4k vs HD

[pauland]

This isn't so relevant to this thread, but handdrawn mentioned degradation..

In January we bought our first 4K TV set - 55 inches, an update from our previous set which was HD - 43 inches. My daughter has a 55" 4K TV too. Quite a change from the widescreen 20" TV we used to love back in the day!

My daughter's partner had said that since buying that set he rarely wanted to watch non-HD content (besides 4K content), so I wondered if we would also dislike upscaling lower quality video to 4K.

I'm actually very impressed by how well the TV does to upscale video - it's processing the frames in real-time.

I've noticed it can recognise text and sharpens it so sometimes I've really been surprised at the crisp text that has no right to be so crisp on that source resolution.

I should think that in a few years time lower resolution footage is going to look great as AI processing will be able to interpret the footage to give much sharper pictures.

I have some 4K films and it was a WOW moment when I saw it.

Unlike my daughters partner, I don't mind the lower quality of old TV/films, but will go for at least HD if given the choice. I was looking forward to Wimbledon in 4K..

..diversion is over..

[handrawn]

I am just looking forward to wimbledon, not really a tennis fan, but if/when it happens then things will be on the mend...

like behzad said - its a tricky subject... if You have a really expensive computer monitor, say at 4K native resolution, and you drop the resolution down to HD [1080p] then it will still look pretty good; but a cheap monotor will not

it sounds like you have a good TV

[as you may have noticed my implied point is - is the TV upscaling your video, or is it downscaling its resolution to match....]

[pauland]

I am just looking forward to wimbledon, not really a tennis fan, but if/when it happens then things will be on the mend...

like behzad said - its a tricky subject... if You have a really expensive computer monitor, say at 4K native resolution, and you drop the resolution down to HD [1080p] then it will still look pretty good; but a cheap monotor will not

it sounds like you have a good TV

[as you may have noticed my implied point is - is the TV upscaling your video, or is it downscaling its resolution to match....]

LOL definitely not downscaled!

I sometimes take a picture from some TV programes because I want to keep a still reference. On every TV besides this one there's been a moire pattern - it's not present on the 4K set.

Here's the sales blurb:

• 4K UHD Processor: Powerful 4K UHD Processor Optimizes Your TV’s Performance by Upscaling Every Show, Season, and Scene With 4K Picture Quality
• Enhanced Detail with HDR: 4K Depth of Detail with High Dynamic Range Lets You See Shades of Color That Reveal More Detail than Hdtv Can Deliver

It's the top of the range of cheaper Samsung TVs.

Super pleased with it. I think the range has been superceeded in 2020 by the 8000 range.

https://www.samsung.com/uk/tvs/uhdtv...E55RU7400UXXU/

[handrawn]

there is a universal law that you cannot make a slik purse out of a sow's ear - that you cannot enhance beyond what is actually there....

what the TV is doing is overlaying the 1080p onto the 4K - now that is not downscaling in one sense, but it could be seen that way in another

the increase in the number of pixels that the 1080p source can use is a bonus.. but you are still just seeing 1080p, stretched neatly onto a 4k platform so to speak - the subtlety that a 4K original would have is not there because it never was

[pauland]

there is a universal law that you cannot make a slik purse out of a sow's ear - that you cannot enhance beyond what is actually there....

In the future that's not going to be entirely true because I expect at some stage to see AI processing working to such a degree as to go beyond pixel manipulation, but also shape recognition to resynthesize an image to what it thinks it should be. Of course, if there is no way of recognising what's on the screen it can't do that but I do expect it will synthesize say a chair leg using the low-res version to show a high-res equivalent - a bit like reading a fuzzy number plate and substituting a sharp one.

what the TV is doing is overlaying the 1080p onto the 4K - now that is not downscaling in one sense, but it could be seen that way in another

the increase in the number of pixels that the 1080p source can use is a bonus.. but you are still just seeing 1080p, stretched neatly onto a 4k platform so to speak - the subtlety that a 4K original would have is not there because it never was

Hmm.

First of all I never claimed that "stretched" HD is equivalent to 4K.

The TV is doing rather more than using four pixels in place of one. It's resampling the image.

I'm not going to have an argument about it, the picture looks far better on the 4K set than it did on my old HD one and that's even true for the older SD resolution.

[handrawn]

I'm an animator Paul - I know about resynthesizing stills to produce motion - ok that is not quite the same as your AI point - but extrapolation is extrapolation whichever way you look at it [pun intentional]

resampling is extrapolation, only as good as the algorithm in use; I'll grant there are some damn good ones in play today

[Belmare]

Does your icons on your monitor go any smaller with a 4k monitor,? would love them to be a little smaller so i can fit more in. Especially with photoshop and spreadsheets