Television sets v. iPads

[Rob C]

I took delivery of new reading glasses this morning, and sitting here writing this on the small iPad, I glanced up at the darkened tv set and realised that the image on the 'pad is more than twice the relative size of the tv screen, which led me to thinking that as I sit in the same place to use both devices, there is no apparent value to the large tv set.

Perhaps it's not just camera manufacturers that are biting their fingernails these days.

Rob

[Robert Roaldi]

You may need a different prescription for TV viewing, as I do. Might be worth the expense, watching a smaller screen in your lap with your head bent will eventually give you neck pains, and that's even if you're watching good content.

[Peter McLennan]

I agree, Rob.  For solo viewing, the experience is pretty much the same. The only real difference is that you can't move around as much without changing your screen view.  It's pretty easy to support the tablet in a convenient location so that you're not so restricted.

And the sound, of course. No tablet can compete with a good sound system, although my iPad Pro 13" comes darn close.  Headphones eliminate this problem at the expense of isolating you from your environment.

[Rob C]

You may need a different prescription for TV viewing, as I do. Might be worth the expense, watching a smaller screen in your lap with your head bent will eventually give you neck pains, and that's even if you're watching good content.

No, I can see the tv screen crisply, without specs, since the cataracts went into the trash. I need specs for reading at about what, about ten inches or so distance, and for the monitor, my mother's old pair seems ideal. From about five feet everything is sharp now.

I get the point about posture, though.

[Rob C]

I agree, Rob.  For solo viewing, the experience is pretty much the same. The only real difference is that you can't move around as much without changing your screen view.  It's pretty easy to support the tablet in a convenient location so that you're not so restricted.

And the sound, of course. No tablet can compete with a good sound system, although my iPad Pro 13" comes darn close.  Headphones eliminate this problem at the expense of isolating you from your environment.

For sound, I use either a pair of Bose ears via Bluetooth, or a small Panasonic set of those tiny things that fit inside the ear and plug into the socket at the side of the iPad. For tv I have to rely on the set's own speakers which seem to be going badly wrong - my daughter noticed on her last visit, which was a relief, because I thought it was my ears, but as she mentioned it first... I sometimes play the tv through the hifi system, but am waiting for a longer extension cable from the tv 'phone socket so that I can use the earphones which is much less hassle.

Rob

[Chris Kern]

I glanced up at the darkened tv set and realised that the image on the 'pad is more than twice the relative size of the tv screen, which led me to thinking that as I sit in the same place to use both devices, there is no apparent value to the large tv set.

The trick, at least here in the States, is to find something worth watching.*  In the last few years, the U.S. and British programming we receive has been uninspiring.  The dramatic programs we get from the Beeb and ITV are dominated by anodyne period pieces, and the stuff produced here―well, the less said about that, the better.  (We don't see many offerings from other English-speaking countries; dunno why.)  Lately, we've taken to watching movies and TV series from Latin America, even though they challenge our limited Spanish-comprehension skills, and from eastern and northern Europe.  We just finished a fine Brazilian-Spanish coproduction about Alberto Santos-Dumont, the early aviation experimenter (in French and Portuguese, with Spanish subtitles), which I highly recommend to those of you who have access to it.

―――
*Other than news, of course.  Not that I recommend relying exclusively on television for news coverage.

[bassman51]

I’ve seen 55” TVs for sale recently for $249.  The cheapest iPad starts at $329. 

[Ivo_B]

The trick, at least here in the States, is to find something worth watching.*  In the last few years, the U.S. and British programming we receive has been uninspiring.  The dramatic programs we get from the Beeb and ITV are dominated by anodyne period pieces, and the stuff produced here―well, the less said about that, the better.  (We don't see many offerings from other English-speaking countries; dunno why.)  Lately, we've taken to watching movies and TV series from Latin America, even though they challenge our limited Spanish-comprehension skills, and from eastern and northern Europe.  We just finished a fine Brazilian-Spanish coproduction about Alberto Santos-Dumont, the early aviation experimenter (in French and Portuguese, with Spanish subtitles), which I highly recommend to those of you who have access to it.

―――
*Other than news, of course.  Not that I recommend relying exclusively on television for news coverage.

French, Spain? North Europe? I think you keep the map upside down. 😬😉

[Ivo_B]

I took delivery of new reading glasses this morning, and sitting here writing this on the small iPad, I glanced up at the darkened tv set and realised that the image on the 'pad is more than twice the relative size of the tv screen, which led me to thinking that as I sit in the same place to use both devices, there is no apparent value to the large tv set.

Perhaps it's not just camera manufacturers that are biting their fingernails these days.

Rob

Not sure to what TV set you are looking at. You could consider a more recent model.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

A good one, Ivo (re size) 

Rob,

The main reason I switch to a tv in the evening, after spending a whole day staring at either desktop, iPad, or iPhone screens, is that I spent the whole day staring at desktop, iPad, or iPhone screens. In other words, staring at something at a short distance from my eyes. My admittedly layman knowledge of eye optics tells me that eyes need an exercise too, achieved by looking at things at various distances. For instance, horizon, after reading. And Robert’s suggestion about neck posture makes perfect sense.

[DP]

As hinted above in the topic sometimes some people do watch something together and not just solo ... I'd say watching your iPad together with 1+ other people is not going to be nice... hence TV screens are safe for a while.

[Rob C]

A good one, Ivo (re size) 

Rob,

The main reason I switch to a tv in the evening, after spending a whole day staring at either desktop, iPad, or iPhone screens, is that I spent the whole day staring at desktop, iPad, or iPhone screens. In other words, staring at something at a short distance from my eyes. My admittedly layman knowledge of eye optics tells me that eyes need an exercise too, achieved by looking at things at various distances. For instance, horizon, after reading. And Robert’s suggestion about neck posture makes perfect sense.

The problem is spending all day looking at screens. Any screen.

Chris Kern makes the perfect reason for not buying another tv: you wanna watch crap? Sky News is sinking ever lower, with concentration on "human interest" that seems to be focussed right now on that American lady who unfortunately hit and killled a young motorcyclist because she was on the wrong side of the road. AKAIK, she had just left the entrance to a military airfield, when the event took place. No idea if she had been drinking or whatever, but I can tell you this: it is very easy to revert momentarily to your domestic driving habits when you are in a foreign land where people drive on the opposite side to the one you grew up driving on. Reading of publicity material for holidays abroad stresses this fact over and over again if you intend driving on holiday.

What would any of us here have done given the ability, via diplomatic immunity, to get the hell away?

This is now going to be turned into a political circus of Boris chatting with Donny in order to resolve it and keep the US voters happy and the British public still bemused and oblivious to the much broader chaos of the upcoming Brexit. Watch for the forked tongues!

Brit tv loves, in general, getting into people's lives and watching the tears, the family group huggings, the read statements and the change in fashion sense as a victim's family starts to coin in the exclusive network or newspaper fees. Sickening.

I kinda recall the way the parents of the little girl, who "vanished" from her bed whilst on holiday in Portugal were treated:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Madeleine_McCann

from sympathy to abuse; the public followed every word printed in their favourite rag.

I guess that when daily life becomes a fake life, a substitute for a personal one of value, is one filled with soaps, sports programmes, social media bondage to the latest uttering of some social media person famous for being the famous owner of a famously fat ass, there is little more that can be expected.

It's enough to make you cast off in your superyacht, not that one would be doing that personally of course, one has crew. Which of course, blows you privacy to hell, and opens you up to all sorts of future problems when the legal papers arrive.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... the perfect reason for not buying another tv: you wanna watch crap?...

You are obviously watching the wrong channel, Rob. Switch to YouTube and help this poor boy top his $26 million next year:

 

[Rob C]

You are obviously watching the wrong channel, Rob. Switch to YouTube and help this poor boy top his $26 million next year:

Slobodan, it's on Fox: fake news.

Anyway, how does a baby review a yacht I will never afford?

Rob

[Ivo_B]

Slobodan, it's on Fox: fake news.

Anyway, how does a baby review a yacht I will never afford?

Rob

By lowering your expectations.

[John Camp]

Watching anything on an iPad is mostly a personal experience; watching it on a large wall-mounted TV is often social. Social is good, especially with popcorn. Here in the states, it's pretty common to see people watching movies on their iPads during commercial flights. If you can find a down-loadable movie that's worth watching, you can pretty much kill off an otherwise tedious flight.

[Ivo_B]

Watching anything on an iPad is mostly a personal experience; watching it on a large wall-mounted TV is often social. Social is good, especially with popcorn. Here in the states, it's pretty common to see people watching movies on their iPads during commercial flights. If you can find a down-loadable movie that's worth watching, you can pretty much kill off an otherwise tedious flight.

No! No! Popcorn should be forbidden to eat in the cinema, or you should carry a certificate that you can (and will) eat with your mouth closed.

[Rob C]

Watching anything on an iPad is mostly a personal experience; watching it on a large wall-mounted TV is often social. Social is good, especially with popcorn. Here in the states, it's pretty common to see people watching movies on their iPads during commercial flights. If you can find a down-loadable movie that's worth watching, you can pretty much kill off an otherwise tedious flight.

Indeed it's of a solitary nature, but that's my deal today.

It's been fifteen years, give or take a few months, since I last set foot in an aircraft. Also, I didn't know you could watch movies on the iPad without the double blessing of buying from iTunes or similar, and wifi being available. I thought all external communications such as cellphone use and other transmissions were banned on aircraft, hence flight-mode settings.

Guess my world is more tiny than I'd imagined.

:-)

[Alan Goldhammer]

The main reason I switch to a tv in the evening, after spending a whole day staring at either desktop, iPad, or iPhone screens, is that I spent the whole day staring at desktop, iPad, or iPhone screens. In other words, staring at something at a short distance from my eyes. My admittedly layman knowledge of eye optics tells me that eyes need an exercise too, achieved by looking at things at various distances. For instance, horizon, after reading. And Robert’s suggestion about neck posture makes perfect sense.

As you age it takes your eyes longer to refocus when moving to different viewing distances.  I do the same as you and switch to TV watching for movies and sports; it's easier to move around and also keep the  neck muscles agile.

[Alan Goldhammer]

Watching anything on an iPad is mostly a personal experience; watching it on a large wall-mounted TV is often social. Social is good, especially with popcorn. Here in the states, it's pretty common to see people watching movies on their iPads during commercial flights. If you can find a down-loadable movie that's worth watching, you can pretty much kill off an otherwise tedious flight.

My wife is a big fan of Turkish soap operas of which there are a number on Netflix.