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Screen Sizing

This page is intended more for AV Consultants

For architects and basic planning, the Quick Sizing Guide may be more useful

For the purpose of screen sizing, we only consider 2 categories – Analytical Decision Making and Basic Decision Making. The majority of rooms within Curtin would be classified as BDM spaces.

Element Height

In the case of Basic Decision Making (BDM) we use the height of the smallest element that needs to be resolved as the basis for our calculations. This smallest element is given as a percentage of the overall image and referred to as %EH. For reference, on a 1080p screen, size 12 font is 1.48%, size 20 font is 2.5% When rendered unscaled at 4k resolution these figures are halved.

Below are some general %EH figures for use within various Curtin spaces – note that 4k displays are not aiming for identical readability of the same size element – instead encouraging people working in 4k to use larger elements

Room TypeSample %EH 1080pSample %EH 4K
LEC2% (0.02)1.2% (0.012)
MET2.5% (0.025)2.2% (0.022)
OFF2.2% (0.022)2% (0.02)

BDM Sizing

Calculating screen size we need to know 3 values to calculate the other values:

%EH – The percentage element height of the smallest item FV – Farthest Viewer IH – Image Height – the vertical size of the screen. IO – Image Offset CV – Closest Viewer

The formula for calculating Image Height is:

IH = FV × %EH × 200

For determining the farthest viewer based on a given image height

FV = IH × %EH × 200

To determine the nearest viewer we need to calculate the image offset – that is, the distance between the standard eye line and the top of the image.

IO = IH - 1200

We can then calculate the closest viewer

CV = 1 tan 30° × ( IH + IO )

ADM Sizing

ADM sizing is based on the following variables:

IH – Image Height – the vertical size of the screen FV – Farthest Viewer (in mm) IR – Vertical Resolution

The farthest viewer is calculated by:

FV = ( IH × 3438 ) / IR