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4K vs 1080p 55" from 9ft - out of 49 participants, 48 correctly identified the 4K TV

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dmr87

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Earlier this month, we set out to investigate if the extra resolution offered by 4K over 1080p is visible at normal viewing distance, as part of an Ultra HD and OLED television showcase event organised by British retailer Richer Sounds. A 55-inch 4K UHD (ultra high-definition) TV was lined up alongside a 1080p HDTV of the same size, each displaying content that’s 1:1 pixel-matched to its native screen resolution. Both TVs had their identities masked by custom-built cabinets which were spray-painted black. Standing 9 feet away (enforced using crowd control posts), attendees were then asked to pick out the 4K television after sampling the displayed material.

The results are now in, and an overwhelming majority of participants correctly identified the 4K TV, indicating that there exists a perceptible difference even from as far as 9 feet away on a 55" screen. Out of 49 attendees who submitted their pick to enter a prize draw, only one thought that the 1080p set was the 4K display.

While we’d like to claim that we’ve provided the definitive answer to the great 4K vs 1080p debate, there are a number of caveats. First, the 4K videos we served from a media PC were high quality, which included a demo clip from Chimei Innolux, as well as the Blender Foundation’s excellent open-source movie projects Tears Of Steel and Sintel. Critics may argue that this is unrealistic, since the native 4K material that may become available in streaming format will probably be compressed to a heavier degree. However, our intention was to demonstrate the difference – if any – between the best of 4K versus the best of 1080p. After all, if you wanted to show off your HDTV to your friends, you would use the most pristine Blu-ray movies, instead of softer HD content or (gasp) Netflix, wouldn’t you?

Last but not least, resolution is only one of the many attributes of picture quality, and not the most important one. Amongst the swarm of 4K televisions on exhibit, it was actually a full HD 1080p set – the LG 55EA980W OLED TV – that hogged the attention of those attending the event, largely due to its ability to render true 0 cd/m2 blacks, contributing to an unrivalled contrast performance (which most video enthusiasts agree is the principal determinant of image quality). Ok, its unfathomably slim panel and subtly curved design probably turned more than a few heads too.

So there you have it: the superior resolution of 4K over 1080p is visible on a 55″ screen from 9 feet away, provided the content is up to par. The difference is not big unless you move closer – only you can decide if this is worth the higher prices currently commanded by Ultra HD 4K TVs.

Regardless of what anyone (and that includes us) say or think, 4K TV is coming, with or without widely available native 4K content. Eventually the price premium between a 4K set and a 1080p HDTV will become negligible, and the latter will go the way of 720p, HD-ready displays into the scrapheap of phased-out technologies. Our only plea to TV manufacturers is to not ignore other aspects of image quality in pursuit of resolution (4K OLED to the fore, please), and we hope that it won’t be too long before consumers can get their hands on high-quality 4K content such as 4K Blu-ray to take full advantage of UHD televisions.
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Full article
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/4k-resolution-201312153517.htm
 
I downloaded a 4k trailer and tested it on my 1080p screen. That itself looked better than any 1080p material I have ever seen.
 
resolution_chart.jpg
 
I mean, i would hope that there are discernable differences, but the fact that a survey is needed kind emphasizes the degrees in which were dealing in - very incremental.
 
Yup. The people who were saying "you can't see the difference between 4K and 1080P unless you're 2 feet away from the TV" are probably the people who say they can't tell a difference between 30 and 60 fps.
 
peterb0y said:
I mean, i would hope that there are discernable differences, but the fact that a survey is needed kind emphasizes the degrees in which were dealing in - very incremental.
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What? No survey was needed. The survey was orchestrated to prove a hypothesis, which it did. I don't understand your comment at all.
 
nhlducks35 said:
Yup. The people who were saying "you can't see the difference between 4K and 1080P unless you're 2 feet away from the TV" are probably the people who say they can't tell a difference between 30 and 60 fps.
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They're probably the same people who think 1080p and 720p look the same.
 
So people can tell the difference. That's good.

Now, what is the magnitude of the difference, is it worth the cost of entry, and will it even matter when less-than-perfect 4K content is displayed?
 
hey_it's_that_dog said:
So people can tell the difference. That's good.

Now, what is the magnitude of the difference, is it worth the cost of entry, and will it even matter when less-than-perfect 4K content is displayed?
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currently, no it's not worth the difference to most sane people. in a few years though, when these things are half the price and there is actually some 4K content, yeah, I plan on buying one. They look great with 4K content.

So yeah, in two or three years, I'll be all over one.
 
Haines said:
When do we expect 4k to have a lot of content, and be priced half reasonable. Is it something like 10 years out?
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depends on what you mean as reasonable. the current Sony I like is something like $6000 currently. I'd pay up to $2500 for one. I won't be surprised if they're in that ball park before 2016.
 
What lax testing methodology. Anyone can [mis]use calibration, independent elements, and different sources to prove that any given TV feature offers an obvious difference in picture quality.
 
Y2Kev said:
What? No survey was needed. The survey was orchestrated to prove a hypothesis, which it did. I don't understand your comment at all.
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Putting it in a slightly different way- the fact that there was any sort of hypothesis at all, as in that there was some doubt that differences might or might not be notable, gives way to the idea that we're dealing in incremental upgrades.
 
To me it's not a matter of "is there a difference?"

Of course there is a fucking difference. The question is, do I have enough 4k content available to justify the purchase?
 
velociraptor said:
I downloaded a 4k trailer and tested it on my 1080p screen. That itself looked better than any 1080p material I have ever seen.
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It could. If it's like youtube and 1080p is so compressed it's worse than lossless 720p, then a similar compression technique on 4K could make up for the artifacts.
 
peterb0y said:
Putting it in a slightly different way- the fact that there was any sort of hypothesis at all, as in that there was some doubt that differences might or might not be notable, gives way to the idea that we're dealing in incremental upgrades.
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game reviewers regularly cite the completely unsupported notion that 'most average people can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p at normal viewing distances'. they do not provide any evidence for this. they cite it as common sense.

someone does an actual study that refutes such nonsense, and your response is 'well it can't be that impressive if you have to do a study'.

it's a very odd reaction.
 
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