Viewing Distances.
 

According to the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) the recommended distances for viewing TVs are as follows.

Diagonal ....... SD ...... 720 ...... 1080
32" ...............8' ..........6' ..........4'
37" ...............10' ........7' ..........5'
42" ...............11' ........8' ..........5.5'
50" ...............13' ........10' .........6.5'

If you sit closer , you see pixelation ... If you sit further away you lose detail.
You can sit closer with the 1080 as there is more detail to see.

Apparently this is based on Visual Acuity , where the eye can resolve detail as small as 1.76mm at a distance of 20' assuming 20/20 vision.

I view my 32" set from about 10' to 13' (depending where I sit) and I'm happy with it ... I use an HDMI cable and the resolution is set to 720.

I wouldn't watch my set at only 6' ... Our viewing distance is chosen to suit our room layout as opposed to visual acuity ... A TV larger than 32" would totally dominate the room so is not an option.

This is probably why we don't notice any difference between Upscaled SD and the genuine HD at our normal viewing distance.
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Re: Viewing Distances.
 

I watch my 32inch LCD at about one / one and a half feet :)

Re: Viewing Distances.
 

I've a 32" Bravia. If I'm watching TV, I'm about 8-10 feet away. If I'm on the PS3, it's more like 4 feet!

Re: Viewing Distances.
 

Are these figures for progressive or interlaced pictures? 5' away from a 37" screen seems uncomfortably close for relaxed viewing. Yep you might notice some of the fine detail, on the other hand you could get a sun tan from the luminance of the screen.

It depends on what you are doing. We sit close to computer screens, because we need to read the fine detail of text, we're absorbed in a game or whatever. TV we tend to want to be further away, relaxed on our sofa. However the images typically displayed on the TV are much larger intended for such relaxed viewing.

Re: Viewing Distances.
 

i purchased a 29.5" TV simply because my sofa is massive and i will be close to the wall i want the TV on.

Re: Viewing Distances.
 

I'm 10ft from a 74" Screen :-)

You get used to it and it becomes the norm.

Re: Viewing Distances.
 

Progressive .

What the SMPTE are implying is based on mathematical calculations based on the resolving power of the human eye of 20/20 vision.
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The perfect human eye can resolve detail as small as 1.76mm at a distance of 20 feet ... At 10 feet it is 0.88mm and at 5 feet it is 0.44mm ... There is no way that the normal human eye can resolve better detail than this.

The SMPTE distance for a 32" screen (720p) is 6 feet ... If you view at 12 feet you won't be able to see the difference between real HD and upscaled SD.

So , when the normal everyday screen is thirty-odd inches and people sit 10 or 12 feet away , why do we need HD ... I personally think that 720p (via HDMI) is easily good enough for our purposes ... My Wife even watches Freeview and thinks it is great though she does realise that the V+ gives a better picture.