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Unable to get console based immersion.

M

mingsoup

Golden Member
For some reason I have real trouble feeling up close and personal with console gaming. I own a 55" plasma and sit about 10' away from it. It feelsl like the characters are so small and the details are lost. It's something I've struggled with for a long time. I originally had a 36" 4:3 CRT HDTV that I sat almost 13' from. This was the worst situation, since widescreen on a 4:3 television is a horrible thing. To try and compensate, I bought a 720p projector. However due to inability to control lighting conditions I had to get rid of that, combined with the stress of burning out bulbs.

Now I have a 55" plasma and sit ~10' away. I still don't feel in anyway really connected to the experience. I have a 5.1 surround sound system that is kinda sorta configured correctly. However due to my room not being 100% ideal, speaker convergence and positioning is pretty off. For me as a gamer, stereo suffices. I'm thinking about possibly trying headphones with an extension, maybe that will help.

PC gaming is different I sit 2.75' away from a 24" LCD. Immersion is great.

?Buy a bigger television? What a 60"? Have you seen how big a 60" is? 55" is already bordering on unsightly. I guess I just need to buy my own movie theater or put a chair in the middle of the room. If I sit 2" from my console television, then I might as well be sitting at a desk playing PC. Dilemma. Thoughts and opinions much appreciated.
 
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bdubyah said:
You sit 10 inches away from a 55" plasma? How are you not blind yet?
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Sorry. Corrected.

So put the couch in the middle of the room? I can't get around how console gamers do it. Does anyone game in a living room? Living rooms are usually fairly large. Sometimes I'm tempted to just junk my surround sound system, get a 30" LCD and sit like 1" from it. Living rooms do NOT provide immersion unless A) you have a 65-70" television or B) you somehow manage a complicated, expensive, and inconvenient projection setup.
 
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mingsoup said:
Sorry. Corrected.

So put the couch in the middle of the room? I can't get around how console gamers do it. Does anyone game in a living room? Living rooms are usually fairly large. Sometimes I'm tempted to just junk my surround sound system, get a 30" LCD and sit like 1" from it. Living rooms do NOT provide immersion unless A) you have a 65-70" television or B) you somehow manage a complicated, expensive, and inconvenient projection setup.
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I get immersed but I have a decent surround sound set-up. Try adjusting your surround sound set-up. Sound is the #1 thing that can immerse you into something. More so than visual.
 
zerocool84 said:
I get immersed but I have a decent surround sound set-up. Try adjusting your surround sound set-up. Sound is the #1 thing that can immerse you into something. More so than visual.
Click to expand...

I get immersed as hell with a 4.2 system on my PS3(Yes, 2x 2.1 Logitech speakers w/ good bass)
 
I'm finding out more and more I'm simply a stereo man. Portable and easy to setup. You can bring a good set of cans with you anywhere. 5.1 setups require articulate speaker mounts and positioning, cords, and receivers, especially if you are dealing with larger bookshelf and floor mount speakers. I don't use the (.1) because I live with others and have neighbors, nothing worse than a neighbor with a love of overpowering bass. I find organizing a room just so to get a good sound space is task reserved for gods (or professionals.) I'm no good at it. Sound is always off.

I grabbed a chair and plopped it right in the middle of the living room 5" from the TV. I'll try that for a bit.
 
mingsoup said:
I'm finding out more and more I'm simply a stereo man. Portable and easy to setup. You can bring a good set of cans with you anywhere. 5.1 setups require articulate speaker mounts and positioning, cords, and receivers, especially if you are dealing with larger bookshelf and floor mount speakers. I don't use the (.1) because I live with others and have neighbors, nothing worse than a neighbor with a love of overpowering bass. I find organizing a room just so to get a good sound space is task reserved for gods (or professionals.) I'm no good at it. Sound is always off.

I grabbed a chair and plopped it right in the middle of the living room 5" from the TV. I'll try that for a bit.
Click to expand...

Having a 5 speaker setup without bass just seems a bit weird...Bass just...adds so much depth and awesomeness. Games like BC2 and MLB the show sound amazingly off the chart with bass.
 
You sit too far away from the TV that's why. I play on a 32 inch and sit 4 feet away. I've went back and forth between pc and console gaming. PC gaming looks better but it hurts my eyes, mouse and keyboard is uncomfortable for long periods of time.
 
Do you feel 32" and 4' dictate a very good "immersion" for you? Do you have a couch? A chair? What kinda of environment. I used to have immersion back when I had a small bedroom. Taking my consoles and putting them on my 24" LCD computer screen is better than trying to put TV's (no matter what size) across living rooms. It just doesn't work. For my living room.....I would need a 70-90" television to get immersed. They don't make TV's that big and I like playing during the day (rules our projectors.) To mimic my PC gaming environment at 13', I would need a 66" television. Bit excessive......and (very) expensive and *horribly* gawdy. All of a sudden console gaming just became a *hell* of lot more expensive than PC gaming. Have you priced a 65" TV (still under) For that amount of cash I could stay in an *elite* PC for many years to come.

There comes a point. While I'm rearranging my entire living room? why not just buy a smaller TV, instead of spending enormous amounts on trying to get a TV to fit the room. You know? My 24" LCD is 5 years old. I've loved it since day 1 and wouldn't trade it for anything. ALL of my televisions CRT, Projection, Plasma, I'd trade em all twice over for the immersion my PC gives me. What is the problem? Televisions have traditionally been about living rooms. That is not longer true.

Bit hard to watch a movie around a 32 inch television though. 4 or 5 people......there's the problem. My PC monitor is for one person and one person only. I can have up to 5 people attempting to view media or play games on the television. I suppose sharing = lost immersion. Dilemma.

Watching movies at 10'-13' on a 55" is dandy. Works great. Movies still have their effect. Games. Completely different.
 
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mingsoup said:
Do you feel 32" and 4' dictate a very good "immersion" for you? Do you have a couch? A chair? What kinda of environment. I used to have immersion back when I had a small bedroom. Taking my consoles and putting them on my 24" LCD computer screen is better than trying to put TV's (no matter what size) across living rooms. It just doesn't work. For my living room.....I would need a 70-90" television to get immersed. They don't make TV's that big and I like playing during the day (rules our projectors.) To mimic my PC gaming environment at 13', I would need a 66" television. Bit excessive......and (very) expensive and *horribly* gawdy. All of a sudden console gaming just became a *hell* of lot more expensive than PC gaming. Have you priced a 65" TV (still under) For that amount of cash I could stay in an *elite* PC for many years to come.

There comes a point. While I'm rearranging my entire living room? why not just buy a smaller TV, instead of spending enormous amounts on trying to get a TV to fit the room. You know? My 24" LCD is 5 years old. I've loved it since day 1 and wouldn't trade it for anything. ALL of my televisions CRT, Projection, Plasma, I'd trade em all twice over for the immersion my PC gives me. What is the problem? Televisions have traditionally been about living rooms. That is not longer true.

Bit hard to watch a movie around a 32 inch television though. 4 or 5 people......there's the problem. My PC monitor is for one person and one person only. I can have up to 5 people attempting to view media or play games on the television. I suppose sharing = lost immersion. Dilemma.

Watching movies at 10'-13' on a 55" is dandy. Works great. Movies still have their effect. Games. Completely different.
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I play on my 21.5' monitor from about 4 feet away...maybe i just get immersed too easily?

it's usually easier to get immerged when there are less distractions. We have a 50" on the living room, but i just can't get into it with all the stuff around.

In my room, all i need is a chair and my monitor...next thing i know, it's 3am lol.
 
mingsoup said:
If I sit 2" from my console television, then I might as well be sitting at a desk playing PC. Dilemma. Thoughts and opinions much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Problem solved!

Personally, I am immersed with the content of a game. I don't need huge HD screens and speakers. Just give me a good game with enough to do to hold my attention. It can even be a hand held, I'm THAT easy.

But, for you, you might as well stick with PC gaming. Unless, there is a specific console game you want/need to play. And, if the immersion issue is what is holding you back from enjoying it, then yeah, sit closer. Or, get the PC version instead.
 
I have a 42" plasma ... and still sit probably about 10' away when i'm gaming because that's where my couch is. For some games that's not a problem, but I understand where you are coming from. I have found that for some games I simply have to grab a chair from the kitchen or something and stick it in the middle of the room in order to enjoy the game properly... sitting 5' away vs 10' makes all the difference for me.

I don't have any surround sound or anything like that so I don't know how sound affects this...
 
I use my comfy desk chair and rest my feet on the TV table 😛 My PC is hooked to the HDTV and I use an Xbox 360 wireless gamepad to play games whenever possible.

As others have said, sit closer 🙂 You'll get immersed if the screen fills most of your view. Would be even better if you had a strong PC and could crank up all details with high AA levels. That with a gamepad = best experience IMO.

EDIT: Tried to use my 24" LCD a few times and I just can't enjoy any game on that. Even if I keep my head close to the screen...
 
sucks to be you.

i actually game on a 23" monitor that i set on my coffee table. when i'm playing games now, i sit much closer than i used to when i played on my 55" dlp. it looks much crisper and this monitor has no lag (my tv is a DLP so it has lag, which I didn't even know until a couple years ago).

when i play fighters i'm pretty close to the screen, probably 2 feet or so, because my joystick is sitting on the table right infront of the monitor.
 
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zerocool84 said:
Bigger tv or sit closer. You sit too far away.

This is a good article to read:

http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter
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That's a good read.

This calculator is a little more comprehensive though, tells you the current field of view instead of simply telling you the ideal viewing distance for a given size:

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html

For a 55" at 10', that's a 22.6° viewing angle. You want 30° or higher, which means about 7 feet or closer.

For comparison, a 23" monitor at 2 feet yields a 45° viewing angle. A 32" TV at that same distance gets you 60°.

Also, a 55" screen at 10' is the same as a 32" screen at 6'. Not that either is an ideal situation, but at least with the 32" you're not spending over a thousand bucks. You should rearrange your living room to get your money's worth.
 
I have a 42" plasma literally at the foot of my bed, and i game in bed with speakers surrounding me.

Also, cannibis helps with immersion.
 
Isn't there a discrepancy between a 200$ console and a 3500$ 65" television? Buy a bigger television isn't really the answer some of us look for.
 
mingsoup said:
Isn't there a discrepancy between a 200$ console and a 3500$ 65" television? Buy a bigger television isn't really the answer some of us look for.
Click to expand...

Why would there be a discrepancy between those things?

By the way, projectors aren't complicated or expensive. Decent setups including screen and wall mount start from $1k or thereabouts. The only thing that would really prevent the use of projector is if you can't control the light.
 
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mingsoup said:
Isn't there a discrepancy between a 200$ console and a 3500$ 65" television? Buy a bigger television isn't really the answer some of us look for.
Click to expand...

You've just got a poor setup. 10 feet is far. I dont know anyone that sits ten feet from their TV, even a big one. Youve already got the answer to your question:

1) Get closer to your TV

2) Get a bigger TV

One of those is free. No need to get all mad at the messengers.
 
I have the same problem as the OP. Thats why I have my 360 hooked up to my computer monitor. Right now i have a 21.5" 1080p monitor, but im looking to upgrade to 27"

I also have a projector that i watch at 10 feet away, and the screen is 120"

Yes I need to be emerged in my media...........


When I go to a friends to play black ops on his 50" tv, it just seems so tiny to me
 
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