I'm considering purchasing either a 32 or 36 inch CRT television. Can anybody tell me the minimum viewing distance for each. I don't want a telly that's too big for the room.

Thanks in Anticipation!

[roman-r]

I move my seete nearer the TV when watching movies to about 6-7 ft away from my 36" CRT.

I think I read once that the height of the picture should be 3 to 4 times the distance from your eye - sounds about right but my memory does often fail me

Note, that's the height of the "picture" so if you watch mainly 2.35 aspect ratio movies then that should be taken into consideration

Thanks for that roman-r. Do you notice any pixelation or smearing at that distance tho'? I was considering the Sony KV-36HQ100B or Panny, Tosh equivalent. However i'm concerned about the 100hz problems with smearing etc and am wondering whether at this stage of AV technology to just get a cheap 32'' CRT. Decisions decisions!

[roman-r]

I'm considering changing my 36" CRT but if I didn't have one at present I wouldn't hesitiate with is one.

http://www.totaldigital.biz/product_...oducts_id/1228

Absolute bargain at CRT prices that we are currently used to. If you want internal surround sound processing - prefering not to use external amp which is by far the best option - they also have the DD version. I've never used this website so can't vouch for them.

Must admit my Panny TX36PF10 has digital problems like smearing, vapour and green tinge and when I first watched it I thought it was a definate drop in quality against my Toshiba 33" 4:3 CRT as it was less detailed - model 3357DB. However the reality is if I'm blowing the picture up from 74cm to 86cm using the same amout of pixels - standard PAL - it has to do that.

I used to be able to say DVDs using my 33" Tosh in 16:9 mode which is 74cm diaginal in this mode - 2cm short of a 32" 16:9 TV - was like looking at photos in a glossy magazine a magnificently rich detailed picture without grain.

It obvióusly depends on the source as a well made DVD still looks magnificent on my 36" panny but an average print starts to show grain in less bright scenes - such a DVD disc shouldn't be allowed in this day an age

My 33" had flicker and had an overall tinge of red during darker scenes - my panny is on the slight side of green in similar circumstances. Was oblivious to the terms Vapour and Smearing as my 33" TV didn't have any as it had little if no digital processing to do.

However one gets used to the characteristics - some would be harsher and call them faults - a TV has and when I went back briefly to my old Tosh before selling it I found I had now prefered my 36inch Panny as it was able to remove flicker; has a lovely flat screen with very little light reflection - which I could easily remove by closing curtains and I had grown to prefer green tinge to red

A big picture provides more involvement into the movie and I think a 74cm screen is too small to watch 2:35 aspect movies as I would need to get really close which would then have a knock on effect to my DD/DTS sound.

If I was happy with NICAM stereo and would rarely watch TV with more than just my wife I would be very tempted with a 32" telly at about a 4ft viewing distance or even on my own with a 28" at 3ft but sound and family comes with the package so 36" is my prefered option

IMHO Plasmas at the kind of viewing distamce I require ( 3 to 4 times height = distance ) will show in my opinion much more grain and digital artifacts - especially from Freeview or analogue TV - so is not an option for me until HD DVD is available as that would be worth the sacrafice

Hope this helped