I may be completely wrong, but I watched a 4K TV screen on Mediamarkt and I just wasn't impressed. It gave me the same feeling as the first time I saw a Bluray movie and I think its the reason Bluray isn't as successful as it could be: the average person just doesn't see much difference anymore. This is not to bash 4K because it is better ofcourse, but the difference isn't as clear anymore compared to when we made the jump from SD to HD. Or maybe my eyesight just is so much worse nowadays :).

Let me be honest...

I can't discern any differences between 720p and 1080p in SMARTPHONES. Anything above 300 dpi is beyond my eye vision. But when you talk about about 1080p on a 30+ inch screen, you have to be BLIND not to see any difference.

The problem is not "to see no difference". It is how much this should matter to you. There comes the GEEK HYPOCRISY. I just talked to a friend, finishing his PhD from IT Department, and he couldn't wait to upgrade from his Galaxy S3 to S4. I asked him why. He promptly said, it is many megahertz, this much resolution etc. I countered,

"Can you really feel some those differences, or rather, those are simply technical masturbation to you?"

He just had a geeky itch and had to have the most fancy tech. Ok, I understand it, everyone has their own obsessions...

Reading those "1080p is barely noticeable", "not such a big deal", "you need to use a magnifier" articles made me think...

Dear Techno-Geek Sites

* If 1080p with a 225% difference doesn't make a difference on a 30+ screen, then why the hell have you been claiming technical superiority or vast differences between Retina and 1080p displays on sub-5 inch screens?

* If 1080p with a 225% difference doesn't make a difference, then why the hell have you been touting the new 4K resolutions. That shouldn't matter at all. If we are dealing with DIMINISHING RETURNS (I am an economics professor), then shouldn't be the difference from 720p to 1080p more important than from 1080p to 4K when there is hardly any infrastructure to utilize it?

* If 1080p with a 225% difference doesn't make a difference, then why the hell have you been claiming "clear" and "significant" differences (over 5-20%) between PS3 and 360 resolutions? 225% difference MUST naturally be more important than 5-20%, whatever angle you look at it from.

* If 1080p with a 225% difference doesn't make a difference, then why the hell have you been pushing the industry with much higher "retina" displays on tablets, notebook, and monitors, which are much smaller than an average TV set?

* One answer can be, "Well, the continuous action on a game usually masks the relative low resolution compared to a static screen"... Well then, why the hell would we need 60 fps? Wasn' it you the hypocritical tech guys who have been pushing the industry also in this direction?

In my opinion,

High resolution makes a difference, more or less, but it does! And it is just RIDICULOUS to have sub-1080p resolution on an 50 inch screen in todays world with a future game console that will go on for 5-10 years, while even the freaking 5 inch smartphone in our pockets have 1080p resolution on them! SERIOUSLY NO EXCUSES.

Yes, maybe the difference isn't huge, yes maybe we are spoiled. Yes, maybe the gameplay is more important. But for God's sake, given everything else we have (smartphones, retina tablets, laptops), Full HD and 4K TVs around, any sub-par 1080p is UNACCEPTABLE. This is not 2006 anymore, this is the time frame of 2013-2020+

WE F***ING NEED THE 1080p on our TVs.

and I have a problem with Hypocritical Techno-Geek Sites. You are a bunch of A-holes.

Cinemablend calls out gaming press, accuses them of living in a Doritocracy : http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Gaming-Media-Defend-Xbox-One-Higher-Price-Lower-Resolution-60283.html%20

You better go to check your vision... even my wife and a friend that isn't a expert saw the difference more than 10m away just by the clarity and definition of the image.

First off, 1080p is obviously preferable.

But the way some people are making out, You're going to get NES - SNES difference or PS1 to PS2 differences in visual quality purely from the resolution. It's complete tripe and as long as the upscaling is half decent, 99% of people will struggle to tell the difference.

The Ars Technica stuff probably sums it up best.

I bet if you ask most people what resolution a game is, they'll just spout whatever their TV tells them. Bearing in mind there wasn't a "HD" Halo until Halo 4 with the others being upscaled from sub HD resolution, I really doubt the difference is going to be that noticeable to your average PS4/ONE owner.

Did it have 4K content to go with it? There's very little at the moment that is in a resolution above 1080p to even plug into those 4k sets.