Viewing distance - yes another thread

n00b

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Hi all,

I'm getting an lcd tv and will be sitting about 2.2m away. Now at first I was thinking a 32" set would be perfect (about an 18 degree viewing angle), but now I'm not so sure and am seriously considering going for 40" (23 degree viewing angle).
Is 23 degrees too much? I have read that the max recommended is 15-20.
Am I going to regret going for 40"? Ie. is 2.2m too close for 40"?

Thanks for any replies, just want to confirm before i set it all up and then think "damn i should have got the 40".
 
Its a little close for a 40"!!Its better to take a 32",but I keep an open window for a 37".Maybe the 37" is good.
 
It is very close for a 40" - DVD may be OK and HD fine but SDTV willlook awful. I sit ~3m from a 42" and digital SDTV (apart from BBC) is pretty bad but I am not too bothered cos I bought it for watching DVDs.
 
Depends what your watching,HD matriel will be good whatever the screen size,but if its just for SD id stick to 32" for viewing distance.
 
Depends what your watching,HD matriel will be good whatever the screen size,but if its just for SD id stick to 32" for viewing distance.

sd stuff, xbox 360 and hd movies too.
 
I'm 2M from a 40", looks great. Don't watch freeview TV though. If you get a 32" you'll regret it when watching 2:35 films.
 
ive got the same dilemma, i want an lcd tv for my bedroom and will be about 9-10ft away from it, i dont know whether to get a 32 inch tv or 37 inch tv.

looked at the toshiba 32 inch 3030c version, but the 37 inch version didnt look much bigger.
also saw the 'X' version of the tosh 37 inch available for £799.
so dont know whether to go for full hd and then rebuy dvds for it or keep the standard ones i have and just buy a 32 inch tosh.

any thoughts?
 
so dont know whether to go for full hd and then rebuy dvds for it or keep the standard ones

Scaling DVD-Video's look much better on a 1080p than you would think, as long as high bitrate.

I wouldn't rebuy films you've got already, or if you do only for your very favourite films.
 
I'm 2M from a 40", looks great. Don't watch freeview TV though. If you get a 32" you'll regret it when watching 2:35 films.

Its ok I don't intend to watch freeview. I just read another forum and they are of the opinion you are, there are guys on there who watch 50" screens from 2.5m! So looks like its not that huge an issue afterall.
 
hi i think all this crap about viewing distances is balonely :rotfl:

ok heres what i did

32 inch hitachi hooked up to - xbox 360,wii,ps3,upscaling samsung dvd player,htpc,dvd recorder

37 inch samsung r78 hooked up to -xbox 360,wii,ps3,upscaling samsung dvd player,htpc,dvd recorder

40 inch samsung r88 hooked up to -
xbox 360,wii,ps3,upscaling samsung dvd player,htpc,dvd recorder

40 inch samsung lem hooked up to -xbox 360,wii,ps3,upscaling samsung dvd player,htpc,dvd recorder

i sit a couple of feet away from the tv and it has to have a good viewing angle

my 40 lem actually is giving me a better picture than the hitachi i had
 
oops forgot to say i dont watch freeview but sky plus on a good scart cable looks superb :thumbsup:
 
hi i think all this crap about viewing distances is balonely

You need to sit at least 150' away from a 7" portable TV. :rotfl:
 
oh badbob according to the graphs its 149 away from a 6" screen
 
I'm sat approx 8ft from my 42" and to be honest I think it's a bit close, with SD material at least. Thinking maybe a 37" screen would have been better
 
i sit a couple of feet away from the tv and it has to have a good viewing angle

Is that including the 42? How can you focus your eyes or stop your head from moving sideways? Also, expect your eyesight to suffer.

I am very happy with 32" at 9 feet.
 
Is 23 degrees too much?

Calculator here: (I used 2.2m = 7.2')
http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html
THX recommendations suggest that you would be sitting twice as far back as their recommended optimum for your 32" screen size!

THX site home theatre tips:
http://www.thx.com/home/setup/display.html
THX cinema certification guidelines:
http://www.thx.com/cinema/builtTHX/screen.html

Note that there is no talk of resolution here.

My 2 cents opinion:
A lot of rubbish gets talked about viewing angles & optimum screen size. You should go with whatever you feel comfortable using. These THX (or others) recommendations are just that, recommendations. They only become rules if you want your cinema certified to a standard. What is the view angle in an IMAX theatre? What about IMAX dome where the screen wraps around? Would it meet THX standards?

You need to be able to see clearly, whilst sitting far enough back to not be overwhelmed. You may also want to sit far enough back to eliminate any resolution related jaggies, scaling or deintelacing artifacts, screen door effects etc that you find annoying.

My PC doesn't have image artifacts that I need worry about, and 21" 4:3 is fine at <=0.6m & >44&#176; view angle. Using the same viewing arc the screen could be 42" (4:3) at <=1.2m. Not sure I'd want that though...


Also, expect your eyesight to suffer.

Where do you get that from? Got any links to opticians advice or anything like that? Seriously - I am looking at large screens for PC gaming & I'd like to look into that more. I would've thought the opposite is true - sitting to far may give you eye strain...
 
which is in the distance ideal for one 46 " full hd?
 
Calculator here: (I used 2.2m = 7.2')
http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html
THX recommendations suggest that you would be sitting twice as far back as their recommended optimum for your 32" screen size!

Yep this is one of the caculators i used too. THX says maximum viewing distance for 32" is 5ft, thats less not more :p Recommended is to view from 3.6ft.

which is in the distance ideal for one 46 " full hd?

Perhaps this will help. At full 1080p you don't want to be further than 6 or 7 feet from the screen. Although I doubt you'll be watching full hd all the time.

I think a lot of this has to do with the technology used. For example I can never see the pixel structure on a dlp from a few inches away whereas other technologies such as plasma show the pixel structure from the same distance.
 
That calculator is crazy!

It's telling me that from 8 foot, the ideal screen size for viewing THX stuff is 72inch. That's 6 foot :eek:
 
Is that including the 42? How can you focus your eyes or stop your head from moving sideways? Also, expect your eyesight to suffer.

I am very happy with 32" at 9 feet.

Does your head move sideways when sitting in the middle or back rows of a cinema? That viewing angle is far greater than anything you have at home. In fact I'd say its easier on the eyes since you don't have to strain them to see small detail.
 
That calculator is crazy!

It's telling me that from 8 foot, the ideal screen size for viewing THX stuff is 72inch. That's 6 foot :eek:

Yeah, THX distance calculation is based on high quality video. Take the cinema viewing angle example.
 
But you can't get much more high quality than a 1080p blu-ray. That's what I am using, so if I want to get the full benefit, i'm gonna have to remortgage the house for a new box :D
 
But you can't get much more high quality than a 1080p blu-ray. That's what I am using, so if I want to get the full benefit, i'm gonna have to remortgage the house for a new box :D

Or just sit closer?
 

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