HDTV Forum

what is the best viewing distance for a 65 inch widwscreen tv. I have 12 ft distance from couch to tv and think it's great my wife thinks we bought too big a tv for the room the room is about 19 ft minus 3 ft for couch and 3 ft for tv roughly so 12 -13 viewing distance

Gary

Great.

You have plenty of room for the TV. Many people use 3 x the picture height and this would put you even closer for HDTV. When watching non-HDTV the picture will look better further back, but with HD you can get to within 6 or 7 feet and really be part of the movie, etc. I'm at nine feet with a 53" 16x9 and could be closer or I could easily have a 65" with no problem when viewing HD.

Hugh

16:9 displays viewing 1920X1080 for a CVD of 3.2. Add roughly one foot on smaller sizes or two feet on larger sizes for a CVD of 4.0. (CVD = critical viewing distance)

70" = 110"
65" = 102"
60" = 94"
55" = 86"
50" = 78"
40" = 63"
34" = 53"


Richard F. Fisher

For those who wish to understand where these viewing distances come from, its been almost a decade since Dale wrote

These distances are assuming high quality HD video. For lower quality DVD and especially NTSC 480i, you need to increase the distances quite a bit up to 2x for low quality video.

Thumper

Thumper,

Agree. Viewing a low quality image at close range is not my idea of a "...very heightened experience of reality."

ToddK

What I find interesting out in the field is that most consumers are not watching their HDTV at the critical viewing distance. There is nothing wrong with this yet these very seem people seem to be all wrapped into quality pictures and high resolution as if they were videophiles. The fact is if you aren't going to follow CVD then you also won't be able to see why you spent all that money and time doing research. As an example there is no difference between FOX extended definition and true high definition programs if you are using a CVD of 6-8. You are too far away to evaluate resolution. Another thing you will notice if you follow CVD is that few fixed pixel displays can pass this test but change the CVD to 5 or greater and the pixels disappear.

The point is if you aren't going to follow CVD then life just became very easy and you can choose a display based on your personal needs and preferences and forget about all this hi-tech talk and videophile madness. Color temperature and tracking still matter so an ISF calibration is worthy of consideration.

Richard F. Fisher

See:
http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/ ... chor_13194

Calculates minimum and maximum recommended distances
based on THX and SMPTE Engineering Guidelines.

ToddK

Isn't that right up there with developing a standard for the correct amount of cream & sugar to put in coffee?

Yikes, sit where it looks best for you!

Carl

Isn't that right up there with developing a standard
for the correct amount of cream & sugar to put in coffee?

The correct amount is ZERO unless the coffee bean sucks or wasn't brewed correctly!

That happens to be part of an analogy I use for ISF calibration.

If you are not going to watch the TV at the correct distance then you are a TV watcher rather than viewer.

Richard Fisher