When it comes to screen size vs. distance and whether or not an operational buzz is going to bother you - it's very much a person by person thing. Myself, I like a really big screen, so I wouldn't personally be happy with 50" from 8 feet. But there are probably more people out there who find my preference for 60" at 7.5 feet (actually, exactly 7.6 feet - I measured
) to be too big, so it's very much a personal preference thing.
If you know that your distance from eyes to screen is going to be 8 feet, the simple thing to do is to go to any store, bring along a tape measure, stand exactly 8 feet from eyes to screen and decide what screen size looks best to you at that distance.
Just for reference, my 7.6 foot distance from a 60" screen gives me almost exactly a 32 degree field of view, which is literally right on the edge of where maximum detail can be gleaned from a 1080p resolution display before individual pixels potentially become visible.
SMPTE recommends a 30 degree field of view, which would equate to a 6.78 foot viewing distance from a 50" screen.
At 8 feet, a 50" screen will give you a 25.6 degree field of view, which is on the smaller range of the generally accepted 24-32 degree field of view range where most people think HDTV looks best.
Then again, we must consider that the 1150 is a 1366 x 768 resolution display. If you wish to glean maximum detail from that resolution, but be far enough away that there is no possibility of seeing individual pixels, then you would actually be aiming for a 22.76 degree field of view. This assumes that you have "perfect" 20/20 vision and each of the 1366 pixels going across the screen occupies exactly one arc minute of your visual field. With "perfect" human vision, we can discern two points as being separate and distinct if they are separated by one arc minute (1/60th of a degree) of distance. So basically, imagine that we put up a test pattern with a white line that is exactly one pixel wide from top to bottom. Right next to that, we put a black line that is exactly one pixel wide. And right next to that, we put another white line that is exactly one pixel wide. If we want to be able to see these lines clearly, and not just have our vision "mash" them together into a grey field, each line needs to be at least one arc minute in width. Therefore, each pixel needs to be one arc minute in width - make sense?
So a 1366 x 768 resolution display will offer maximum detail if it occupies a 22.76 degree field of view. That would equate to a distance of exactly 9 feet from a 50" screen.
So bottom line is that an 8 foot distance is likely just fine for the 1150. There's a slight chance that you might be able to make out individual pixels with certain images, but it isn't highly likely. You'd be more or less in the "sweet spot" range for desireable HDTV image size. You'd be able to make out the maximum detail that a 1366 x 768 resolution display can offer.
Personally, I'd like an even bigger display and the 1080p resolution to go along with it, but that is MY preference and doesn't necessarily mean anything to anyone else.
Do still have a listen to the display to figure out if the operational buzz might bother you. As CypherMax said, it doesn't bother him. I'm extremely picky, my room is very quiet and I sit closer, so the buzz DOES bother me. But, like I said, I still put up with it because no other display LOOKS as good as the Pioneer plasmas.
Best of luck in your decision!
