[ijansch]

To recline or not to recline

I’m investigating what seats to put in my home theater basement build and it seems that every luxury seating company wants to sell me recliners. But then I thought: if I actually watch a movie, why would I recline and point my eyes to a place where the screen isn’t? With much attention to where the screen should be placed, doesn’t a recliner kill the ideal viewing angle almost always? What am I missing? Do all seat owners actually recline when watching movies?

 

[m0j0]

I prefer to have my feet up when I watch a movie, so I do recline, but not fully. This helps to keep my head and eyes still pretty close to straight on with the screen. Sometimes though, I do want to fully recline, and this is when a good neck pillow comes into play, or if you have a really good recliner with the ability to control the recline of the headrest independently, it could help with that situation.

 

[SuperFist]

I have enough problems staying awake in my home theater. The last thing I need is a recliner! I'd be in Slumber City!

 

[rsh]

To recine or not to recline

That is the question !!!

I’m investigating what seats to put in my home theater basement build and it seems that every luxury seating company wants to sell me recliners. But then I thought: if I actually watch a movie, why would I recline and point my eyes to a place where the screen isn’t? With much attention to where the screen should be placed, doesn’t a recliner kill the ideal viewing angle almost always? What am I missing? Do all seat owners actually recline when watching movies?

I suggest finding some recliners and trying them out. A properly designed home theater recliner will be the most comfortable place you would want to watch a movie in. Many home theater recliners are designed with a pillow top backs and will provide great head support, letting you have a proper viewing angle, and with adjustable headrests you can make it to be ultimately perfect. Power recline will give you infinite control over your chair allowing to stop it at any point. Ability to readjust your position will eliminate any back and/or neck pain you may have by sitting in one place watching the movie for a couple of hours.

 

[shivaji]

in the immortal words of Mae West, "why stand, when you can sit, and why sit, when you can lay down." Get a comfy couch with a matching footrest, so that you can sit reclined, or feet down, or sprawled out when the mood hits. I don't think there is anything wrong with taking the natural lean that one may be in into account, when deciding where to position ones screen.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

go to a luxury commercial theater and count how many people don't at least partially recline their seats.

 

[Grant29]

I always pick a theater with reclining seats. I like the comfort.

 

[ijansch]

go to a luxury commercial theater and count how many people don't at least partially recline their seats.

As you can see on that picture, they are looking at a far higher screen than a typical home theatre has. Replace the screen with a home theater one, and they would be looking at the ceiling above the screen...

 

[eljaycanuck]

My manual recliners have a "notch" for partial recline which is perfect for getting very comfortable while still keeping the eyes pointed in the direction of the screen. I wouldn't want it any other way.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

As you can see on that picture, they are looking at a far higher screen than a typical home theatre has. Replace the screen with a home theater one, and they would be looking at the ceiling above the screen...

I'm guessing you have never actually been in a quality high performance home theater with reclining theater seats, WE ARE NOT LOOKING AT THE CEILING, trust me. On my chairs the back doesn't even begin to seriously recline until my feet are about even with my hips.


Another graphic, most comfortable theater recliners have a position similar to a race car, I don't imagine they are looking at the sky.

 

[HTmarket]

go to a luxury commercial theater and count how many people don't at least partially recline their seats.

I agree reclining is the way to go, I cringe when I see people put in stationary sofas in their theater room. That means some interior designer got a hold of the project. Theater rooms should be comfortable not uncomfortable. Remember the old style living rooms in the 70's I do, we never sat in the living room unless we had company over, what a waste. A theater room is for watching movies and sports it should be comfortable.

The movie theater chains are all pulling the stationary seats out and putting in home theater style recliners. Reason is that's what people like and want.

Regards,
Alan

 

[brazensol]

Why would you not want the option?

 

[Tedd]

Non reclining seating doesn't necessarily mean an interior designer got control of the room. There can be serious cons to recliners.

Non recliners can a purposely driven choice, to simply not to move eyes and eyes in 3D space.

It can also be a purpose driven choice made to save the room depth needed to recline, in a slightly room depth challenged space, to avoid seating ending
up on the back wall. Or a choice to pack in an extra seating row.

Might also be a dead simple choice, where overly comfortable reclined seating can be an invitation to a nap, during a movie.

 

[ijansch]

Thanks all for the insightful comments. It was indeed partially born out of saving space between the seats and a bar, when I thought, why would anyone recline anyway. But it also means the reclining seats I had in mind aren’t correct ones as they didn’t have the properties that BIGmouthinDC suggested (the back redlined directly with the legs).

Decision: I’m going to want (proper) recliners and will have to have some space between the seats and the bar.

 

[niterida]

My old recliners needed a whopping 10mm clearance behind them to be able to fully recline. The seat bottoms moved forward as the back reclined.


My current recliners are electric and as mentioned, means you can stop them anywhere you want which is a must have IMHO.


But sometimes I wish I had gone for a big comfy chaise longue so you don't have a barrier between seats (wink wink) and you can sprawl sideways etc if you are listening to music or not watching something that needs total concentration/immersion. And you can occasionally fit more than the 3 people my 3-seat recliner does.

 

[Scott KL]

The CEDIA recommendation, which is based on SMPTE guidelines, is to have a vertical viewing angle no greater than 15 degrees to the top or bottom of screen. Typically this puts viewers eye's at 1/3rd to 1/6th of screen height.

I have recliners with individually controlled foot and back rest. If I recline the back rest too far back and rest my head against the head rest I am looking too high above the center of the screen so I don't tend to fully recline the back rest (or I would need a pillow). Having the foot rest to me is essential for comfortable viewing. Putting the screen too high on the wall and you run into speaker height problems using an acoustic transparent screen.