
Show HN: My weekend project - preview TV sizes on your wall - weirdcat
http://tvsizematters.com
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sanj
I recently went through this exercise, but it involved cutting up large pieces
of cardboard and holding them up against the wall while my wife looked on
disapprovingly.

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mayank
Or you could have just held up a footrule and done some math. Ratios are all
you need, but the cardboard is more fun.

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ck2
Clever, but steal some ideas from here:

<http://tvcalculator.com/>

Compare 4:3 and 16:9 content in the box as an option.

I use that to try to figure out what to get to replace my 32" 4:3 CRT TV (yes
it's a dinosaur - I'm waiting for black friday). Oh and the answer is 40" 16:9
will replace a 32" 4:3 TV for viewing 4:3 content sometimes.

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MattBearman
This site just triggered my anti-virus, any one else?

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Popcorned23
It might be because of the iframe which loads a script from <http://golden-
corps.com>. The website is dead so I'm not sure what its there for.

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beezee
Awesomely clever. Can you do something about the browser history bloat? A
couple drags of the slider and I'm stuck on the page forever, that might piss
people off.

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weirdcat
Good point. Didn't think about it, thanks. I removed the hash update for the
time being.

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instakill
Your links should have affiliate codes. Make some money out of it.

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weirdcat
But of course, and they do! :)

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numlocked
Did you compile a static list of recommended TVs in different sizes, and just
display relevant ones (it looks like it from the markup) or are you actually
searching Amazon and pulling back relevant products? (or something in between)

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weirdcat
For the MVP I precompiled a list of 3 top selling TVs of all sizes. If it
proves to be worth it, I'll add periodic autoupdate for the list and visitor
country check, but it still will be prefetched (so yeah, something in
between).

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nodata
Make this for furniture and you will be rich.

You could estimate sizes based on perspective.

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jrnkntl
Ikea (among others) has this [http://freshome.com/2010/08/18/10-best-free-
online-virtual-r...](http://freshome.com/2010/08/18/10-best-free-online-
virtual-room-programs-and-tools/)

~~~
nodata
That's nothing compared to how they could have it.

Imagine, I take a movie of my front room. The app calculates the lengths and
widths of my room and everything in it based on something (perhaps
perspective). I go to a furniture store (or online), and want to see how that
sofa will look in my front room. Maybe I take a photo of that sofa, maybe
there's a qcode on it. I want to see how that sofa will look, how it will fit
into my front room. Will it be too big/too small? Is it too dark/too light/the
wrong colour?

The biggest barrier left between buying some furniture is imagining how it
will look and fit into the space you already have. Some people can't imagine
colours accurately, some people can't judge sizes accurately, many people
can't do both.

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greendestiny
There is an augmented reality furniture app out there. Can't remember the name
off hand, but some googling will probably reveal it.

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minouye
Saw a demo at a meetup recently of the iPad version. Pretty slick :)

<http://www.snapshopinc.com/>

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nodata
Nice, just the sizing part and the photo of an item you like parts to go :)

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gus_massa
Nice work. The first thing I tried was to drag the corner of the TV, to make
it bigger. Is it possible to add this feature?

~~~
weirdcat
This is actually something I've removed in the process, trying to simplify
things.

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asnyder
When you reach over 80" you should switch to recommending projectors. For
example, I have a 120" screen and a Panasonic AE200U projector.

~~~
weirdcat
Yeah, that's definitely in the plans. I'm a projector guy myself. :)

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biot
I'd love to see a compare feature. For example, someone with a 40" screen
might want to see how that compares to a 60" screen. Right now, you can drag
back and forth to try and get an idea of the comparative size. Having two
sliders would be great to overlay the smaller size on top of the larger size.
You could then also display the relative screen area of each -- 60" is 50%
larger than the 40" screen diagonally, but 125% larger in terms of area which
is what really matters.

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weirdcat
By the way, I'm looking for a partner to release it as an iOS app. Anybody
game?

Hit me up at notabing --- gmail.com

~~~
ThomPete
Hi you could also try and submit it to <http://www.weekendhacker.net>

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cks
Cool, but why is the default picture behind the sofa. It would make more sense
simulating sitting in it.

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flog
Good point. There's some psychology to be thought about here.

You need an element in the picture that is of a known scale. The couch is
pretty good, but maybe include something on the wall so you can compare the
two... a door frame is the best I can think of, since they are pretty
standardised.

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JonoW
Wicked idea, nicely executed, wish I'd thought of it!

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flog
You say that like this would be hard to replicate in a weekend.

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krmmalik
My wife is a hobbyist artist and is thinking of displaying some of her art
work in online shops. SHe was talking last week about a technology such as
this that would enable her to demonstrate her artwork in its intended
environment, in the same way as this project for the TVs. I knew this could be
done, just didnt know how. I'd be curious to learn how this is achieved, or if
there are any services out there that provide this service?

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weirdcat
I'm adapting it for other uses; hit me up at notabing -at- gmail.com

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alain94040
Seeing the title, I thought this was like SnapShop
(<http://www.snapshopinc.com/>), where you hold your iPhone, point at the
wall, and you see the picture with the TV added, as in virtual reality.

Could you make it like that? It would be so much simpler than having to take a
picture, upload it, etc...

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weirdcat
I did think of that, but that would be quite tougher to build and hardly a
weekend thing.

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emp_
Feature suggestion: show minimum viewing distance (not visual, just a number
in meters/feet)

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Batsu
Looks like you've been featured on LifeHacker. Not bad for a weekend project.

[http://lifehacker.com/5829786/tv-size-matters-lets-you-
try-n...](http://lifehacker.com/5829786/tv-size-matters-lets-you-try-new-tvs-
on-for-size-before-you-buy)

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americandesi333
Now this would be more powerful if it was 3 Dimensional... Another weekend
project :)

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aw3c2
I expected a VR-type application where you have a reference something the user
has to place on his wall and then he can move backwards, film the wall and see
the device rendered on the wall as if it was there.

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Ammike
Sony have built something similar to this for their TVs. Although it only
works with photographs rather than video: <http://www.sony.co.uk/article/tv-
size-guide>

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IanDrake
Good idea and great execution.

What else can this type of app be applied to?

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edawerd
Great idea. You might also want to show links to compatible wall mounts to go
with the TVs.

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ed209
are you going to tell us how much you make on affiliate sales?

~~~
weirdcat
I don't expect much really, but who knows, maybe I'm totally wrong and it buys
me a jet. We'll see. :)

I'll probably cook up a blog post about the experience and post it here.

