Screen size, resolution, viewing distance "poll"

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Ok, since I want to get all three of these from each person and they're related, I can't make an effective poll with three independent questions, so please list your answers in your post.

I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, but after participating in this thread
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2306400&enterthread=y
I am more motivated to do this.

My plan is to gather some data and then plot our answers out on this chart
http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html
to see where we end up.

The color of the dots will represent the resolution of the TV (Blue for 480i/480p, Green for 720p/768p, Red for 1080p)

I know that personally I definitely need a projector upgrade, but I'm making due with what I have (I'll be a Green dot in the Purple "1440p" region).

If you have more than one room with a display in it, please feel free to make more than one entry per post. Let's keep this limited to displays that are used for watching TV / HomeTheater as opposed to any display you're using. For example, if we were to start mapping comptuer monitors, the variation in aspect ratio and resolution as well as very small viewing distances wouldn't work well with that particular resolution chart I'm hoping to use.

Please use screen size in INCHES and viewing distance in FEET to match the units used in that chart.

My example display that I'm sitting too close to:

720p
11 feet
102"

My gf's TV is roughly

480i
10 feet
25"

Note: if your display is advertised as "1080i/720p", please use the native resolution of the display. Usually this is 768p or 720p rather than 1080i. If you're unsure about the resolution, just post the model of the display and I can look it up.


EDIT:
latest result
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...lo/NewExcelBasedv9.png

 

[spidey07]

1080p
67"
10 feet

1080p
50"
8 feet

720p
42"
12 feet

720p
24"
portable, generally around 3 feet

 

[nakedfrog]

1080i
65"
13 feet
Hitachi 65F59 CRT RPTV, AFAIK that is the native resolution.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
1080i
65"
13 feet
Hitachi 65F59 CRT RPTV, AFAIK that is the native resolution.

Yeah, I figured this was going to happen

Just to avoid the whole debate of what category I should count 1080i as, I'll just make it a whole different color

For your HD CRT folks, of course feel free to put down 1080i as well. My reasoning for the warning about 1080i earlier is that a lot of LCD displays advertise themselves as 1080i even though they're 720p or more likely 768p panels.

 

[kalrith]

768p
50"
9 feet

Edit: Do you want us to note how we feel about this distance? I'm very pleased with the distance, but I think 1 foot closer would be perfect; however, it would make the livingroom space very tight with a large coffee table in between the TV and entertainment center. I also have the TV at the rear of the TV stand to keep dog tails and kids' fingers from venturing too close to it. The screen was about 6 inches closer with the TV moved closer to the front of the TV stand, and I liked it at 8 1/2 feet more than 9 feet.

Also, I'm sure 1080P would make the picture more crisp, but I definitely don't notice the pixel structure unless I sit in my side seating which is 5-6 feet away.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Results so far
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...resolution_chartv1.png

kalrith, you can certainly add in your thoughts about it. That would probably be useful for people that might come in here looking for opinions before they buy their own sets.

On that note, 720p is certainly not good enough for how far away I sit and I know it. That said, I'd rather have the cinematic viewing experience I have set up now than go with a smaller screen size that's more suitable for my display. More than the resolution problem, what's been bothering me with my projector is a convergence issue with my blue panel (about 1-2 pixels off it seems) and some slight vertical banding issues. I'm very much looking forward to a new projector to fix these issues and give me a 1080p picture, but my plan is to wait until this one dies first

 

[sdifox]

1080p
10' Away
8' diagonal

1080p
10' away
42" Diagonal

 

[buck]

1080p
7' away
42" Diagonal

 

[Chapbass]

roughly 11 feet away
1080p
113" screen

 

[ZetaEpyon]

1080p
8' away
46" diagonal

 

[s44]

The other problem I see here is that most 720p plasmas -- the old ones anyway -- are rectangular-pixel 10*7 resolution.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: s44
The other problem I see here is that most 720p plasmas -- the old ones anyway -- are rectangular-pixel 10*7 resolution.

I'll just go ahead and choose to ignore that

EDIT: updated as of this post (I'll get you next update, Riverhound777 )
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...resolution_chartv2.png

 

[Riverhound777]

1080P
6' away (was until I stored it in the closet till I move, not sure then)
50" Plasma

 

[JackBurton]

Do you have a chart that goes past 125"?



j/k

1080p
60"
~10-11'

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: JackBurton
Do you have a chart that goes past 125"?



j/k

1080p
60"
~10-11'

I could just remake the chart in excel (extending it out to 150"?) and then I wouldn't have to do all this layer resizing I suppose

EDIT: ok, there you go

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...lo/NewExcelBasedv1.png

 

[NoCreativity]

480i
27"
~9-10'

Eventually it will be 1080p 46" same distance.

 

[krotchy]

4 TVs:
1080p
8 Feet
47" Diagonal

1080p
12 Feet
40" Diagonal

1200p (1080p with bars for TV/games)
< 2 Feet
25.5" Diagonal

768p
< 2 Feet
23" Diagonal

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...lo/NewExcelBasedv2.png

 

[DaveJ]

1080p
7 feet
61" diagonal

 

[NaOH]

1080p
5 feet
32"

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'll update this next on Monday.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...lo/NewExcelBasedv3.png

 

[krotchy]

Figure we can add my parents house too since they have quite a few HDTVs

1080i (CRT Projection)
7 Feet
65"

1080i (CRT Projection)
10 feet
55"

1080p
14 feet
52"

1080p
6 feet
46"

768p
8 feet
30"

At work my dad also has:
720p
8 feet
50"

1080p
3 feet
32"

*edit* forgot his work computer monitor is a TV too, lol

 

[nakedfrog]

Good gravy, that's a lot of TVs.

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Good gravy, that's a lot of TVs.

The sad thing is, my main TV is a 47" 1080p Philips, their exercise room TV is a 46" 1080p Samsung that has a better picture, lol.

 

[olds]

1080i
10'
50"