Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater High Def viewing distances.

I ordered a 50 inch tv. I was sitting in my living room thinking to myself that I bought too big for my room. Especially compared to the letterboxed viewing area on my 36 inch tube tv. I am watching Kill Bill right now. The letter box is 13 inches high and 30 inches across.

When the new tv arrives, I will be viewing from 8-9 feet away. I googled a viewing distance calculator and I was astonished at the results. I am going to be right in the good zone according to THX and SMPTE. I could even go a little closer.

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html

I was hoping peeps with a 50 inch tv would report on their actual viewing distances.

The reason I am asking is that the new view vs. the old view is so much bigger I am afraid I wont be comfortable watching no matter what the calculator says.

I sit about 12ft from my 46" Panny Plasma, and could have went to a 50" with no issues. Not sure I would want to be 8-9ft away all the time, but even at that distance it will be killer.

Thank you for the input. Did you try the calculator?

I'm about 12-14 ft from my 52" Sammy, no probs.

I've seen that calculator before, but it says I should be much closer than I am, for me 12ft seems comfortable.

12 feet seems right to me too. I think I am going to have to bring a chair to the store and sit 9 feet away for awhile.

9 ft away from a 60 inch plasma and it doesn't feel big at all, Imo you cant go to big.

Hi, The definition and the quality of the material being showed play a huge role. On some material you can't be far enough. However with good quality HD material you can be very close. In fact, much closer that it is usuaally recommended by these sites and software. What is the benfit of getting a large display if you need to move back keeping the same ratio for the portion of your field of view being occupied by the video display; it does not make sense.

For my 150" diagonale 16:9 screen I sit only 14 feet away for HD material (TV & Blu-ray).

High Def sources (especially Blu-Ray) looks terrific at 9 feet from my 61" screen. Standard def is not the best. I believe that I could go to 70" at the same distance and still be happy.

I'm sure that you could, Dave