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In Reply to: In a similar vein...What's with all the plasmas stuck on a wall ? posted by michael w on April 2, 2007 at 20:12:56:
What specific principles are you referring to?
Follow Ups:
From A Video Standard it was recommended that monitors be placed approximately 2.5x picture heights (the height of the picture on your display) away from the wall.The rationale being this helps prevent eyestrain by de-focussing the wall behind your monitor.
Since the rise in popularity of flat panel displays this advice has never been mentioned.
Is this no longer relevant because of the large increases in screen sizes ?
Back in the days of AVS, a 32" screen was considered large.
If the flat panel and the wall are basically one, there's no eye-strain.The big ugly boxes (and even the little ugly boxes) present the picture out from the wall; however, they are not far enough away from the wall to defocus the wall (and other items in that general plane) behind them. Therefore, moving them out from the wall creates the short/long focus scenario that is better for the eyes.
By the way, the flat panel on the wall also does wonders for stereo imaging. I've never heard anyone suggest that a blanket be thrown over a plasma/flat panel LCD to decrease the acoustic reflections. Maybe that's why women prefer plasmas/flat panel LCDs. Seriously, how many times can a woman look at a blanket-covered behemoth in the livingroom/den before she goes nuts(er)?
:-)
"If the flat panel and the wall are basically one, there's no eye-strain."Not true. You do eliminate one source of eye strain because the eye will no longer struggle to get 2 different planes some distance apart in focus at the same time.
There are still some sources of eyestrain you don't eliminate:
- keeping the eyes at a mid to close distance focus for long periods. The screen isn't far enough way to be regarded as distant or infinity, which is what is required for the focussing muscles to be at their most relaxed.
- screen brightness can be an issue. I don't mean the brightness controlled by the brightness setting but bright as in how much illumination the screen puts out. Probably not the case for some flat screens but it's likely to get worse as screen brightness and contrast ratios improve.
David Aiken
A Video Standard and Video Essentials have now been superseded by Joe Kane's Digital Video Essentials which looks a little at more modern display types.DVE re-iterates the recommendation that CRT screens be placed in front of the wall but doesn't specify the distance in front. It gives 2 reasons for this, first the desirability of placing an ambient light behind the screen, and secondly because it allows the eye the opportunity to focus on the wall which, being further away, provides some relief from the strain imposed on the eye of focussing on the screen. It does not specify whether the effort of close focussing or the strain of looking at a relatively bright screen is the major cause of eye strain when focussing on the screen.
There are screen types, like front projection screens, which are placed on the wall and for which DVE does not recommend placement in front. DVE comments that ambient light degrades the picture quality with front projection screens and recommends that the room be kept dark. In a dark room, wall location does not matter since it can't be seen anyway.
Flat screen displays like plasmas and LCD screens are also sensitive to ambient light levels and do better in darker rooms. LCDs hold up better to ambient light levels than do plasmas which are better in a dark room, but LCD screens still benefit from darker rooms. If you're setting up the screen for optimum picture quality and you are darkening the room, where the wall is located in relation to the screen isn't going to be critical because the wall won't really be seen anyway.
I think this fact, low visibility of the wall rather than screen size, is the reason why wall placement is less of an issue with flat screen displays.
David Aiken
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