Question Minimum Seating Position From 106" Diagonal Screen

charles

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I have installed a 106" Grandview drop down screen prior to the delivery of a Sony VPL360 ES 4K projector.
What is the minimum distance I could sit from the screen without losing picture quality.I will be watching HD TV, BLU RAY, 4K BLU RAY.
As this is a true 4K projector will this mean that the viewing distances will be shorter?
Many Thanks
 
There are guidelines -, but at the end of the day, get the projector up and see what feels comfortable, if you are to close it will feel like watching tennis, if your to far away you wont see the benefit of the 4k.

The front row In my cinema room is 2.7metres from a 106" screen with only a 1080p projector and I don't have issues with quality. I do also have a rear row of seats which is 4m back, I much prefer the front row.
 
Seating distance is a personal thing (not everyone sits in the same place at the cinema), but Sony recommends you sit at 1.5 x the screen height back for 4K, which for a 106" diagonal 16:9 screen would be 6.5 feet back. For cinemascope movies (on a 16:9 screen) at that width that's actually fine, but at that distance screen height can be an issue for taller 16:9, especially if it's too high, and is more like being in an IMAX theatre. That's fine for IMAX but not so good for standard 16:9 stuff.

So what you could do is get the projector, project onto the wall and experiment with screen height and seating distance to see what works best for you, and then put the screen at the height you liked with the seats located where they felt most comfortable for prolonged viewing. For 16:9 stuff you may find that 2x the screen height is better, so try something like 8.7 feet back as a start and then move the seats closer or further away to see what suits. THX actually recommend 2.4 x the screen height which would be 10.4 feet back.

As you're not going to be watching 4K all the time you may want to see what HD looks like as well.

Although with 4K we can sit closer, it's possible that vertical viewing angles can start to become more of a problem than image quality issues, so having the screen at the right height (not too high) may be something to consider. A bit like having a flat panel above the fireplace and not being able to recline to see it comfortably.
 
There are guidelines -, but at the end of the day, get the projector up and see what feels comfortable, if you are to close it will feel like watching tennis, if your to far away you wont see the benefit of the 4k.

The front row In my cinema room is 2.7metres from a 106" screen with only a 1080p projector and I don't have issues with quality. I do also have a rear row of seats which is 4m back, I much prefer the front row.
Thank you for your advice
 
Thank you for your advice
Seating distance is a personal thing (not everyone sits in the same place at the cinema), but Sony recommends you sit at 1.5 x the screen height back for 4K, which for a 106" diagonal 16:9 screen would be 6.5 feet back. For cinemascope movies (on a 16:9 screen) at that width that's actually fine, but at that distance screen height can be an issue for taller 16:9, especially if it's too high, and is more like being in an IMAX theatre. That's fine for IMAX but not so good for standard 16:9 stuff.

So what you could do is get the projector, project onto the wall and experiment with screen height and seating distance to see what works best for you, and then put the screen at the height you liked with the seats located where they felt most comfortable for prolonged viewing. For 16:9 stuff you may find that 2x the screen height is better, so try something like 8.7 feet back as a start and then move the seats closer or further away to see what suits. THX actually recommend 2.4 x the screen height which would be 10.4 feet back.

As you're not going to be watching 4K all the time you may want to see what HD looks like as well.

Although with 4K we can sit closer, it's possible that vertical viewing angles can start to become more of a problem than image quality issues, so having the screen at the right height (not too high) may be something to consider. A bit like having a flat panel above the fireplace and not being able to recline to see it comfortably.
Thank you for your advice. I will experiment but it looks as though 10 feet back for HD TV upwards will be fine
 
I have never really understood the distance rule, based on the distance rule Cinemas would need to be a lot longer due to the screen size I spose we could all get tiny screens and sit closer lol.

Sit where you are happy bud its all personnel preference.

Cheers Darko
 
I have never really understood the distance rule, based on the distance rule Cinemas would need to be a lot longer due to the screen size I spose we could all get tiny screens and sit closer lol.

I'm not sure why you would think they would need to be longer. Cinemas are built following the distance rules :)

All commercial theatres are built to a spec, and the guidelines from the likes of THX, CEDIA etc ensure people can get a good viewing experience. Immersion is part of that so you don't really want to have people too far away - why have a big screen and sit so far back that it looks no bigger than your tv at home (viewing angles)? That's why THX recommends 2.4 x the screen height as an optimal location, and 3.68 x SH as the furthest recommended (back row). No seats closer than having a vertical viewing angle of greater than 35 degrees (very front row), with 15 degrees being the max recommended. Many guidelines (SMPTE, CEDIA, Fox) have 3xSH as a starting point, give or take 1 SH (so from 2xSH to 4xSH) IMAX is different again of course. What's your screen height and how far back are your eyes? You'll find you're within the guidelines :)

Designing and building a theatre is pretty much all science - if you have a look at the old THX TAP guidelines for example (Theater Alignment Program), you'll see it's quite involved and references SMPTE guidelines throughout.

The front row at my place is 2x the screen height. The second row is approx 2.9 x SH and they easily fall within the spec of any commercial theatre as do the horizontal and vertical viewing angles which are quite important to consider for comfortable viewing.

Sitting 10 feet back from a 10ft wide screen at home (2.4xSH for a 2.40:1 scope screen) would visually be the same as sitting 100 feet back from a 100ft wide screen in a commercial theatre, so the seating distance guidelines remain the same.

The problem I've seen on forums over the years is people not realising how close they actually sit in a commercial cinema, and often say they'd be moving their head a lot if they sat too close, which is quite far from the truth given how wide our binocular vision is (approx 120 degrees horizontally). People sitting too far compared to a commercial theatre when at home was more often the case than not, and one of the CEDIA guidelines (though not limited to them) was to go with a client to a commercial theatre and see where they preferred to sit, and then replicate that in their home cinema.

HTH.
 

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