[HolmesCo]

I hadn't thought about this until reading a recent post on another thread. I have a 50inch now, but considering upgrading to the Sammy 61inch, 10,000:1 contrast set.

Is there some focal length minimum I s/b at in the sofa? Perhaps if the room is not big enuf, its a waste of money to buy a bigger screen?

My distance, which cannot be increased, from TV center screen to my eyes on the sofa is 9ft, and the center of the screen is just about dead on with center where I sit.

Is this distnace signficant, or a non issue? Never really stopped to think about it. My 50in RCA looks great, but I am the type alwyas looking for better. Its a sickness.
Don't like the loud whirring sound this rca makes either.

Thanks for any advice you gurus out there might have. I live alone, so no wife or kids and other seating postiions to think about for the most part, except when company comes.

 

[Earl Bonovich]

That most definently is a question for the folks over at www.avsforums.com

I would most likely say at least 10ft

 

[Mixer]

I have a 65" Mits and I sit 12 feet away from it and it looks great. With the Hr20 (see it's on topic :lol: ) and HD programming it looks good even at about 6-9 feet away.

Bring a chair to the store and see how it looks from 9 feet away

I hadn't thought about this until reading a recent post on another thread. I have a 50inch now, but considering upgrading to the Sammy 61inch, 10,000:1 contrast set.

Is there some focal length minimum I s/b at in the sofa? Perhaps if the room is not big enuf, its a waste of money to buy a bigger screen?

My distance, which cannot be increased, from TV center screen to my eyes on the sofa is 9ft, and the center of the screen is just about dead on with center where I sit.

Is this distnace signficant, or a non issue? Never really stopped to think about it. My 50in RCA looks great, but I am the type alwyas looking for better. Its a sickness.
Don't like the loud whirring sound this rca makes either.

Thanks for any advice you gurus out there might have. I live alone, so no wife or kids and other seating postiions to think about for the most part, except when company comes.

 

[rsblaski]

There are various places that give a chart on screen size/viewing distance. Crutchfield has one at

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-Q118k0nPw3N/learningcenter/home/tv_faq.html#viewing_chart

Good luck,
Rick

btw, you could go larger. I watch my 73" Mits DLP at about 9 ft. with no problem.
My signature is not only true, it is good advice.

 

[deebeeeff]

I have sold electronics off and on for many years. One of the first things I learned is that, if you want true theater experience, you should be just close enough (or far enough) so that you HAVE TO MOVE your eyes to take in the whole screen.
FWIW

 

[Starrbuck]

I'm at about 8' with a 65" 1080p picture and it looks great. Any closer would be too close.

 

[HolmesCo]

I have a 65" Mits and I sit 12 feet away from it and it looks great. With the Hr20 (see it's on topic :lol: ) and HD programming it looks good even at about 6-9 feet away.

Bring a chair to the store and see how it looks from 9 feet away

Yes viewing with my HR20 of course, an on topic topic. Thanks for the advice, it looks like all will be fine, based on your guys experiences. And I fit in fine in that crutchfield chart. Anybody want to buy a Scenium?

 

[tonycrf]

I have a 60" Pioneer Elite Plasma and my couch is 17 feet away. It's awesome at that distance. I stood about 9 feet away and it's definitely a bit close for such a big TV.

 

[bwaldron]

Yes, there is definitely a relationship between screen size and optimal viewing distance.

One fly in the ointment is that if you set things up so that you're sitting at the recommended optimal distance for HD material, you'll tend to very much notice the compression flaws in any D* SD material you watch.

 

[hasan]

Yes viewing with my HR20 of course, an on topic topic. Thanks for the advice, it looks like all will be fine, based on your guys experiences. And I fit in fine in that crutchfield chart. Anybody want to buy a Scenium?

Two rules:

1. Consumers almost always think the TV is bigger than they need. Within a month, they regret not going up one more size.

2. If you sit too close, SD is going to look like crap....I mean REAL crap. So unless you only watch HD content, you are going to have to find a happy compromise. The larger the TV the worse SD will look.

I have a 56" and I'm about 14 feet from it. At that distance, HD is stunning and SD is watchable. If I cut the distance to less than 10', SD is virtually unwatchable.

 

[Mike D-CO5]

I have a 57 " hdtv and I sit about 12' from the tv and both hd and sd look good.

 

[thumperr]

I bought a 62" mitsu last year for the superbowl, and sit about 12' from the TV. i had a problem were i felt i was always moving my eyes from side to side scaning the tv, it was very annoying. and SD looked bad, not just D* but from OTA also. so we downsized to a 52" mitsu, and i'm much happier. I'm the only person i know that downsized a tv...though the new 57" mitsu might be a nice comprimise.

I thought this site
http://www.cavecreations.com/tv2.cgi
was nice. I had a 36" tv, the site shows how going from a 36" 4:3 TV to a 62" 16:9 TV for a show like the simpsons increases the size, nearly ~100%. this is why SD can look so poorly.

 

[hdfan01]

I hadn't thought about this until reading a recent post on another thread. I have a 50inch now, but considering upgrading to the Sammy 61inch, 10,000:1 contrast set.

Is there some focal length minimum I s/b at in the sofa? Perhaps if the room is not big enuf, its a waste of money to buy a bigger screen?

My distance, which cannot be increased, from TV center screen to my eyes on the sofa is 9ft, and the center of the screen is just about dead on with center where I sit.

Is this distnace signficant, or a non issue? Never really stopped to think about it. My 50in RCA looks great, but I am the type alwyas looking for better. Its a sickness.
Don't like the loud whirring sound this rca makes either.

Thanks for any advice you gurus out there might have. I live alone, so no wife or kids and other seating postiions to think about for the most part, except when company comes.

I'd put the money into a 50-52 high end plasma. I think you'll be scanning with a lot of eye movement. 9 feet is really close for that big screen, plus too close reveals a far less sharp picture. FWIW

 

[haggis444]

I went from a 57" RPTV (1080i) to a 47" LCD (1080p). Other than the obvious upgrade in base technology, the only reason I got a 1080p TV is because I bought a PS3 and it would have killed me knowing that I had a 1080p game and only a 720p TV. I sit about 8' from it and probably couldn't tell 720p vs 1080p, and I have not regretted once downgrading the size in favor of the much improved quality. Check this link out:

http://www.carltonbale.com/blog/2006/11/1080p-does-matter/