Widescreen Gaming Forum

G'Day, not sure if I picked the right forum for this, so please redirect me if it's not.

I tried searching for this but couldn't find anything; anyway.. I have a 32" Samsung I'll run at 1920 * 1080, and I wanted to know the general guidelines for how far away one should sit from screens to keep ones eyes from bleeding. Does it depend on the resolution or the physical size, etcetera?

All help is appreciated.

i say what ever feels right to you but i tend to sit closer then most people

For movies: 24-30 inches away.
For browsing: 16-24 inches away.
For gaming: 14-18 inches away.

Yes, I even got out the tape measure for this. :D

Minimum resolution: 1280x960 for Garry's Mod (recording with FRAPS at half size)

Standard resolution: 1600x1200 for 2007 games (Stalker, Bioshock, Crysis Beta), and for my desktop.

Maximum resolution: 2048x1536 for older/less demanding games.

These include:
Max Payne 2
FEAR (only in Single Player)
Far Cry (x64)
Battlefield 2
Half Life 2: Cinematic Mod (best at high resolutions)


Yes I know, I'm still using Evil 4:3! I still am undecided on what new monitor to buy.

I'm pretty sure his eyes will explode if he sits 14-18 inches from a 32 inch screen. :wink:

For that size, around about 3 to 4 feet I think, maybe even 5. But its all up to your preference. As it is a TV, you could still watch movies and stuff from a fair distance.

As far as gaming goes, I sit far enough away so i dont have to move my head to see the screen edges, just my eyes. (but not to extremes, of course. and BOTH eyes.. )

Browsing- far back but still able top easily read small text.

movies - no matter.. close, far, below, sideways, etc.

Viewing Distance Calculator

So for a 32" TV @ 1920x1080, they recommend sitting about 4-5 feet away from your screen. In the end though, just go with whatever you're most comfortable with.

Old wives tales to the contrary, it will not hurt you to sit close to the screen (CRTs emit some X-Rays, but it is a pretty small dose, and this is not an issue with LCDs.

Depending upon how good your vision is, you may find it more tiring to sit close, as you have to use your eye muscles for close focus.

For first person games, there is a "sweet spot" at which the perspective is correct, with no visible "stretching" at the edges of the screen, and objects appear actual size, as if the screen were an actual window into the game world. The sweet spot distance depends upon the field of view (FOV) of the game and the width of your screen, and can be calculated from the following equation:

distance = width/(2*Tan(FOV/2))

For example if the FOV is 75 degrees, the sweet spot distance is 2/3 the width of your screen. For a FOV of 90 degrees, it is at half the width of the screen. For a FOV of 120 degrees, it is at 29% of the width of the screen.

In practice, you may find this uncomfortably close if the game has a wide FOV, so you may prefer to sit a bit further away and tolerate a bit of distortion.

Hey Sporemaw,

What's the model of your TV?
I thought Sharp was the only one manufacturing 32" 1080P sets.

I played Doom 3 and its expansion all the way through 6'' from the screen with a 130-140 degree FOV.

More recently, i accidentally played Tomb Raider Legend 3/4 of the way through before i realized i was in stretched 4:3 mode (widescreen mode=OFF), sitting about 20" from the monitor. :lol:

Hey Sporemaw,

What's the model of your TV?
I thought Sharp was the only one manufacturing 32" 1080P sets.

It's 1080i. :wink:

Thanks for ya help everyone, I'll settle on 4-6ft.