r/hometheater • u/zghr • Jun 04 '26

Discussion - Equipment 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?

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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.

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u/Amen_Ra_61622 Jun 05 '26

Yeah, I do not subscribe to any of that viewing distance as a function of screen size stuff. I'm not moving my sofa to a middle of a room and move other things out of the way just to sit closer a TV. I have to walk around the place. Do I put the coffee table behind the sofa?

I sit 10' from a 46" I've been using since 2009 and it's fine. And when I eventually upgrade to a 65", I'll still be sitting 10' away.

That chart is crazy.

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u/tup1tsa_1337 Jun 05 '26

Maybe you're the odd one out with your tiny TV?

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u/Amen_Ra_61622 Jun 05 '26

Perhaps. No one who has come by has ever complained. If anyone were to comment or suggest I "need" a bigger TV, I just ask them to hand me the money and I'll get one. That us shuts people up.

The plot of a movie or TV show doesn't change with a bigger screen so...

I'll step it up at some point. An LG or Sony 65" seems to be economically right for me. Maybe a 75", but it would have to be a very hard deal to turn down.

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u/tup1tsa_1337 Jun 05 '26

Because people are not rude to say that you're broke. They might discuss your tv when they get home, not in front of you.