Viewers’ optimization of preferred viewing distance by spatial resolution of TV display

• Preferred viewing distance decreases when TV is at a higher spatial resolution.
• Viewers shorten their PVD for detailed images on high spatial resolution TV.
• A higher spatial resolution TV can arouse greater viewer interest.

We have shown in a previous paper that preferred viewing distance (PVD)—a viewer’s favored distance from which to watch TV in the home viewing environment—is shorter when watching a high spatial resolution 4k TV than on a high-definition TV (HDTV). PVD depends on (1) the spatial resolution of the viewer’s object of interest in the relevant scene, (2) whether viewers have sufficient time to optimize their PVD, as with still images, and (3) whether they are appropriately encouraged to pay attention to the object at hand on the screen, by, for example, narrative instructions. In this paper, we demonstrate that an analogous result is obtained in a comparison between high spatial resolution 8k TV and HDTV: The PVD of viewers for 8k TV is shorter than that for HDTV. This result suggests new possibilities for high spatial resolution TV, such as novel applications and TV programs that are especially developed for 8k TV systems.