Screen Size

[Kopy]

Hi,

 

Somebody told me this a while ago but I can't recall it. What's a good rule of thumb when estimating what size of screen will be required for a room of x metres for a conference?

 

Thanks!

[David Lee]

ISTR that it is a third the furthest distance from the screen i.e. A 50ft room should have a 16ft (horizontal) screen. This was for 4 x 3 ratio screens, not certain if it is the same for 16x9 ratio. Obviously, at some point your screen size may become too big for the room and you need relay screens further down the room.

[bruce]

Ideally, you want 10 point text to be legible by someone with "normal" vision, sitting in the back row. So screen resolution comes into the equation as well...

 

The ICIA guidelines talk about 2 types of viewing - "Detailed viewing" and "inspection viewing" - depending on whether the content is mainly text based or detailed graphical. For these, the recommended ratios are that the max viewer-screen distance should be either 4x or 6x the screen height. AETM, the Association of Educational Technology Managers, compromises on this, suggesting a ratio of 5.3:1 to screen height.

 

By specifying the ratios relative to screen height, we need worry less about different aspect ratios.

[PeterT]

Bruce, really interesting. To save my google laziness and to provide a useful reference for others, do you have a link to these guidelines at all?

[bruce]

ICIA is the International Communications Industries Association. Their standards that I mentioned are actually ANSI/Infocomm publications, and are available for purchase, not free download. Same sort of model as British Standards docs, I guess!

 

ANSI/INFOCOMM 2M-2010: Standard Guide for Audiovisual Systems Design and Coordination Processes.

ANSI/INFOCOMM 3M-2011: Projected Image System Contrast Ratio

British Standards Institute 2009 PAS 122:2009: Specification for the installation of audiovisual equipment in classrooms and general publicly accessible areas. ISBN 9780580679841

 

 

AETM, http://www.aetm.org , the Association of Educational Technology Managers, is a group for learning space managers working in Higher and Further Education in Australia and New Zealand. I'm involved with the equivalent group in the UK.

 

One of the most useful docs that AETM has produced is their AV design guide - http://www.aetm.org/index.php?id=71 - which gives design guidelines and specifications for AV installations in teaching spaces - so projection, screen size, viewing angles and distances, projector light levels, ambient light levels, contrast ratios etc. It also has similar guidelines for sound, acoustics, writing surfaces etc.

 

It's a really useful document, taking a lot of existing standards, "best practice" guidelines, and "rules of thumb", and combining them into a single reference doc. It has already formed the basis of several tenders that we have issued :) It's also written in a way that is useful to architects and building contractors. (and when printed, is weighty enough to whack them with....)

 

Only slight downside for me is that it references Australian (and sometime US) building and technical standards. There has been talk of generating a "UK Edition", referencing local standards.