Video Quality vs. Viewing Distance
 

I wear glasses, or I should but most of the time I don't. To me, from a regular viewing distance such as a couch and the like, it is impossible for me to see the detail of video I can see on a computer monitor that is much closer.

It got me thinking about a lot of what we work on here: if coloring on a whole video off or if there is a serious error to be corrected, it will certainly be noticable from a regular viewing distance, but small issues, even with good eyesight, should be unnoticeable.

I realize that the idea here is to make better, not perfect, but I am starting to wonder which corrections will actually make a noticeable difference on a TV. Granted, watching on a laptop or iPad is a different story due to viewing distance, but it makes me wonder.

Some of us (without wives) watch our HDTVs from 5 feet back on the couch. :)

There's several viewing guidelines you can follow for TV: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum...ewing_distance

I have a 55" TV, and thus sit about 10 feet away for the best experience. I hate normal glasses (non-sunglasses); I've worn contacts since the 90s. At the height of my serious medical issues in late 2012, 2013, and early 2014, the blind spots in my vision made me mostly useless for video work. I still have them (better, but not gone), and have to be extra vigilant when looking at a video. It's the main reason I mostly do hobby projects these days, to get used to the new normal in my life. (Working full-time is still not possible for me. Even typing on this forum can still be challenge. Lots of people assume I'm back to normal, but I'm not.)

The most bothersome errors are
- chroma noise
- chroma bleeding
- grain
- non-content movements (vertical jitter, timing wiggles aka horizontal jitter, etc)

Some people are far too anal about the exact hues of colors, contrast, etc -- but the TV can undo some of that work if it's the usual low-grade consumer HDTV.