16x9 skins not as readable as 4x3 on large TV (1 Viewer)

[Eeyore]

I have a 32" Samsung High Def LCD in my back lounge room and we sit about 8 meters away from it, but no matter what 16x9 skin I use, i dont find it anywhere near as readable as good old BlueTwo 4x3 when it is stretched out.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Can we plea to the skin developers to make a highly visible skin for us people who are using them on TVs and not looking at it 10 inches from our face on a PC screen

 

[Boilermaker]

32" tv at 8 meters? That's an awful long way back for that size tv. Optimal viewing distance for a tv of that size is about 7 feet (or less than a third of how far back you are sitting). According to this calculator, the maximum viewing distance would be 12 feet, about half of 8 meters. I guess the point is you are in an unusual situation with your setup. Unless a skinner is in a similar situation, you'll be hard pressed to find a skin that will meet your needs.

You could always edit the fonts.xml file yourself, bump up the font size in each font and see if it helps. It may not look as pretty, and if resized too much some text may get cut off because it exceeds the space alloted for it.

 

[Eeyore]

yeah i do bump the fonts up...which is what i have done in BlueTwo 4x3

like you pointed out about viewing distance versus screen size, i understand fully, but i cant afford a 431cm LCD TV, lol...not even a 100cm

thats the problem with federation houses wiht big rooms

 

[Eeyore]

actually, i just measured with a tape...its 5m exactly from my comfy chair to the LCD screen

so that means i need a 328cm TV or if i sit in the wife's chair...i'd be at the optimum distance...still, i dont think the fonts are readable....

it either my eyes or the fonts...and fonts are easier to change! lol

 

[Eeyore]

just for a test. i put on a 1080i video and sat 1m from the screen (according to that link, thats the THX viewing distance for a 81cm screen)....and OMFG....how do people watch it....thats way too close

 

[Taipan]

just for a test. i put on a 1080i video and sat 1m from the screen (according to that link, thats the THX viewing distance for a 81cm screen)....and OMFG....how do people watch it....thats way too close

I am not sure where you are getting your guidelines from, but the "rule of thumb" is to sit about 2 to 3 times the size of the sceen, back from the screen. So for a 81cm screen, that would be 1.6m to 2.4 m away.

If you sit too close, you can see the individual pixels (not good!) - if you sit too far back, you have difficulty reading the 16:9 skin fonts (also not good!).....

 

[jawbroken]

I have a 76cm screen and I sit about a metre away from it.

But then again, I am weird, I sit in the first couple rows at the cinema as well.