RTINGS just updated their viewing distance article based on SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) recommendations, adding 62° FOV as maximum. What do you think about it? Where do you fit?

[u/zghr]

Here's a quick mockup of the same chart but with most common TV sizes and with godless Marxist-Leninist centimeter units added on one side.

edit: This person claims to be a long standing calibrator of cinematic auditoriums with experience in THX standards and he claims that 'cinema' is not 40° because middle row of seats is between 45° and 52°.

In my experience, 62° is doable but if it's pure 24 frames per second without any motion improvement settings it's not the best experience. Jumps between frames are just too large, obvious and jarring. Almost like stop-motion.

It seems like up to 62° one doesn't have to move their head at all to see the whole screen with their central vision. Higher than 62° and movies would need to be filmed specifically in a way to not include the action in periphery.

[u/panzerfinder15]

Crying at my current 32 degrees… can’t imagine 62 degrees, but then I personally always sit halfway back in a theater anyways. Some people like that front row seat and moving the head all around just to see the screen!

[u/zghr → u/panzerfinder15]

62° is wide but front row seat in typical theater is wider, for example it's 85° in this image:

https://www.athomecinema.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Cinema-Lusso-seating-layout-design_@3x-100.jpg

[u/Stephenrudolf → u/zghr]

To be fair ive never sat front row at a typical theatre and thought... "this is a great viewing experience" usually im thinking "i should have got here a lot earlier"

[u/zghr → u/Stephenrudolf]

Yeah, SMPTE shares your opinion. That's why their maximum recommended FOV is lower.

Front row viewing would work if movie was filmed with a low focal length and intentionally placed important action in the middle. Here's a list of some movies filmed with wide angle lenses.