4K / Ultra High Definition Monitors
Hi Folks, For those of you at last nights meeting you'll recollect there was some discussion on Ultra High Definition<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution> computer monitors (i.e. "4K" monitors). With such a large resolution monitor there were jokes made about sitting on the other side of the room in order to use your computer. Today I found links to a Canadian web-site that seems to have created a science out of how far to sit in front of a TV monitor... https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/by-size/size-to-distance-relationship ...and... https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/4k-ultra-hd-uhd-vs-1080p-full-hd-tvs-and-ups... ...apparently you sit closer to a 4K/UHD TV monitor than a 1080/HD TV monitor. In fact, if you sit too far away from a 4K/UHD monitor then there is no point in having one and you should have stuck with a 1080/HD monitor! I notice that PB-Tech for the category of 4K Monitors<https://www.pbtech.co.nz/category/peripherals/monitors/4k-monitors>, the sizes are mostly in the range 24 inch to 32 inch, while 4K TVs<https://www.pbtech.co.nz/category/tv-av/tvs/4k-televisions> have screens in the range 43 inch to 86 inch. The cheapest 32 inch 4K monitor I found was a Kogan 32" Ultra HD 4K FreeSync IPS Monitor (3840 x 2160) that is available by purchasing on-line at NZ$370 plus shipping from kogan<https://www.kogan.com/nz/buy/kogan-32-ultra-hd-4k-freesync-ips-monitor-3840-x-2160/>. Getting a 4K monitor is one thing, being able to feed it with true 4K created video is the next challenge. I don't think it will be coming out of a Freeview box in NZ for a while ;-) However, with the adoption and take-up of the AV1<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AV1> standard, then more 4K video content should become available to stream from the internet. If your Desktop PC doesn't have a 4K (3980 x 1920 pixel) graphics capability, then don't forget that for a starting price of around $150 will be required for a PCI-e 4K graphics adapter<https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/VGAGBV11032/Gigabyte-GeForce-GT1030-2GB-GDDR5-Graphics-Card-GP>. cheers, Ian.
On Tue, 24 Sep 2019 06:24:08 +0000, Ian Stewart wrote:
...apparently you sit closer to a 4K/UHD TV monitor than a 1080/HD TV monitor.
Unless it’s a bigger one.
In fact, if you sit too far away from a 4K/UHD monitor then there is no point in having one and you should have stuck with a 1080/HD monitor!
Some years ago, I wrote some code that lets you input some parameters from the set of screen size, resolution, viewing distance etc, and it would work out the ones you didn’t specify. Android app <https://github.com/ldo/screencalc_android> Command-line tool <https://github.com/ldo/screencalc>
...apparently you sit closer to a 4K/UHD TV monitor than a 1080/HD TV monitor.
Unless it’s a bigger one.
Unless its two times bigger or more. ...Well that's based on my extrapolation of data from this graph<https://i.rtings.com/images/optimal-viewing-distance-television-graph-size.png> on this webpage<https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/by-size/size-to-distance-relationship>... If you watch a 30 inch 1080/HD TV at 1.2 meters, then its worthwhile watching a 30 inch 4K/TV at a distance of between 0.6m and 1.2m in order to receive the benefit of 4K/HD over 1080/HD. Alternatively, fixed at 1.2m from the screen, then watching 4K TV's in the range from 30 inch through to a 60 inch is worthwhile compared to watching a 30 inch 1080/HD TV at 1.2m Thus, as a rough guide, it is not until the diagonal screen size at least doubles with a 4K TV, that you should consider sitting further from the screen than you would with a 1080/HD TV. Also see the chart that they provide on optimal distance. I've reproduced it below: Screen Optimal Distance Size 1080p 4k 25" 0.98 m 0.46 m 30" 1.16 m 0.52 m 35" 1.35 m 0.61 m 40" 1.56 m 0.71 m 45" 1.74 m 0.80 m 50" 1.93 m 0.89 m 55" 2.14 m 0.98 m 60" 2.32 m 1.16 m 65" 2.50 m 1.25 m 70" 2.72 m 1.35 m cheers, Ian.
On Tue, 24 Sep 2019 08:41:55 +0000, Ian Stewart wrote:
...apparently you sit closer to a 4K/UHD TV monitor than a 1080/HD TV monitor.
Unless it’s a bigger one.
Unless its two times bigger or more.
That would be correct for linear dimensions, given the doubling in linear number of pixels.
If you watch a 30 inch 1080/HD TV at 1.2 meters, then its worthwhile watching a 30 inch 4K/TV at a distance of between 0.6m and 1.2m in order to receive the benefit of 4K/HD over 1080/HD.
The problem with a screen that comes too close, is the increased difference in distance from the eye to the middle of the screen, versus to the edges. Samsung and others offer curved screens for this reason--not sure how popular they’ve been. A bigger screen further away reduces this problem. The ratios may be exactly the same, but the eye is better at focusing across the greater range of distances. At least I think that’s how it works...
Hi Folks, As a follow on to monitor screen sizes and the distance you sit from them, I've made a Jupyter notebook python program that uses adjustment of widgets to model different scenarios. The ipynb file is available from here: https://github.com/irsbugs/monitor-modelling The Jupyter notebook code cell that I wrote was my introduction into using python notebook widgets. Using toggle buttons selection is made of one of four different resolution 16:9 High Definition monitors. Using slider controls adjustments are made to the screen size and the distance from the monitor. For example the following information is displayed when sitting 1 meter from a 28 inch Ultra High Definition monitor: Horizontal Pixels: 1920 Vertical Pixels: 1080 Screen Size: 28in. Screen Size: 71.1cm Width of Screen: 62.1cm Height of Screen: 34.7cm Screen distance: 100cm Viewing Angle: 34.5° Pixels per degree: 55.7 Distance to screen edge: 104.7cm Difference: Centre to Edge: 4.7cm Difference: Centre to Edge: 4.7% There are many on-line guides that recommend optimum viewing angles and screen distances, etc. For example: https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/by-size/size-to-distance-relationship Alternatively, if you are not interested in getting a new monitor, then you might like to just look through the jupyter notebook code to get an idea of one way of using widgets. cheers, Ian. Note to Python programmers as of Sep 2019: With Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS the apt repository loads Jupyter with the version of the notebook server: 5.2.2, where print(ipywidgets.version_info) returns: (6, 0, 0) With Jupyter installation via PYPI in a virtual environment then pip loads Jupyter with the version of the notebook server: 6.0.1, where print(ipywidgets.version_info) returns: (7, 5, 1, 'final', 0) There are some differences in widget behaviour between versions. For example, see in my ipynb code the work-around when I instantiate the Slider widgets.
participants (2)
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Ian Stewart -
Lawrence D'Oliveiro