[rgomes]

Hi!

A quick one:

Unfinished basement with a viewing area that is 19 feet x 9 feet. What would be the largest Plasma I could go with?

Isn't there some kind of formula that calculates how far back you should be sitting given a TV's size?

Any help is appreciated..

 

[57]

Here's the FAQ on TV size. A quick rule of thumb is to sit back about 2X screen size, but that's not for everyone as outlined in the FAQ and the link there which shows people anywhere from 1X screen size to over 3X away. The size of your TV will also depend if you're going to put the TV on the long or the short wall.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=76075

Useful post: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741

 

[therealjoeblow]

I have a 50" Panasonic, and my eyes are 9.5' from the screen when seated upright on the couch (so 2.28x screen size). This is just about perfect. Could have maybe gone up one size to 54" if I had really wanted to, but really, I don't have any serious regrets. Going smaller would have definitely been a wrong move.

Note that it also depends heavily on what you watch - if a lot of it is going to be Standard DVD's versus all High Def/BluRay, going bigger can be a mistake. Even at 50" and 9.5' away, you can clearly see the deficiencies of regular DVD's but it's bearable. Going larger they look terrible (I simulated this by sitting only 1.5' closer, and the graininess, encoding artifacts, blurriness, etc all get significantly more noticeable, and really detract from the enjoyment factor).

Cheers
The REAL Joe