What is proper screen distance? (1 Viewer)

[Torgny Nilsson]

What, exactly, is the proper distance to sit from your screen? I have seen a lot of people say that if you have a 60 inch screen, you should sit about 90 inches away from it. I assume that calculation is based on a 60 inch diagonal screen, and not a 60 inch wide screen.

But the THX recommended distance, and the distance recommended by others, is for a screen that fills more of your view, thus requiring you to sit closer to the screen than the 1.5 calculation.

Which is right? What is the best size screen for me to get if people will be sitting between 7 and 10 feet away from the 16:9 screen? And what if I am showing a 4:3 classic movie in its orignal aspect ratio? Should I move the seats closer?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Torgny Nilsson]

Yes, I am planning on running 16:9 on a 4:3 screen. It seems to give you the best size when watching 4:3 movies and does not reduce your picture much over a 16:9 screen when you watch 16:9 movies.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

4 to 6 times image height for interlaced displays and 1 to 3 times for HD displays for HD images.

Regards

 

[Torgny Nilsson]

If I understand this correctly, I should sit 4-6 times the image height away from an LCD or DLP screen. So if the image on my screen is 3 feet high, I should sit 12-18 feet away?

 

[Ron-P]

My screen has a viewable area of 80" diagonal (6' x 3.5' roughly). My front row (which I prefer) is 9' from the screen. That's about 1.35x's the screens width or 3x's the screen's height. My back row is 12' from the screen, 1.8x's the screen's width or 4x's the screen's height.

IMO, 12' is bordering on too far, 18' would be way to far. I have a Panny 200u LCD PJ.


Peace Out~

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

The rule for HD is such that sitting further away diminishes the need for higher resolutions ...

At 1 to 3 times, you can enjoy the 1400 line detail of the HD image that your TV gives you. But at 5 times ... then you only see the detail as a 1100 line HD image would give you. So you would have wasted the money for that extra resolution ...

The numbers are arbitrary ... but you get the idea.

For progressive 480 images ... sit as close as you want but at a certain distance, you stop seeing additional details. Too close and you see the line structure ...

Regards