HD, not impressed

[Mark.]

surfymark said:

What are the recommended distances are rather how do you work them out? Is there a site you can point me to?

I found this useful when getting our set

[Trustmeimadoctor]

this is the thx specs they are the more extreme end but they do know what they are talking about (usually)

http://www.thx.com/consumer/home-entertainment/hom...

[cjs]

surfymark said:

What are the recommended distances are rather how do you work them out? Is there a site you can point me to?

I currently have a 42" but am thinking of upgrading to a 50" so the distance we should sit would be useful. We probably currently sit about 8' away (would need to measure) and the set currently looks quite small!!

cheers
M

There are two things to take into consideration, noticeable screen resolution is one, as per the graph in the post above.

Just as important to me is being able to see the whole screen in you field of vision, without having to move you eyes or even you head to see the whole screen. That's why I always recommend sitting 2 times the screen width back. Especially if you're watch TV programme content.

[surfymark]

Thanks for this.

So for my 42" screen in 1080p, according to the graph I should be sitting about just over 5' away and for a 50" it should be about 7'.

THX is not far different, so 7.5' for a 50".

And cjs is recommending 100" which is about 8.3'.

Time to get measuring I think!

cheers
M

[eybic]

I'm sure I used something like this when buying my TV: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&...

[Trustmeimadoctor]

tbh the distance alot of people sit in your average living room would mean everyone would be rocking projectors but they arnt so make of that what you will

[Silver Smudger]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

tbh the distance a lot of people sit in your average living room would mean everyone would be rocking projectors but they aren't so make of that what you will

They have been told that they need 1080 HD and believe it, when it will actually make very little difference with a realistic-sized TV in a normal living room. Power of effective marketing.

I saw 1080HD for the first time on a 50" screen at a friend's house - I thought it looked great if I sat on the floor in front of the TV, but could not see much to shout about from the normal viewing position on the sofa. (Friend was ex-BBC studio engineer, so it was set up properly!)

At home I now have a Sony BluRay player (and SkyHD box) feeding a 720 projector and a 90" screen and, in line with the chart above, sitting about 15 feet away 720 is nice but 1080 would probably not add much to my experience.

I really don't see the need for 1080 on a normal telly.

[V8covin]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

your sitting twice as far away as the max recommended thx viewing distance to see the benefits of hd

obviously you dont need to sit the recommended 3.5' - 5' but it would help you see the difference

living rooms are for living in not just watching the telly.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

i agree totally thats why you build home cinemas

[Fort Jefferson]

I just can't believe how close these graphs say you should sit to the TV.

We have a 32" and I sit 13 feet away from it.

[Silver Smudger]

Fort Jefferson said:

I just can't believe how close these graphs say you should sit to the TV.

We have a 32" and I sit 13 feet away from it.

You can watch it just fine, but you wouldn't notice if it had HD on it.

[Silver Smudger]

V8covin said:

living rooms are for living in not just watching the telly.

Trustmeimadoctor said:

i agree totally thats why you build home cinemas

Drop down screens are cool for a best-of-both type room, when it's away there is no big screen dominating the room. My modest set-up...

Living room -




Home cinema -



(the Sony CRT is gone now)

[Trustmeimadoctor]

nice but it looks like you live in a shoe box i take it thats a garage conversion

[Kermit power]

Fort Jefferson said:

I just can't believe how close these graphs say you should sit to the TV.

We have a 32" and I sit 13 feet away from it.

It is bloody ridiculous, isn't it!

If you applied that to the average telly when I was growing up in the Seventies, only one person would've been able to watch at a time!

[surfymark]

Fort Jefferson said:

I just can't believe how close these graphs say you should sit to the TV.

We have a 32" and I sit 13 feet away from it.

Me too! Measured mine last night finally and realised that we sit exactly 10' from our 42" screen.

No wonder I am straining to read subtitles etc!

So I think it may be time to upgrade! According to the graph for 1080p, my ideal screen size is 75"!! However it starts to become noticeable at about 55". So I think I will look for a 50" or 55" (don't think I will get anything bigger past the wife!)

cheers!
Mark

[Kermit power]

surfymark said:

Me too! Measured mine last night finally and realised that we sit exactly 10' from our 42" screen.

No wonder I am straining to read subtitles etc!

I fear that's more about your eyes than your screen!

We sit 16' from a 50" screen, and text is perfectly legible down to the about size of where it says "WORLD CUP" in the on screen logo of the RWC coverage. Standard subtitles couldn't be clearer.

[surfymark]

Kermit power said:

I fear that's more about your eyes than your screen!

We sit 16' from a 50" screen, and text is perfectly legible down to the about size of where it says "WORLD CUP" in the on screen logo of the RWC coverage. Standard subtitles couldn't be clearer.

I doubt it is down to my eyes really. I had them lasered a few years ago and have very regular checks on them. Last check was only a couple of months ago and I still had better than 20/20 vision then.

I think it may be more down the font and the placement of the subtitles. Logos seem much easier to read to me even at that distance whereas subtitles etc not so easy. They were much easier to read when we sat closer.

Anyway, let's not mention any of that to the wife. She has much worse eyesight than me and as much as she doesn't want a bigger TV than we have, she has to admit that a bigger one would be easier for her to watch! Plus I pay a fortune for Sky HD and I want to get the best picture I can frankly!

M

[Kermit power]

Hmm... Maybe something to do with the screen settings? In all seriousness, my wife is partially sighted, and one of the absolute delights of getting a 50" screen is that she no longer needs me to read the subtitles out to her.

The old screen was a 32" CRT. Even that was at 14', and again I never had any problem comfortably reading the subtitles. If you're struggling to read them at 10' from a 42" screen and your eyesight is good, then there has to be something wrong with the way you've got the screen set up IMO.

[Super Slo Mo]

Silver Smudger said:

Fort Jefferson said:

I just can't believe how close these graphs say you should sit to the TV.

We have a 32" and I sit 13 feet away from it.

You can watch it just fine, but you wouldn't notice if it had HD on it.

I'm not so sure I would necessarily agree with that, but I suspect that when you're looking at compression artefacts all day long, you can spot tiny detail differences that the general lay person cannot.

If you know what you're looking for, you can spot the differences between SD and HD on a 13" CRT monitor (admittedly, a Grade One Sony costing a heck of a lot more than a 50" Plasma), from 8 feet away. Of course, the closer you get, the more apparent the differences become, which is the point of the idealised viewing distances I suspect.

In fact, I've just recently gone from Analogue terrestrial to SD Digital on fibre at home, and am disappointed to see that the picture quality is worse. Ok, Analogue would be subject to noise on occasion, but the SD digital picture is very heavily compressed, which is noticeable, if not particularly obvious, at a good 10 feet away on a 24" CRT.

[davido140]

Mark. said:

I found this useful when getting our set

Help, am I reading that chart incorrectly?

I thought you should sit FURTHER away from larger HD screen, I'm sure I've heard 8ft for 42" here, yet that chart is saying some very close distances.

Confused.....