similar and a soundbar/spearkers, that could push you towards some of the sets where those are more necessary (like the Vizios).

Happy to answer any more questions if you've got them!

I'd say you should only consider this (even at the lower price) if you have a real need for good viewing angles (at the expense of picture quality) or plan on using this as a monitor. Otherwise there are much better options at lower prices.

RTINGS link: https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/x800h