Do We Really Need 4K Video for the Viewer experience to be acceptable

what’s your opinion?

Depends on viewing distance.

Is that still a factor these days with Smart TV’s and all the ‘Picture enhancement features’ ?

And the pixel density/inch

While ever you’re using the human eyes it will always be a factor ;o)

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Doesn’t the brain make up for it though just like it does when hearing a cheap radio it ‘fills in the blanks’

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Look out at your lovely garden and see the beautiful green grass from 4 metres away its very difficult to make out the detail on individual blades of grass.

Now move to 30cm away and there you have all the blades and details.

Simple analogy, but very similar to TV, my 65in TV from my sofa at 5m away looks no different on 4K to what it does on 1080p, sit in my Ikea rocker that I use for gaming about 2m away and the difference is night and day.

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I also read somewhere, I’ll try find the link, that over 90% of Youtube viewing is done on a mobile device (even within the home).

Other factors too to be thought about…

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With my eyes ,480p is probably more then enough !!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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4K is ok but not essential - unless your going for big dynamic cinematography and have the footage that reflects this. 1080 is HD and is more than enough usually. Some are into mega dynamic range, so if they have a computer that is seriously powerful then fair enough if their computer has the processing power.

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I had a mavic air at first, filmed in 4k, issues are that the compression format doesnt play on many things, personal computers are the most reliable. That said i recently upgraded my TV to a nice 65 inch samsung, plugged an external drive into it and was amazed at how much detail i could see compared to my previous older 4k TV. I was that impressed i went out and bought a Mavic 2 zoom.
So my recommendation is look at what your playing your movies on, I have a 5k Apple Imac 27", but it still doesnt compare to a big good quality TV. Otherwise you are just throwing large data at a screen that you wont see any benefit from.

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I’d get the Apple screen checked out as it sounds faulty, out of curiosity what TV are you comparing it to?

Hi Chris, nothing wrong with my Imac, i love apple products, though i do have a samsung S10 phone.
Imacs have a fixed resolution, Its all about viewing distance, brightness of screen too.
I bought an entry level Samsung Q series TV (around £1k) they go up to £3k plus, its all about how many pixels they have, this one is about 3200 PQI

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The 5k display on the iMac from the viewing distance of a normal desk (I presume you are viewing it on a desk) should blow the TV out of the water (unless you are sat 2 feet from the Sammy).

Thats just sales blurb, ‘Picture Quality Index’, why can they use hertz like everyone else.

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480P. Get yourself down to Specsavers!

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Not much they can do,either,been looking on Fleabay,for a new pair of eyes,but apparently,they dont make any for old 60,s models anymore!!! :grimacing: :rofl: :rofl:

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Get a bigger TV Tony, cheaper than a decent pair of glasses nowadays

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55" 4K (UHD) OLED/QLED TV’s are now becoming the accepted size for most viewing areas to get an immersive experience at an optimum viewing distance of 7.5 feet. I have a 55" Samsung 4K QLED TV and notice that there is far more detail when viewing 4K taken with my MA2 as apposed to HD (1920x1080P). As an example I can see every blade of grass and leaves even in the distance.

I know this thread is now a year old, but it’s bound to come back to life again, so…

Yes. You’re looking at it from the wrong way though. It’s not just about the users view, it’s your ability (as director and editor) to crop and zoom your video to a degree without any significant loss of detail if you output to 1080. Secondly, I use a lot of high contrast titles, bright white text on a black background. The difference in sharpness between the 4k export and the 1080 export is significant. Finally, it does depend on your delivery method. If you’re producing for YouTube then whilst they still compress your file, they do so less if you’re uploading 4k. If you’re handing off to a client you give them the highest res version you can as I have no idea what they’re planning on doing with it. I did one piece of work that was part of a constant rotation on a big screen in the building reception - less than 4k just wouldn’t have cut it.

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