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

Yeah, I'm probably 8-9' away from my 60" TV. When I first got it, I was overwhelmed by the picture, but it didn't take long for me to get used to it, and now I know I could handle it being bigger, which is why I'm definitely moving to projector at some point.

JC, I sit 13ft away from my 10ft wide, 2.35AR screen, 130+ inch diag, no need to go to the movies anymore.

I am currently about 8' from my 52" and its fine. When I had it temporarily in my bedroom I was at 6'. That was fine as well, but any closer and I had to turn my head to take in different parts of the screen.

You will be fine at that distance.

I think I am on the close end, but I am generally between 6-8 feet from my 46" Toshiba with excellent results. Only use it for Blue-ray and HD though.

Just remember that when you first get it you will go through a transitional period. I remember when I first got my Toshiba 65 inch rear projection HDTV I was upgrading from a 36 inch regular television, and the 65 inch almost made me sick watching it. I honestly thought I'd gone too big! After a week or so though all of those issue's went by the way side. I got accustomed to the size and never looked back. Then when my roommate got his 46 inch widescreen I thought it was freaking tiny!

With my current 65 inch Sharp I sit 14 feet from the screen, and could sit further away, or closer without any problems. Keep this in mind when you get your tv. First impressions may be bad, but stick with it for a good 10 - 14 days before doing anything drastic. If after 2 weeks of viewing you still aren't happy, then perhaps a change would be in order.

About 9~10' away from a 46". No problems, and next time I'll look for something 52" or a little bigger...

Keep in mind that the reason for the increased resolution of 1080P is so that one can move closer to the screen, filling a wider angle of view, thus having a more realistic, immersing viewing experience. I think I've seen the ideal field of view stated as something like 33 degrees or 36 degrees. Can't remember .

Since they all seem to vary, one can drive oneself nuts with all the calculators, formulas, and charts recommending the proper viewing distance. Though I can't offer conclusive proof that it's the definitive source, I have always relied on this HDTV Widescreen Seating Distance Chart. However, based on my viewing experience (when viewing Blu-ray movies I sit just a hair over 7 feet from my 56 inch display) I think it's a fairly accurate chart (but I wish it was in feet and inches rather than just inches). YMMV.

On the other hand, I'm often sitting at my computer while watching something on HDTV, which probably has me 10 or 11 feet from the screen, and don't feel deprived in the least.

I've always found the chart below interesting as well. As you can see, for a 60" screen the full benefit of 1080P is realized aroound 7.5 feet, but some benefit is realized all the way out to about 13 feet.

Spot on . . . I know exactly what you mean and this is a common comment from all visitors . . . commercial movie theatres are history !

Which is sad, as a good friend of mine's dad owns 3 theaters in smaller towns around Iowa, the big chains are going to make the small guys dry up. Not to mention that after the motion picture companies get their cut, there is only about .30 per dollar left for the owner, before expenses. sucks.

They make most their money on food/candy, sad.

I'm using a 42" from about 8 or 9 feet and was thinking I could go bigger. I think you'll be happier with the 50 than with anything smaller. Also look at the chart Jack posted. At that distance you will want a 1080. With a 720 screen you may start to notice some pixelation or screen door effect.

Only for those of you who have the money to own houses with dedicated home theatre rooms, as well as the dedication to build such things. Don't count on movie theatres going away that soon.

I'm 7' from a 50". Right after I installed it (moving up from a 32" wide) I said, "what did I buy?" Now I'm saying, "why didn't I buy bigger?"

Don't get anything but a 1080p display these days.

Or have friends with the money/dedication. I'm all of a sudden very popular (and I don't even have all my Axiom speakers yet).

12 feet from a ~100" screen, so more or less 6' from a 50".

Watching TV at traditional SD viewing distances was more like reading a book; the image provided a general idea and your mind filled in the details

If it's a 1080p set, people will tell you (literally) that you should be about 6 feet from a 50" set. More like 8 - 9 feet for a 720 set. Most of these distance calculators are if you are going to be using the set for a theatre, not if you're going to be watching the evening news while eating dinner.

I sit 10 - 11' from a 50" for everyday viewing, and 14 - 15' feet from a 124" screen in the theatre.

Nice post Ajax. The chart you posted matches with my experience.

Getting closer than 6' to my 52" rp the screen started to feel to big. I could no longer take the whole screen in without moving my head. Its almost like I couldn't process it as a single coherant image at that size.

I would also not want to sit that close if I was watching SD.

Thanks Fred. Hope you, and others, find it helpful.

I had ordered a 50" Panasonic G10. I picked it up today and now the box is sitting on my kitchen floor while I wait for my friend to get out of work and help me pick this thing up out of the box.

Gonna be a long day.

Thoses TVs are awesome!

I'm 10' from my 50"

Hi,

I normally sit about 8 to 9 feet from my 50-inch 720p Samsung DLP and with good HD material, it looks terrific. As my Axiom colleague JC pointed out, the source material will also influence your viewing distance. Some standard-def (SD) can look fairly lousy, so I move back farther. On the other hand, some standard DVDs up-converted through the Oppo can look very good (episodes of "Lost" on DVD).

Blu-Ray of Lost episodes on a friend's 1080p set looks wonderful, so you could certainly sit closer than 8 or 9 feet with a 50-inch 1080p and good HDTV sources.

With front projection and large images, it really becomes a matter of personal taste. Everyone knows friends who love to sit up close in movie theaters, or midway back or farther to the rear. I don't want film grain from 35mm cinema prints to become too obvious, so that affects where I sit in a cinema and at friend's homes who have front projection LCD or DLP.

Have fun with your big screen!

Regards,
Alan

I hope it lives up to it's hype. But at $1299, I'm not going to judge it harshly.

Hi Alan,
I like the grain if it is part of the original medium. Black and white photography and old movies for example. But I hate it when the grain messes with the processing algorithms and you get weird results.

Hi Lampshade,

Yes, I know what you mean re black and white. I used to have a darkroom and enlarger and worked entirely in black and white and I loved the grain when I did enlargements from 35mm.

Some older movies shot in black and white can really look stunning viewed on an HD screen that's set up to show off the gray scale. I guess what I mean by seeing too much film grain is when I notice too many artifacts and they become distracting. Oddly, it bothers me more in color than in black and white.

Earlier LCD front projectors that had noticeable pixelation also bothered me, but in recent years the better models are really excellent.

Cheers,

Alan

The tv is perfect. It is exactly the right size and very easy to "observe". I could not be happier.

Watching Dark Knight right now with the tv set to its THX picture setting and it is amazing.

I just picked up an 50S1 myself for everyday viewing.

I've had great success with a dozen or so Panasonic products over the years, I have a hard time buying anything else. I bought a Panasonic microwave today, too... hah.