the 1080p people...

[OdinHades]

d21lewis said:

OdinHades said:
If resolution doesn't matter, we can keep playing at 256 x 240 pixels on our NES Systems until all eternity. After all, its gameplay that matters, right?

Somebody says something similar in every thread about resolution.  Of course resolution matters!  And of course 1080p is definitely better than 720p!  The argument is that 720p is HD and 1080p is HD.  1080p is better but to many people, it's not as big a deal.

I was happy to have my PS3 and Xbox 360 upscale PS2 and Xbox games.  I was disappointed when the Wii U didn't upscale Wii games.  Sharper is better than the alternative. There comes a point where it doesn't matter, though.  My PC has a billion different resolution settings and I don't even know which one is best.  I just chose one that looked sharp enough for my TV and left it at that.  

1080p looks better but when the game is actually in motion, does it matter?  My TV is 42 inch LED 1080p, active 3D capable, w/ Picture in Picture, Smart apps, 5 HDMI (one on the side I just found), and 4 USBs and 240 Hz, btw. I can't give you the refresh rate since I'm at work.  

Well, if you ask me, 720p just ain't good enough for a 2013 console. I mean, think about it. It's not just about today, those consoles will be around for at least 5 years and it's very possible that even in 2020 people will still be playing with them. By that time 4K TVs will be dirt cheap and 8K will be right around the corner. And you really don't want a 4K TV to upscale 720p, trust me. 720p was never the real deal. It was a compromise to lower the cost in the early days of HD. The problem is, that it just doesn't want to fit with the other resolutions. You see, 4K is exactly four times 1080p. So if you upscale 1080p to 4K, you get four pixels for one pixel. The results are just what you would expect from a native 1080p display. With 720p that won't happen. The image gets messed up as you get double pixels, triple pixels or even quad pixels let alone pixels that just disappear altogether. Depends on the upscaler, but you will have issues like that every time when you view a 720p image on a TV with a higher resolution. After all, it's always the native resolution you will want to have. Only that gives you the optimal image quality. 

In 2013 1080p displays are more common than not and a device that releases in that very year should be capable of rendering in 1080p, no matter what the content is. It's called future proof and it's very important for consoles, not so much for PCs.

Sorry for da bad engrish, I tried. :(