[WozzaTT]

No doubt this has been discussed many times before hey-ho!

Chuffed to bits with my Sky HD installed 2 weeks ago but I now feel as though I should be sitting closer to the screen to get the full benefit.

TV is a Panasonic 42" and I sit about 10 feet from it - can't help feeling about 8 feet would be better?

What are people's thoughts, particularly those with 42" plasmas?

[Fatwaz]

with hd you have to sit closer for sure.42 inchs with a 1080 line panel you should be within 7 feet to get the full benefit or 8 feet if its a 720/768 line panel.
of course there is nothing wrong with sitting 10 feet away but the eyes cant pick out the detail if you are too far away.sit closer to yours and see what you think if youre missing anything.dont forget hd is not only about the extra detail but better pics all round(better contrast,colours picture clarity etc) due to more info being passed to the screen

[WozzaTT]

Originally Posted by Fatwaz

with hd you have to sit closer for sure.42 inchs with a 1080 line panel you should be within 7 feet to get the full benefit or 8 feet if its a 720/768 line panel.
of course there is nothing wrong with sitting 10 feet away but the eyes cant pick out the detail if you are too far away.sit closer to yours and see what you think if youre missing anything.dont forget hd is not only about the extra detail but better pics all round(better contrast,colours picture clarity etc) due to more info being passed to the screen

It's a Panny TH-42PX70B so I don't think it's as good as the very latest kit but the HD picture looks superb to me, especially 'Life'.

Deffo feel as though I should be sitting closer now - it'll give me an excuse to get it down off the wall where I've always found it to be slightly too high anyway. Eye level is at the bottom of the screen and I think it should be in the middle.

I think once it's off the wall I'll be about a foot closer to it which is better than nowt.

[Fatwaz]

gotta agree with you,i hate to watch these wall mounted tvs set too high.i like it so my eye level is level with the screens middle roughly.my friend has one on the chimney breast above a fake fireplace but sit on the sofa and watching it gives me bleedin neck ache lol

i had a px80 so i know the px70 will be giving you a good picture.a newer plasma will give you better contrast and blacks for sure though and at your distance a 720p set would be fine unless you are going to sit close enough to benefit from 1080 lines.i have the x10 now and for me and my distance its great(compared with a 1080p lcd sat next to it borrowed from a mate and i couldnt tell the differrence between 1080p and 720p)the jump from 576i to 720p is bigger than the jump from 720p to 1080p imo

[HDCriticalFan]

As a rule of thumb I always ask people what height they had their previous screen ... which they were happy with for years. Then I ask them why they have put their new plasma half way up the wall !!!

There is no doubt in my mind that, for comfortable long term viewing, you need to have you eye level with the middle of the screen (or even just above the middle). Being level with the bottom is not good ... having the screen even higher than this is madness.

You might just get away with it in a "proper" home cinema where you just watch a film for 90 minutes or so (especially if you have cinema style seats). To spend a whole evening with a TV it simply has to be lower.


I would reckon on sitting 7-8 feet from a 42 inch screen. But it depends on the material and your personal preference. Made-for-TV shows can be viewed from further away ... detailed "landscape" movies repay sitting closer.





Regards

[WozzaTT]

Originally Posted by HDCriticalFan

As a rule of thumb I always ask people what height they had their previous screen ... which they were happy with for years. Then I ask them why they have put their new plasma half way up the wall !!!

There is no doubt in my mind that, for comfortable long term viewing, you need to have you eye level with the middle of the screen (or even just above the middle). Being level with the bottom is not good ... having the screen even higher than this is madness.

You might just get away with it in a "proper" home cinema where you just watch a film for 90 minutes or so (especially if you have cinema style seats). To spend a whole evening with a TV it simply has to be lower.


I would reckon on sitting 7-8 feet from a 42 inch screen. But it depends on the material and your personal preference. Made-for-TV shows can be viewed from further away ... detailed "landscape" movies repay sitting closer.





Regards

Agree with eveything you say - the reason the TV is the height it is is because I live in a new-build where the builders had 'helpfully' put the power socket and Scart etc already built into the wall in anticipation that buyers would wall mount their TVs. Problem is they put them too high - if I were to move my TV even an inch lower down the wall the top of the sockets would become visible.

It annoyed the hell out of me first but I've sort of got used to it. However, as discussed, now I've got HD I'm tempted to get it off the wall and on a pedestal stand (which I bought and never used). It'll then be at a better height and a bit closer to me. To get 7-8 feet from it though I'd either have to move the settee away from the wall towards the TV, or have the TV away from the wall, both of which would look daft.

Of course nothing's simple in life - there's also an armchair which would have to be removed and put God knows where and the small matter of an electric fire which the TV is mounted above. I'd have to take it off the wall if the TV is to come down.

Oh well, I'll have a think. Thanks for the replies

[malwrx]

If it is any guide. I sit 9 feet away from my wall mounted Pioneer LX608 60" plasma in a TV room, not living room. I found this to be the perfect distance, particularly as SD also looks very good almost HD quality on the Pioneer.

I had always sat about the same distance with previous TV - Panasonic 36" CRT which we used for over 8 years (now relegated to living room) The Panasonic was excellent and reknowned as one of the best large CRT's and when I first put up the Pioneer I thought 9 feet may have been too close at first, but find it to be the best distance for detail, cinematic visual impact as well as normal TV watching on SD. The visable area of the Pioneer is actually three times the area of the Panasonic!

Height wise I took a lot of time to judge the best position and mounted so that the middle of the screen was level with my eyes when in seated position. This translated to the bottom of the TV frame at 0.88m above floor level and the bottom of the actual screen at 0.95 above floor level. So that could vary slightly with your furniture.

[logiciel]

As it happens the two stands in the ad that was below these posts gives a good idea of the best height.
Many stands, especially the glass ones, are much too high.