Comments on: 1080p Does Matter – Here's When (Screen Size vs. Viewing Distance vs. Resolution)

By: s h

s h — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:00:12 +0000

good job. excellent chart.

By: Focus PRO

Focus PRO — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:14:19 +0000

thanks for information, now i'll buys LCD monitors only!

By: Carlton Bale

Carlton Bale — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:56:41 +0000

Use my home theater calculator to get answers to all of your questions. In general, you need a very bright projector, a very high gain screen, and a relatively small screen. Bright rooms are not an ideal environment for front projection.

By: Sean C

Sean C — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:00:07 +0000

Hello,

I'm looking for a LCD/DLP projector for my large 25'x20' living room for a 100"+ screen. Since this room has windows, I need a unit that projects a very BRIGHT image. What specs (ANSI lumens, contrast ratio etc.) should I be looking for? Of course, I'm considering 1080p HD projectors only. Any suggestions for the model/brands will help me further, thanks!

Suman

By: Carlton Bale

Carlton Bale — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:13:54 +0000

At 15', you should get the largest screen possible. 65", or ever larger, would be ideal. For example, I sit 13' from my 123" front projection screen and that is an ideal setup (but requires an absolutely dark room.)

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:46:53 +0000

Hi Carlton,
I am almost ready to buy a 58" 1080p Plasma Panasonic TV (TC-P58S1 to be more specific). I do not know how many inches it will be diagonally (I do not have the TV as yet). I will be using it for hdtv, X360 and potentially for blu-ray as well. The distance that I have available to sit and view the TV is 15 feet maximum. Is a 58" TV a good size for the distance I have to play with?. Considering the distance that I have available, what TV size (54", 58" or 65") can I benefit more from?. Please consider the TV to be 1080p Panasonic Plasma and money is not an issue. Thanks

By: Chris Patton

Chris Patton — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:20:35 +0000

I personally own the TH-46Pz80U.
It is a fantastic television and for the extra two hundred the picture quality is without doubt worth it as long as you are using an HD source. For me, with a 360 and a Panasonic BD30 bluray I am very happy with my 46".

By: Do you really NEED Blu-ray? — Always Go Right

Do you really NEED Blu-ray? — Always Go Right — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:48:58 +0000

[...] Mr. Bale has done a lot of research on HDTV resolutions and seating distance, and he does a good job of explaining it on his web site. [...]

By: Should I Buy a Blu-Ray Player? | Techronos

Should I Buy a Blu-Ray Player? | Techronos — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:51:29 +0000

[...] size of your screen (32", 42", etc) and the distance at which that screen is viewed (see this explained in detail). If your setup doesn't really take advantage of higher resolution video, it obviously [...]

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:27:52 +0000

I do respect the fact that more and more companies seem to be having customer service problems as time goes by.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:24:21 +0000

To be honest I have actually seen a lot of negative reviews in the customer service area for Vizio. They always say that Vizio is great until something goes wrong with your t.v. That is what I'm worried about.

By: Carlton Bale

Carlton Bale — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:34:34 +0000

I've heard nothing but positive reviews of Vizio if you're looking for the best bang-for-the-buck. They are the #1 seller of LCDs by volume. As for RCA, I didn't even know the RCA brand was still being used.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:15:03 +0000

I have found out that the display on the Vizio is manufactured by LPL, a division of LG. Still researching the RCA. I called Union Electronic Distributors to figure out about the RCA, but I didn't have the proper "y-z numbers" to differentiate between three panel companies. Also, I have seen people complaining online that the RCA does not work with universal remotes. So I guess just add that into the mix as well (although it isn't a major problem to me, only a minor annoyance).

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:37:17 +0000

Oh, and I meant to say as well that the RCA is priced at $598 + tax and the Vizio is $578 + tax.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:44:07 +0000

So I'm looking at the differences between two different budget LCD TV's, and I would like a little direction. Here are links to the two TV's.

http://tv.rca.com/en-us/modeldetail.html?MN=L40FHD41

http://www.vizio.com/product.aspx?id=3364&pid=1506

Which one seems better to everyone based on the fact that I will use it for not only normal viewing from 8-10 ft.(depending on which couch I'm sitting at) but gaming as well(5 feet away – PS3 and PC). I'm mainly worried about the extra size and better contrast ratio (RCA) vs. the better response time and seeming color depth of 1.06 billion colors (Vizio – skeptical on the colors).

By: Carlton Bale

Carlton Bale — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:37:40 +0000

Rusty, you are correct on all of your interpretations. You would need a very large screen to benefit from 1080p at 15'.

As for screens with matte finishes, I'm not sure as it changes from year-to-year and model-to-model. In general, I think Samsung has higher reflectivity, Sony has moderate reflectivity, and other brands are generally more matte, but you should go to a retail store and compare them with the screen turned off to identify the matte screens.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:27:05 +0000

Great reading.
Multi part question.
Details- We have a long and narrow room (12'x24') with full bay window (south west exposure) at one end. entrance door is on front wall where TV lives opposite bay window. Entrance door reduces front wall to less than 8'. Most common viewing area for wife and I is 15' from front wall, other places people sit range from 7' to 14'. (really long couch on one wall)
At 15' I interpret your chart to indicate that unless we install a 115" screen we will not see the benefit from 1080p resolution. Is this correct?
The largest screen we think we can aesthetically accommodate is in the 50' range. At this size your chart indicates that there is not a significant viewing perception difference in 720p and 1080p. Is this an correct interpretation.
Next if I take into account the other viewing areas in the room your chart leads me to the conclusion that we could install a 46' to 52' tv at 720p and fall within acceptable viewing perception parameters. Is this correct?
Last question. One issue we have will be glare on high gloss screens. We have found models that have lower reflectivity screens but have had trouble finding any empirical information on how to compare different screens. Samsung has models that end in *****630 that have a more matte screen. We are not finding a lot of choices in the 50" range that have more matte screens. Any suggestions for models/manufacturers?
Thanks, Rusty

By: dovercat

dovercat — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:38:51 +0000

Would a black 45 degree diagonal line on a white screen be a good test, if it looks staircased you might benefit from higher resolution. If it looks smooth you probably will not. I say might because as I point out above for color moving images acuity is going to be less.

Using the limits of human perception you could argue that higher resolution is noticeable at even greater distances. Visual acuity may average 30 line pairs per degree (1minute of a degree per line) but can be upto 45 line pairs per degree (40 seconds of a degree per line) and vermier acuity the ability to notice a line is not straight but offset is 10x visual acuity (6seconds of a degree average)

Or you could argue that higher resolution is less noticeable as contrast sensitivity – perception of shapness is highest at 1/3 to 1/7 of visual acuity (3minutes to 7minutes of a degree). So details larger than 4 line pairs per degree are most important.

By: dovercat

dovercat — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:53:57 +0000

In my opinion the pixel fill factor is critical, flat pannels often have a very poor fill factor due to using seperate red, green, blue sub-pixels, while dlp front projectors can have fill factor >95%. It is the ability to resolve the pixel structure – screen door effect that is more a limitation.

The resolving ability you are using is true if you were viewing black/white line drawings on a bright flatscreen display. They are not applicable to color images, moving images, and relatively dim displays like front projectors. In practice I think you would need to be alot closer to see a difference watching films.

The "resolving ability of the human eye (with 20/20 vision it is possible to resolve 1/60th of a degree of an arc)" is based on black and white lines in bright lighting conditions with at least several seconds looking at the image. The ability to resolve fine detail is dependent on contrast and display brightness. Front projectors are dimmer than the brightness used. Contrast between black and white is alot higher than between shades of grey in a black and white film. Most films are in color and perception of contrast between colors is alot less than between black and white or shades of grey. Finally movies involve moving images not still pictures.

By: Bolas

Bolas — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 04:12:14 +0000

So what you're saying is, I can enjoy 1080p programming with a 40" depending on how far I sit from the TV? Because a lot of people say you need a 46" or higher for that.