[lifevicarious]

I see lots of threads asking about what size for a given distance. Well I'd like to emulate a given size at a given distance and assume it can be done but not sure how (mathematically that is).


I currently sit 9.5 feet from my 50" Plasma. I'd like to go bigger, as big as possible, but I (and more importantly my wife) would like to see how big it actually looks.


We can go to BB and stand 9.5 feet from the different sizes but to be honest, in a totally different environment that doesn't help that much. It's hard for me to visualize that in my living room.


So, I am wondering, if I keep my 50" on the wall, how much closer to the TV would I move to simulate the same field of view for a 58", 60", or 65" inch television. I would think this kind of calculator would help a lot of people decide which size to get, if I only knew how to create it.


Does anyone know what the math would be or if this already exists? And if not, why not? Would it not work?

 

[HardBat]

Not sure if this is the correct way of doing it, but here goes.


9.5 feet is 114 inches. A 50" TV has approximately 1067 square inches of screen real estate. 1067/114= 9.35 square inches of screen for every 1 inch you are seated away. If you use the same 9.35 figure, but instead have a 65" TV, it would work out like this..


65"=1804 sq. inches.


1804/x=9.35. X=192 inches away from the TV. 192 inches is 16 feet.


So, to answer your question, 50" at 9.5 feet is the same as 65" at 16 feet.

 

[snownut]



Quote:
Originally Posted by lifevicarious /forum/post/18102308


I see lots of threads asking about what size for a given distance. Well I'd like to emulate a given size at a given distance and assume it can be done but not sure how (mathematically that is).


I currently sit 9.5 feet from my 50" Plasma. I'd like to go bigger, as big as possible, but I (and more importantly my wife) would like to see how big it actually looks.


We can go to BB and stand 9.5 feet from the different sizes but to be honest, in a totally different environment that doesn't help that much. It's hard for me to visualize that in my living room.


So, I am wondering, if I keep my 50" on the wall, how much closer to the TV would I move to simulate the same field of view for a 58", 60", or 65" inch television. I would think this kind of calculator would help a lot of people decide which size to get, if I only knew how to create it.


Does anyone know what the math would be or if this already exists? And if not, why not? Would it not work?

Remember, doing this will result in the picture not looking right though. Your best bet is to cut a piece of card board to what ever size you want to compare and place it there.

 

[lifevicarious]



Quote:
Originally Posted by snownut /forum/post/18102427


Remember, doing this will result in the picture not looking right though. Your best bet is to cut a piece of card board to what ever size you want to compare and place it there.

I'm not interested in picture quality, I certainly wouldn't be judging that, just picture size. I agree the cardoard would be the best way to do it, if I had cardboard that is!

 

[xceebeex]



Quote:
Originally Posted by lifevicarious /forum/post/18102452


I'm not interested in picture quality, I certainly wouldn't be judging that, just picture size. I agree the cardoard would be the best way to do it, if I had cardboard that is!

Why not improvise then, be creative. Take a bed sheet or a blanket and fold it so it is the appropriate size and use duct tape or something to temporarily hold that size and then hold that up?


I think moving yourself closer to the current TV to simulate a larger size is going to through you WAY off.

 

[lifevicarious]



Quote:
Originally Posted by HardBat /forum/post/18102381


Not sure if this is the correct way of doing it, but here goes.


9.5 feet is 114 inches. A 50" TV has approximately 1067 square inches of screen real estate. 1067/114= 9.35 square inches of screen for every 1 inch you are seated away. If you use the same 9.35 figure, but instead have a 65" TV, it would work out like this..


65"=1804 sq. inches.


1804/x=9.35. X=192 inches away from the TV. 192 inches is 16 feet.


So, to answer your question, 50" at 9.5 feet is the same as 65" at 16 feet.

Hmm, those numbers are interesting, but I think very helpful. I'm trying to go the other way though. I'm looking for how much closer I need to go from 9.5 feet (which is as far as I can really go away) to make my 50" look like a 65" (to see how much bigger a 65" looks).


So do you think I could just divide the 1804 / 1067 = 1.69 (the relative size of the 65" to the 50"). Then divide the 9.5 feet by 1.69 to get 5.62 feet. So if I sit 5.62 feet from the 50" screen it would be a similar field of view as a 65" from 9.5 feet?

 

[xceebeex]



Quote:
Originally Posted by lifevicarious /forum/post/18102524


Hmm, those numbers are interesting, but I think very helpful. I'm trying to go the other way though. I'm looking for how much closer I need to go from 9.5 feet (which is as far as I can really go away) to make my 50" look like a 65" (to see how much bigger a 65" looks).


So do you think I could just divide the 1804 / 1067 = 1.69 (the relative size of the 65" to the 50"). Then divide the 9.5 feet by 1.69 to get 5.62 feet. So if I sit 5.62 feet from the 50" screen it would be a similar field of view as a 65" from 9.5 feet?

Trust me, I think this is the wrong way to do this. Technicaly, I think that is the correct math to give you a rough idea, but your mind will play tricks on you and you will find yourself in the same position if you just went to the store and tried visualizing the TV in your living room. Try my method mentioned above and you will get a true feeling for the size.

 

[lifevicarious]



Quote:
Originally Posted by xceebeex /forum/post/18102483


Why not improvise then, be creative. Take a bed sheet or a blanket and fold it so it is the appropriate size and use duct tape or something to temporarily hold that size and then hold that up?


I think moving yourself closer to the current TV to simulate a larger size is going to through you WAY off.

You're probably right about a bed sheet or something. I'm just surprised there isn't an equation for this.


If THX can reccomend the size at a given distance based on their deisred viewing angle, why can't given a size and desired viewing angle, they give me a distance?


Looking at the calculator here http://myhometheater.homestead.com/v...alculator.html I see I would go from a 21.6 degree viewing angle to a 27.9, certainly much more immersive. And surprisingly close to the max THX viewing distance.

 

[snownut]

There would always be an equation but the in my mind the TV would just look closer. Remember that the only thing getting larger would be the TV, the rest of the room and everything else in it would remain the same.

 

[fourtytwoinch]

Best idea is to forget about it and get the 65".

 

[lifevicarious]



Quote:
Originally Posted by fourtytwoinch /forum/post/18102773


Best idea is to forget about it and get the 65".

I like your thinking!

 

[fourtytwoinch]

Tell your wife 50" is a bedroom size TV.

 

[greenland]



Quote:
Originally Posted by lifevicarious /forum/post/18102308


I see lots of threads asking about what size for a given distance. Well I'd like to emulate a given size at a given distance and assume it can be done but not sure how (mathematically that is).


I currently sit 9.5 feet from my 50" Plasma. I'd like to go bigger, as big as possible, but I (and more importantly my wife) would like to see how big it actually looks.


We can go to BB and stand 9.5 feet from the different sizes but to be honest, in a totally different environment that doesn't help that much. It's hard for me to visualize that in my living room.


So, I am wondering, if I keep my 50" on the wall, how much closer to the TV would I move to simulate the same field of view for a 58", 60", or 65" inch television. I would think this kind of calculator would help a lot of people decide which size to get, if I only knew how to create it.


Does anyone know what the math would be or if this already exists? And if not, why not? Would it not work?

Here is a link to a very nice interactive tool where you can enter the various sizes, and it will provide you with the best seating distances.

http://www.flatpanelshd.com/focus.ph...&id=1229341535

 

[lifevicarious]



Quote:
Originally Posted by fourtytwoinch /forum/post/18102808


Tell your wife 50" is a bedroom size TV.

I already have, didn't work.

 

[Kilian.ca]

In trigonometry it is just a simple ratio of the vertical heights of the screens (or better, the height of the active picture area) times the viewing distance to keep the tangent angle the same.


EDIT. Since the aspect ratio of the screen is constant at 16:9, the sides and diagonal increase by exactly the same proportion, so it is the same result when using the diagonal directly in the calculations.


114*(50/65)=87.69


Or the other way round (the original question):

114*(65/50)=148.2

 

[PrimeTime]

The whole game is to acquire the largest display you can afford/fit/get WAF for, and then sit as close to it as possible.


For a single guy, that would be a 65-inch set about eight feet away.


The wife would usually groan about a display that big no matter where it is.


I'm currently trying to negotiate with the wife for a 58-incher at nine feet. No success yet...

 

[ramazur]

(65/50)*9.5=12.35

 

[xceebeex]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ramazur /forum/post/18106005


(65/50)*9.5=12.35

That is the opposite that he is looking for. He obviously has to sit closer to the TV to simulate a larger size, not further away. Seriously though, this is a bad idea. You need to get something that is the size of the TV you are looking at if you want a real idea. What if the TV is too large to fit where the current TV is? What if you have speakers on the left and the right of the current TV that have to be reolcated because of the additional size of the new TV.


Make something that represents the size of the TV and hold it up where you want to put the TV and rearrange any furniture that has to be rearranged so you get a good idea. This whole trick your eyes only is not going to work well.

 

[JohnHN]

65" at 9.5 feet looks like (in terms of field of vision) 50" at 7.3 feet. (The subject line of the post asks for the wrong comparison.)


9.5/65=7.3/50.


I agree that lifevicarious should check what the larger set will mean in terms of speakers etc. But watching a range of content at 7.3 is a good idea as well, to get a feel for the quality vs. size tradeoff.

 

[Lookilook]

The simple math I've been using-


Diagonal length of the tv x 2 / 12= distance in ft.


65" x 2= 130"

130/12= 10.8'


THX recommended distance seems to be a lot shoter thou...