I know I have touched on this subject before, but I stumbled upon this resource this morning and its in terms most should be able to understand. So, here is the link:
Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 7097 Location: Fort Collins, CO
Link Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 2:52 pm Post subject:
Interesting -- I actually didn't realize we had 3 kinds of cones for R, G, and B. Makes sense, but I thought we had one type of cone that covered the whole spectrum.
Given the formula X/2 = d*tan(theta/2), a 20/20 eye can resolve to about 1.33mm at 15'. (15' = 4572mm, X = 2*4572*tan(1/120deg) = 1.3299mm.) So if you're viewing a 1920x1080 image at 15', it must be at least 1920*1.33mm = 2553mm = 100.5" wide for you to resolve a pixel. 15' from a 100" screen is 1.8x width. You have to sit at 1.8x or closer to resolve HD with 20/20 vision.
So all these people buying 54" (diag) 1080p plasmas, and sitting 12' away across the living room, **can't see** the HDTV resolution unless they have superhuman vision. A 54" diag display is 47" wide, and you have to sit no more than 1.8 * 47" = 84" = 7' away to actually see the HD resolution with 20/20 vision. I'd bet 98% of the non-projector HDTV viewers sit more than 1.8x away.
Link Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 3:01 pm Post subject:
garyfritz wrote:
So all these people buying 54" (diag) 1080p plasmas, and sitting 12' away across the living room, **can't see** the HDTV resolution unless they have superhuman vision. A 54" diag display is 47" wide, and you have to sit no more than 1.8 * 47" = 84" = 7' away to actually see the HD resolution with 20/20 vision. I'd bet 98% of the non-projector HDTV viewers sit more than 1.8x away.
BINGO! We've had this very discussion at least a half-dozen times around here.
My in-laws in fact, just spent well over $3000 on a Samsung 52" 1080p LCD. There isn't a seat in the room less than 12' away from the screen. What's sad, is I had this very discussion with him over the Christmas holiday. I explained the visual acuity thing, told him to go stand the same distance from the 720p TVs and the 1080p TVs in the store when he was making his decisions. What does he come home with? One of the most expensive 1080p LCD's on the market.
What was weird, is we were watching the Indy 500 a little this past weekend, and it didn't really even look that good. I don't know if it was the deinterlacer, or the 120hz thing, or what, but it looked really soft for some reason. I didn't get into it.
To add insult to injury, they replaced the NHT bookshelf speakers they had and bought a Bose 123 system "because they didn't need to add surround speakers to get surround."
I'm pretty sure that I even had the "Bose sucks" discussion with him a few times in the last few years... to no avail, obviously. No more advice for the in-laws, I guess.
Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 2903 Location: Ithaca, NY
Link Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 6:03 pm Post subject:
This is why I'm perfectly happy with my 42" 852x480 plasma - it's going to be about 13' from the viewing position, so why bother? Of course, the fact it turns dark grays green is another issue, but if I want something to look good I'll use the barco anyway...
Well, that and the fact that I only get NTSC and use a standard definition Tivo. _________________
Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 3916 Location: Comedy Central
Link Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:34 am Post subject:
Person99 wrote:
ecrabb wrote:
To add insult to injury, they replaced the NHT bookshelf speakers they had and bought a Bose 123 system
ecrabb wrote:
No more advice for the in-laws, I guess.
I have pretty much stopped giving unsolicited advice. They don't care, so why waste your time and energy?
Yeah, after the recent experience with a friend's mom I would rather be considered ignorant on every subject.
I remember reading an article in Autoweek where someone asked the author what he thought about a certain car. After giving a long and detailed analysis, he realized that the person just wanted confirmation that he was making a great decision not to be told that there was better alternatives or the wrong decision.
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Joined: 13 Mar 2006
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