ABSTRACT
There is a further consideration in the format/composition debate, which concerns the size of the screen. Someone sitting in a front row cinema seat may have as much as 58° of their field of view taken up by the screen image. This can be reduced to as little as 9.5° if he/she views the screen from the back row. The average television viewer typically sees a picture no wider than 9.2°. Dr Takashi Fujio at the NHK research laboratories carried out research on viewers’ preference for screen size and aspect ratio and his findings largely formed the justification for the NHK HDTV parameters. His conclusion was that maximum involvement by the viewer was achieved with a 5:3 aspect ratio viewed at 3 to 4 picture height distance. Normal viewing distance (in Japan) was 2 to 2.5 metres, which suggested an ideal screen size of between 1 m × 60 cm and 1.5 m × 90 cm. With bigger room dimensions in the USA and Europe, even larger screen sizes may be desirable. Sitting closer to a smaller screen did not involve the viewer in the action in the same way.
