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SvennoJ on 02 November 2013
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freedquaker said:

 

My intuitive observation and personal experience seem to totally agree with your math above. Given your numbers above, human eye cannot discern 1080 p on a 5 inch screen (92 pixels) but it can do with 720p (61). This is exactly what I experience.

Also your numbers again tell us that humans can easily recognize the difference between 1080p (46 pixels) and 720p (31 pixels) on a 50 inch TV at 5ft. This is also my exact experience!

In addition, this kinda proves the hypocracy of the Tech Crowd, who claim(!) that they do see a significance difference between 1080p and 720p smart hpne screens but keep downplaying the enourmous resolution gap between 720p and 1080p, while the very same crowd has been claiming CLEAR gains from 1080 to 4K.

A little bit math would also shed light on that. With your method,

1080p 50" at 5ft (60") = 46 pixels per degree  (below 60 threshold)
4K (3840 x 2160P) at 5ft (60") = 92 pixels per degree (far above 60 threshold)

so 60 degrees would require  1080*60/46 =1408 so roughly speaking, a resolution like 2500*1400 would be the human vision threshold. In other words, 4K (3840 x 2160) is a bit overkill at 92 pixels per degree. BUT The tech crowd seems to disagree and tend to like the 4K. Wow, such a twisted mind! They see LITTLE use for 1080p (from 31 to 46, entirely discernible) but they are VERY ENTHUSIASTIC about 4K while 2/3 of the improvement from 46 to 92 degrees is not only wasted (indiscernible) but also less useful due to dimishing returns!

I think the 92 pixels per degree are just right for the THX standard at 40 degrees fov (1.2 times diagonal). It's the same resolution sweetspot they have been hyping for 1080p 5" screens after all. 90 instead of 60 still gives you a nice advantage in crispness. I see the difference almost daily between watching 1080p content on my projector (92") and lcd tv (52"). I Love the extended fov from the projector, yet also the crispness of the tv. 4K will give both.

Anyway yes 1440p upscaled to 4K should look perfectly fine with a very noticeable difference to 1080p at 5ft from a 50" screen (61 pixels per degree, 40 degree fov) Next gen's (2020) 1440p games won't be as noticeably behind 2160p as 720p is today vs 1080p. (Unless we're all gaming with VR headsets by then with 100 degree field of view)