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SvennoJ on 16 July 2020
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Just to throw something else in the native 4K debate.
I made a quick graph to plot the relation between fov and sitting distance for popular tv sizes.

FOV on the vertical axis which is the same as pixels per degree. (horizontal resolution divided by FOV)
The lines with resolution are where you can see all the pixels with 20/20 vision, 60 pixels per degree.
Above the lines is sharper, below you will start seeing individual pixels. (1080p is good for max 32 degree fov)
Horizontal axis is feet from the screen.

The grey area is the recommended viewing angle, 30 degree fov SMPTE 30 standard, up to 40.04 degrees FOV THX recommendation.

I checked my sitting arrangement and while playing GT Sport I tend to move my seat to about 6.5 ft from my 65" tv which is about 40 degree fov and 'feels right' for racing. At that distance 1440p would still be sufficient (GT Sport is 1800p)

While watching movies or playing a 3rd person game I like to hang on the couch which is 12 ft away from the tv. That's only a 22 degree fov and 1080p is more than sufficient. No wonder blu-ray looks perfectly fine to me and I see no benefit in 4K streaming. I would need a 120" screen to get 40 degree fov from that distance.

I used to watch movies on a 1080p projector at 12 ft away on a 92" screen. That was 31 degree fov and 62 pixels per degree. (Not by accident, I calibrated it that way) Perfect for blu-ray watching but too big of a screen for the living room and moving the couch closer just looks weird.


Anyway native 4K is pretty much overkill for most of the population. 1440p is plenty to get to that 40 degree viewing angle, 1800p for those with better than 20/20 vision. Of course it also depends on the quality of anti-aliasing and upscaling. Native 4K is only good for zooming in on screenshots. Leave it for PC monitors where you sit right on top of the screen.



There is also a correlation between fov, resolution, brightness and comfortable fps. The higher the fov, resolution and brightness the more fps you want. So it does make more sense to go to 60fps for HDR and bigger viewing angles.