Some minor points:
- I watched the Lakers last night on ESPN and it looked as good as any other Dish HD channel.
- 10 feet from a 57 inch is a little close. At that distance, it takes a Blu-Ray to look good and you should expect lesser bitrate sources to look... less.
- In case some are not aware, ESPN is a 720p channel. So, it will be more susceptible to sitting close to a large set.
- Digital video is lossey. HD requires that 99% of the original data be thrown out. In order to do that, the encoding takes into account characteristics of human vision - otherwise it would not be possible to provide HD at these bitrates. These encoding algorithms can be defeated by two things: (1) Making a point of looking for visual defects, rather than whether Kobe made the jumper, and (2) sitting particularly close to a large TV. (The extreme magnification reveals the flaws that are otherwise deemed by the encoder to be not visible).
- I think the only way to get any more bitrate for "cable" HD channels is FIOS.
well I watch ESPN HD on a Panasonic Viera and I guess since it's such a beautiful television, the worse PQ the providers put out, the better is shows. Plus with 20/20 vision it pops out even more. UGHHHHHHH
I've seen that chart many times. I think it is a bit bogus.
For instance, a 55" @5ft is where you want to be for full 1080p benefit according to that chart, yet I doubt that anyone with eyes left is watching all the time from that distance on that size set.
I think the chart should say full 1080p overwhelmed...
I'm not sure that I can swallow this info. It is saying that max distance for a 42 is 6 ft. To me that is too close. Now maybe my 10ft is a little too far but 6 is too close. I would like to know where he got this data and how it was produced?
Look around an other sites and you will see similar info. It is based on the amount of detail the eye can resolve. People may think that is too close or overwelming, but to see every last pixel of your display, those are the recommended viewing distances.
Another good link
http://hdguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/hdtv_distance_chart.pdf
I think 1.5-2 screen widths (not diagonal) is a good ballpark estimate.
That is for maximum viewing pleasure for high bitrate HD content. For BD movies, sitting that close on a quality set will be an orgasm for your eyes and fill out much of your total vision. Dish Network that close will be far from that
Actually, the best selling HD TV size is 32 inches.Televisions are doing nothing but increasing in size and decreasing in price. Dish, along with every other provider, is going backwards by squeezing bandwidth as much as possible in a move to outdo the other with channel count. They need to focus on what HD really is, but I think actual quality will take a back seat until every channel is available. Only then will they start worrying about picture quality.
That is probably true, but it is a bad idea to mainly cater to those that wouldn't know the difference anyway. As soon as FIOS is available to me I would cancel in a heartbeat since they get the notion that HD should be HD.
Already looks like poo for Ravens/Packers.