Survery: screen size vs distance

[MDS]

I wanted to collect some information in one thread about screen size vs seating distance from those who already own a big screen TV.

1. Screen size (and type)
2. Distance to the best seat in the room
3. Do you feel that the size is correct or wish you had gone bigger or smaller?
4. Is SD programming acceptable to you with your screen size/distance combination?

My wall unit arrived and has a TV space 48" wide and 35" tall and the best seat would be straight in front of the TV about 11 feet away. The space will perfectly hold a 46" LCD but I wonder if I should just go for the 52" (even though that might require me to have a new hutch built).

 

[jake5717]

42"
about 8'
42's maybe a bit too big but I think 37" would have been too small
SD doesnt look great but isnt too bad

I guess non of this matters to you since you'll be going > 42"

 

[mike c]

I wanted to collect some information in one thread about screen size vs seating distance from those who already own a big screen TV.

1. Screen size (and type)
2. Distance to the best seat in the room
3. Do you feel that the size is correct or wish you had gone bigger or smaller?
4. Is SD programming acceptable to you with your screen size/distance combination?

My wall unit arrived and has a TV space 48" wide and 35" tall and the best seat would be straight in front of the TV about 11 feet away. The space will perfectly hold a 46" LCD but I wonder if I should just go for the 52" (even though that might require me to have a new hutch built).

I have a 40" LCD about 96" away from me. that was really really too small. (even with a ratio of just 2.something:1) with your 132" distance, I'd say the 52" is the best bet. SD DVD's for that setup was OK for me.

I currently have a 108" screen 156" away. It's not that great with SD DVD, but great for HD (I wish it was closer).

all of the above are 16:9 - so any source that's 4:3 and not expanded to widescreen would be EVEN smaller.

 

[MDS]

42"
about 8'
42's maybe a bit too big but I think 37" would have been too small
SD doesnt look great but isnt too bad

I guess non of this matters to you since you'll be going > 42"

It matters to me and thanks for replying. I'm interested in how other people feel about the ratio of screen size to distance. I already know all of the 'rules of thumb' and have spent much time looking at different sizes from different distances at stores - yet I am still on the fence as to which size to buy.

 

[avaserfi]

I wanted to collect some information in one thread about screen size vs seating distance from those who already own a big screen TV.

1. Screen size (and type)
2. Distance to the best seat in the room
3. Do you feel that the size is correct or wish you had gone bigger or smaller?
4. Is SD programming acceptable to you with your screen size/distance combination?

My wall unit arrived and has a TV space 48" wide and 35" tall and the best seat would be straight in front of the TV about 11 feet away. The space will perfectly hold a 46" LCD but I wonder if I should just go for the 52" (even though that might require me to have a new hutch built).

1. I have a sharp aquos lcd 42 inches
2. We sit about 8.5 feet from the screen
3. 46 inch would have been nicer but 42 does the job well
4. SD is pretty decent but the only SD source I have seen on it is my Wii

 

[j_garcia]

34" CRT and about 9ft. I will be swapping it out for a 1080p set sometime later this year to something in the 46" range; a LCD. SD looks just fine at this distance.

 

[mtrycrafts]

1. I have a sharp aquos lcd 42 inches
2. We sit about 8.5 feet from the screen
3. 46 inch would have been nicer but 42 does the job well
4. SD is pretty decent but the only SD source I have seen on it is my Wii

I want to buy one but smaller, 37". How do you like it?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I wanted to collect some information in one thread about screen size vs seating distance from those who already own a big screen TV.

1. Screen size (and type)
2. Distance to the best seat in the room
3. Do you feel that the size is correct or wish you had gone bigger or smaller?
4. Is SD programming acceptable to you with your screen size/distance combination?

My wall unit arrived and has a TV space 48" wide and 35" tall and the best seat would be straight in front of the TV about 11 feet away. The space will perfectly hold a 46" LCD but I wonder if I should just go for the 52" (even though that might require me to have a new hutch built).

I have a 100x54 front projection for movies, not TV.
13ft
It is the right size for the room setup
SD is up-scaled and anamorphic is acceptable. Have tested hi def 1080p, wow. Now waiting for the player.

 

[supervij]

1. 50" HDTV LCoS
2. 8' 3"
3. Watching HD, I wish I had gone bigger. Watching SD, it seems fine, for the most part. So I think it's a good compromise considering I do watch both HD and SD. But there are times when I wish I had gone 55".
4. Yes (see above).

cheers,
supervij

 

[mtrycrafts]

...But there are times when I wish I had gone 55".
cheers,
supervij

I doubt that 5" would have made enough difference.

 

[the grunt]

1. 56” (rear projection DLP)
2. 7.5 feet or 90 inches
3. Wish I had larger about 70“-75” for HD and well up-scaled SD. Perfect size/distance as a computer monitor for working but could be larger for gaming.
4. Most newer SD programming looks ok. Many older shows look mushy.

 

[BMXTRIX]

1. 50" plasma and 106" front projection (same room)
2. 14 feet to the screen.
3. The screen size is perfect for the front projector, but the plasma is going to get replaced with a 60" model for sure.
4. We only use DVD, HD, and Blu-ray on the projector. The plasma gets a regular workout for all types of programming, but there is no question that the HD cable box gets a work out on the good channels at prime time.

Yep, 50" is definitely to small.

 

[avaserfi]

I want to buy one but smaller, 37". How do you like it?

I love the thing. I got it from buydig new for 1400 shipped right when they came out. No banding, a common complain for the sharps and before I bought it I called them and asked their policy on banding. I was told that they would send a tech to my house to fix/replace the set so I wasn't out shipping the unit to them. No dead pixels at all and the picture is great especially for what I paid. I upgraded from a horrible Vizio plasma which I returned because it was junk. I use it mainly for gaming and movies as I don't have any regular tv signal coming in and it shines in both categories.

 

[Matt34]

1. 92", DIY using a untreated Do-able board from Home Depot.

2. 12-13ft

3. I did some research and ended up going a little bigger than what was recommended.

4. SD TV looks pretty bad, DVD looks really good as far as I'm concerned. Still, I'm saving for the big HD changeover.


When in doubt, always go big.

 

[MDS]

So what we have so far is the majority sit between 2 and 2.5 screen diagonals from the set and are happy with the image quality.

Matt34 is ~1.5 times, which is actually the 'recommended' distance for HD based on SMPTE guidelines, but not so great for SD.

BMXTRIX is a little over 3 times the distance from a 50" plasma and feels it may be a tad too small.

In my case, the 46" would put me at the 3x distance and the 52" would put me at 2.5x the screen diagonal. Probably should get the 52". Buyer's remorse here we come as I'll have to build a different hutch so the 52" can fit flush.

 

[The Dukester]

1) I have a 50" Pioneer plasma and a 92" front pj screen (pull down) within two inches of each other. The pj is an Optoma HD72.

2) My primo seat is 15' from screen to my eyes give or take a couple of inches.

3) Both are really too small, but the big screen is close. It's my first pj, so for I'm still in the "wow" stage, somewhat. A 100-106 incher would be just right for me, but screen choices and ceiling ht make it hard to do.

4) I generally watch reg tv on the plasma and movies and some sporting events on the pj. SD on the Pioneer looks good and HD terrific. HD on the pj looks great...and big

Bottom line is bigger is better IMHO.

 

[supervij]

MDS, I'm surprised you don't want to get a bigger unit (er, wall unit, that is) just to get a bigger HDTV. I've read many times that a good compromise between watching HD and SD on an HDTV is to sit 2 screen diagonals from the set. And I'm a case in point: on my 50-incher, at 100 inches away, HD looks incredible, but SD is still pretty good, on most channels. But of course, that's my HDTV with its SD upscaling. You'd have to look at the SD upscaling of the sets you're considering and factor that in.

Maybe a 65-incher, MDS?

cheers,
supervij

 

[supervij]

I doubt that 5" would have made enough difference.

Going from 50" to 55" would have made HD better and SD a little worse. Going from 50" to 60" would have made HD almost perfect and SD a whole lot worse! There's still a fair bit of SD I watch, so the 55" would have trumped the 60", I think.

Sigh. When the hell is EVERYTHING gonna be HD, fer Pete's sake?!

cheers,
supervij

 

[MDS]

MDS, I'm surprised you don't want to get a bigger unit (er, wall unit, that is) just to get a bigger HDTV. I've read many times that a good compromise between watching HD and SD on an HDTV is to sit 2 screen diagonals from the set. And I'm a case in point: on my 50-incher, at 100 inches away, HD looks incredible, but SD is still pretty good, on most channels. But of course, that's my HDTV with its SD upscaling. You'd have to look at the SD upscaling of the sets you're considering and factor that in.

Maybe a 65-incher, MDS?

cheers,
supervij

I only have 86" of wall and I need 20" of that for speakers on the left and right because average floorstanding speakers are 10" wide - that leaves 66" and that is what I had built. The base is 65" wide but the decorative crown molding edge adds 1.5". It's as wide as it can possibly be.

So... a 65" could fit if I did not have a hutch but that is the whole reason I went with a wall unit. I need the hutch so I have a place to put the center channel. It's too much of a pain to mount a center on the wall and would limit my choices.

I tried to compromise on the original design and have the tv area be 50" wide but let them talk me out of it because the wood they use is 48x84 and they'd have to turn it horizontally and then the grain would not match the rest of the unit. So I convinced myself that the 46" is what I probably want and it's ok to cut the area down to 48". Now I think that was a mistake because the 52" (50 1/2" wide) may be better sitting 11 feet away. The little shelving area to each side of the tv opening is only 5.5" wide and now that I see it, is pretty worthless.

I'm not against building a new one so much it's just that I waited 5 weeks for it to be built and it cost me $1300. Now one day after I get it (and it is well done and looks nice) I think I should build another one. At best I'd get half of what I paid for it if I try to sell it so that bothers me...but I want what I want.

 

[gmichael]

1. Screen size (and type) - 106" 720p projector
2. Distance to the best seat in the room - About 19 feet
3. Do you feel that the size is correct or wish you had gone bigger or smaller? - Works great!
4. Is SD programming acceptable to you with your screen size/distance combination? - Yes, it's OK. But HD is soooooooo much better.