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CES Hands On - Samsung HW-Q990F review
TV Viewing Distances
- Thread starter Dermondo
- Start date
chebby
Well-known member
I have no idea what they recommend.
We have had 32" for about the last four years and sit about 8 feet from the screen. That's fine for us.
I have seen it recommended here recently that the screen should be big enough to fill your entire field of view! (For 3D).
That would would require us to get something like an 8 - 10 feet wide TV (or projector plus screen.)
It is hard to believe - now - that we were happy with our old 22" Panasonic 4:3 CRT as recently as 4 years ago.
We have had 32" for about the last four years and sit about 8 feet from the screen. That's fine for us.
I have seen it recommended here recently that the screen should be big enough to fill your entire field of view! (For 3D).
That would would require us to get something like an 8 - 10 feet wide TV (or projector plus screen.)
It is hard to believe - now - that we were happy with our old 22" Panasonic 4:3 CRT as recently as 4 years ago.
bigboss
Moderator
Viewing distances are not critical nowadays with hi def tv's, i sit 8 feet from my 55" sony and its perfect
I sit 9ft from a 46in screen no problem.
There's more info in our 'How to get the best from your TV' video. http://www.whathifi.com/video/get-the-best-from-your-tv
There's more info in our 'How to get the best from your TV' video. http://www.whathifi.com/video/get-the-best-from-your-tv
9 feet away from a 55 inch screen!! Do you all have sky hd?! I am sure that distance would be just bearable if all you watch is hd content but if you still watch any amount of SD content (ie freesat or freeview) it will look rubbish.
bigboss
Moderator
We sit about 9 feet from a 19" screen, and the picture looks pretty good - my wife has even commented on the picture quality. I'm trying to persuade her to let us have a bigger screen but she's pretty reluctant.
My computer monitor is 22" & i sit less than two feet away from it, & my tv is 46" & i sit six feet away from it.
I wish both my computer monitor & my tv were bigger.
Don't know if thats any help.
I wish both my computer monitor & my tv were bigger.
Don't know if thats any help.
bay24 said:
nothing wrong with this Sony, very good on standard def and excellent on hi def and blu ray, and why would i want Sky its rubbish and expensive!
I think I must just still wish for a CRT like picture for all viewing. I could sit 4 foot away from my old panasonic crt and still think it looked good but i could not imagine wanting to sit anywhere near that close to the comparable sized lcd. I have never seen a SD tv broadcast on a flat screen that I would be happy watching at the viewing distances to size ratio you are watching at, I feel like people have got used to a worse picture from SD on flat screens. Obviously I have not seen all the tvs you guys have so I could be talking rubbish but In my opinion I just don't think SD can look good on a big screen that close up (especially on an LCD screen) so I would not recommend those distances for mainly SD viewing.
nobody asked for your recommendation!, im more than happy with my viewing distance and picture q.
bob.g said:
I'm sure it looks razor sharp with that size screen, and that distance, but can you actually see any detail?
chebby
Well-known member
Oh, and I'm 9ft away, watching a 50" Plasma.
SD looks very good, HD looks brilliant.
As someone said, it depends on the quality of your tv.
SD looks very good, HD looks brilliant.
As someone said, it depends on the quality of your tv.
chebby said:
yes the OP did!!, but bay24 was clearly knocking the viewing distance i put down for my 55" Sony!, hence the comment!
BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW said:
Yep, I would definitely agree with this, it is amazing how close you can sit to a Pioneer 50inch, whereas a Panasonic the further away the better lol - joke btw.
Andrew Everard said:
Thanks very much Andrew (and Chebby in a previous post) for answering in my absence. I did not intend to take a dig at anyone particularly, I could have put the size/distance of any one of the posts with large screens/small distance. I am sorry if made you feel I was attacking your choice particularly AndyS I was just expressing my opinion on viewing distances for tvs as in the title of the thread. Personally I would not want to watch SD content as close as some people do now because I think it's not good enough quality. I am yet to see a tv 40" or over that I would want to sit less than 8 feet away from for SD.
Hi guys,
sorry if i came out wrong with my last post, i use the term "knocking" loosely and it was not an attack, i do agree with the comments on some standard def content, not all of it is good but passable ( the Sony does a good job ), but mainly i bought this for HD and for Movies, so once again its me who should be apologising for bad wording!,
My viewing distance still stands!!, thanks guys!.
Andy.
sorry if i came out wrong with my last post, i use the term "knocking" loosely and it was not an attack, i do agree with the comments on some standard def content, not all of it is good but passable ( the Sony does a good job ), but mainly i bought this for HD and for Movies, so once again its me who should be apologising for bad wording!,
My viewing distance still stands!!, thanks guys!.
Andy.
As this thread shows, opinions (and kit) can differ.
The guidelines we give on viewing distances are industry recommendations - but they are just that, guidelines. Like anything in life, you can choose to follow them or go with your own preferences.
However, we strongly believe it's important that people consider - and, crucially, see - set sizes and SD/HD performance before they buy. People can all too easily end up with either too small or too large a set based on preconceptions, so the guidelines are a good starting point for pre-purchase deliberation.
The guidelines we give on viewing distances are industry recommendations - but they are just that, guidelines. Like anything in life, you can choose to follow them or go with your own preferences.
However, we strongly believe it's important that people consider - and, crucially, see - set sizes and SD/HD performance before they buy. People can all too easily end up with either too small or too large a set based on preconceptions, so the guidelines are a good starting point for pre-purchase deliberation.
andy_s said:
If I was mostly watching HD and had a wife who didn't think my 42" tv was too big I would probably want your tv! My wording could have been better too. I think what Clare suggests is very important, most new tvs will look great with HD content in a good demo room but thinking about other formats and what you will be watching on it is realy important. For me I don't get to play blurays that much and I can not justify the money on sky so I still watch alot of SD content so this is important for me. That is why I went for the smallest plasma I could get. This may be a bit controversial but I prefer the SD playback on plasma vs LCD. I think with HD content there is little of no difference in quality now though.
Depends on the quality of the set and how well it's calibrated!
Personally I sit 5ft away from my Fujitsu 50" 58 Series plasma (calibrated to ISF standards using an ISF Spider).
The combination of a panel with a high quality video processor, correctly calibrated, and fed with a decent source works wonders!
If it's correctly set up eye strain should be minimised, and image quality is a combination of intelligent picture processing of HD as well as SD to get a result that should be breath taking with HD and very acceptable with SD. Sadly most TVs I've seen in customers homes are BADLY set up and a lot of current TVs hide behind badges/specs to cover up plainly poor quality image processing.
Of course I realise that some may say I suffer from sever "square eye" (or should that be 16:9 eyed) syndrome sitting that close
Personally I sit 5ft away from my Fujitsu 50" 58 Series plasma (calibrated to ISF standards using an ISF Spider).
The combination of a panel with a high quality video processor, correctly calibrated, and fed with a decent source works wonders!
If it's correctly set up eye strain should be minimised, and image quality is a combination of intelligent picture processing of HD as well as SD to get a result that should be breath taking with HD and very acceptable with SD. Sadly most TVs I've seen in customers homes are BADLY set up and a lot of current TVs hide behind badges/specs to cover up plainly poor quality image processing.
Of course I realise that some may say I suffer from sever "square eye" (or should that be 16:9 eyed) syndrome sitting that close
bigboss
Moderator
Top tip: When checking TVs in the shop prior to purchase, stand/sit at a distance equal to your normal viewing distance at home & check DVD, blu-ray & satellite channels for 5 minutes at least. Bear in mind that satellite feeds are often shared and therefore poor in most shops. Buy what looks best to you.
That's how I chose my KRP 500A & discarded the 600A.
That's how I chose my KRP 500A & discarded the 600A.
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