Anyone else just not bothered by home theatre?

[Wes]

I agree about watching while reclined - the opposite of computer work.

and look what movie theatres do...

OTOH, I use my fovea not just the macula, and look forward to a rousing ASR debate on that point...

 

[Mashcky]

Home theater is a lot of work for something I don’t do often. Strangely, my music library computer’s hard drive whirring bothers me every time I listen to audio, but the loud fan of my mid range ($500) short throw projector doesn’t bother me at all after I get the picture going. I also listen straight from the single speaker inside the projector (the horror!).

For the picture itself, I don’t mind that I project onto an non white wall, over a light switch, and the that the picture is usually a little skewed. I also don’t miss my MacBook screen’s high ppi, better color, black level, etc. Big picture is way more immersive to me, but unlike so many other things (music audio), I’m unfussy after that point.

 

[Blumlein 88]

We keep on talking about "eye level" but what we really should be concerned with is the getting the most of the image to fall on the central (macular) region of the retina and that means we have to consider the orientation of our gaze. I, for one, do not sit erect when I am watching a movie (in the theater or at home) but recline so that my gaze is directed slightly upward. That means my central field of vision is, depending on the recline angle and the eye-to-screen distance, generally much higher than the height of my eyes as measured from the floor. The result is that we (and this is subjective and particular to my house) are most comfortable with the bottom of the screen at physical eye-level.

Is there evidence for for your belief?

Well this is what I had in mind.

http://www.hazardcontrol.com/factsheets/humanfactors/visual-acuity-and-line-of-sight

And a graphic like this.

So it isn't visual acuity so much as acuity and habits of your natural gaze. In an industrial setting we found placing warning signs or other important signage taking this into account worked much better than placing them over doorways or higher than shoulder high in hallway or access areas. One of my tasks when new facilities opened was to go and get signage moved to sensible locations or try and get them installed there in the first place.

I usually sit on a sofa for movies so while not bolt upright it isn't much reclined.

Now I had a 2nd pair of glasses made without the progressive feature in them. I use them for movies and driving. I find on long driving trips those let my eyes move more freely rather than more head movement and my eyes get less tired. And if I'm in my sports car it has a reclined seating position which is a problem using my normal glasses with the progressive lower half of the lens.

 

[watchnerd]

After the Mrs comes home from walking the cat ?

There's ways to avoid your other half , then there's ' walking the cat' .

Cat walking frequency gets much more complicated under 'stay at home' conditions.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I have found that when I am adjusted so that I'm viewing a big image exactly in the center, there is a slight "click in" effect in the perception of depth and immersion. If this is the case, if you are leaning back while viewing but still filling your central macular region of sight, the last tweak would be to angle the display so it's parallel to your angle of vision. (Not that I'm suggesting it, just expressing the concept I'm talking about).

I was aware of that geometry and I may try a tilt next time I have access to my system.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

So it isn't visual acuity so much as acuity and habits of your natural gaze. In an industrial setting we found placing warning signs or other important signage taking this into account worked much better than placing them over doorways or higher than shoulder high in hallway or access areas. One of my tasks when new facilities opened was to go and get signage moved to sensible locations or try and get them installed there in the first place.

That is probably a matter of attention than of any visual properties.

 

[SKBubba]

We have a denon avr and 5.1 speaker setup in the living room. It's tuned for 2.1 stereo music listening, but the sound is bonus for watching movies and tv. So, I'm ok with that.

We also recently finished an above garage bonus room, and outfitted it with a stereo 2.1 setup and a big ass 65" tv on the wall. The stereo is an old surplus denon avr run in 2.1 only mode, a turntable, a laptop running roon, a pair of refurbed original large advents, and a cheap dayton audio sub mainly for movies. This was supposed to be a sports venue, but it worked out to be surprisingly good for movies and music, too, now that there aren't any sports. The electric powered reclining sofa helps sound quality.

 

[ReaderZ]

Screen size matters, I can't really stand anything less than a 27 for my PC monitor (30+ would be ideal) and TV 55 feels small to me now, 65+ i preferred range.

 

[MattHooper]

Watch a good film and non of this matters lol

I absolutely get that sentiment. I grew up loving many movies on old CRTs. As I think I mentioned in this thread, I would go over to friend's houses who had crappy old CRTs to watch movies and they'd ask "why do you like coming here to watch when you have a big nice home theater?"
It's because for me "the experience" of watching a movie is enriched when it's a social activity, and when I am getting out of the house.
I'm happy as a claim watching movies with other people, on their "more modest" displays. A good movie is a good movie.

And in no way do I like a "screen size/quality" snobbery where one looks down on whatever someone else is using. We don't all have the same goals. (Ok, ok, yes, I do start to get bummed about people watching movies on an iphone screen...but, hey, as a film fan and being in the business, I'll cut myself some slack in hoping for a little better experience for the audience).

All that said...

Screen size matters, I can't really stand anything less than a 27 for my PC monitor (30+ would be ideal) and TV 55 feels small to me now, 65+ i preferred range.

For me screen size certainly matters in that it can transform the experience. I remember in the late 90's going to see The Wizard Of Oz, released briefly to theaters. We'd all seen it plenty of times on TV growing up, but it was just brand new, a revelation, to see it on the Big Screen as it was originally presented. To see that world "life-sized," all the details in the sets, costumes, the actors, the acting, the extras, it refreshed the movie.

This is what I keep getting from a big screen projection set up. It's not just about seeing the latest movies look their best, but the thrill of seeing many of my favorite movies of the past, which I'd only ever seen on small TVs, presented life-sized and in their proper aspect ratio. It's like seeing them all again for the first time.

The other thing I like about a larger image size, something that I kept noticing, was it provided a more consistent and continuous connection with the actors. By that I mean: movies tend to move from close ups, to mid shots, to full, to long shot, establishing shots etc, and on a small display it's in the closer shots that you see most clearly the expressions of the actor. When the shots are wider, you get less obvious expression and it's more about seeing the set or physical activity of the actor. But on a big screen when it cuts from a close up to a medium or wide shot, the actor's face remains big, you can still see the acting much as you did in the close up, so there is this continuity, an attachment to how the character is thinking and feeling that feels richer and more nuanced. (IMO). So, those are notes from a Big Screen fan. But then, I was always the one seeking out the biggest theater screens on which to see movies, and I often liked sitting closer. Those with the "I like the back of the theater" mindset may think differently about these things.

For me a good movie is a good movie. But even then, a good movie is elevated by a good big screen image. (I grew up a massive fan of Alien, saw it on a huge screen when it first came out, then on TVs for the rest of it's existence. When I finally put together the big projection set up and fired up Alien in HD at home I almost wet my pants in fan-boy glee. It was like re-experiencing it at the theaters again, where the spaceships were no longer toy-sized but had that "big ship cruising over my head" impression, and all the sets looked like you could walk in to them).