1080p article - read this

[racquetman]

I think most people who don't quite understand resolution and how their displays deal with the signals they process could benefit from reading this article:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_1/feature-article-1080p-3-2007-part-1.html

 

[Bigsilvs]

Wow, nice article! I still do not understand why many people say that in order to benefit from 1080p you need to have a display 50' or larger? The article didn't even touch on this at all. It did however talk about the viewing distances a little. But for most people who purchase the right size HDTV for the room it shouldn't matter.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Many people, very incorrectly, talk about screen size on it's own when they talk about 1080p. Viewing distance is very much a matter of several different factors which can be easily plotted on a chart.

The one factor that is not listed, but also matters a great deal is your actual vision. This article and chart is based on people with 20/20 vision - 'average' if you will. It then is a factor of screen size, screen resolution, and viewing distance. Also not mentioned is the actual source material, because owning a 1080p display, then watching 480i material on it is going to look like crap unless you sit far enough away from the display.

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/hitech/1137/maxing-out-resolution.html

 

[Highbar]

That was a good read. Just means that I'm glad I'm holding off for a new display until I have some more cash. I wish that I could get my step father to read things like this instead of just buying something cheap for the sake of having one.

T

 

[tbewick]

I haven't yet read the two articles, but I think it's worth commenting on BMXTRIX's graph. This is, I believe, for discerning the smallest resolution possible with good eyesight at the viewing distance?

What I mean to say is that the effective resolution of the source material definition will vary according to the source quality. This probably can be thought of like a Shannon limit on cramming as much resolution into a signal as possible. This means that some well-produced standard definition source material can be viewed at the equivalent movie projector SMPTE/THX viewing distance (with a good rescaler).

For instance, the Star Wars Trilogy DVD's approach the limits of quality available with standard definition, and so are watchable at a close viewing distance. With uncompressed source material it can be difficult to distinguish differences between 720p, 1080i and 1080p, even at a close viewing distance:

HDTV. EBU TECHNICAL REVIEW – October 2006. 1 / 8. H. Hoffmann. Hans Hoffmann. EBU Technical Department.
http://www.ebu.ch/en/technical/trev/trev_308-hdtv.pdf

 

[BMXTRIX]

I haven't yet read the two articles, but I think it's worth commenting on BMXTRIX's graph. This is, I believe, for discerning the smallest resolution possible with good eyesight at the viewing distance?

What I mean to say is that the effective resolution of the source material definition will vary according to the source quality. This probably can be thought of like a Shannon limit on cramming as much resolution into a signal as possible. This means that some well-produced standard definition source material can be viewed at the equivalent movie projector SMPTE/THX viewing distance (with a good rescaler).

For instance, the Star Wars Trilogy DVD's approach the limits of quality available with standard definition, and so are watchable at a close viewing distance. With uncompressed source material it can be difficult to distinguish differences between 720p, 1080i and 1080p, even at a close viewing distance:

HDTV. EBU TECHNICAL REVIEW – October 2006. 1 / 8. H. Hoffmann. Hans Hoffmann. EBU Technical Department.
http://www.ebu.ch/en/technical/trev/trev_308-hdtv.pdf

The graph presented, by S&V magazine, I believe is for 20/20 vision and visual acquity. It is not about the source material, but assumes uncompressed full pixel detail images on the displays. So, a 1080p display must be fed a 1080p source and the person must have 20/20 vision for the chart to be accurate.

While it is possible to upconvert DVD video, it is not possible to actually add detail. So, a quality 1080p original on a 1080p display at (about) 1.5x viewing distance should always be distinguishable from the DVD.

The issue arrises that HD is always being compressed using VC-1, AVC, or MPEG2 and that there are huge differences in quality. As well, the decoders, decompressors, scalers, etc. on displays are all over the board on quality.

In the end, there simply is no 'consumer' level chart that can accurately depict what is really going to be the best viewing under any circumstances. Instead, we just guess at it. Most often 1080p is overkill for viewers because they sit 3 or 4 screen widths from their display and can't possibly see the difference between a 1080p display and a 480p display. Which peopl often confuse as the difference between a 480i SDTV source and a 1080i HDTV source.

Anyway, I could go on for quite a while about all of this and most people may already be shaking their heads thinking "WTF did he just say?" which can be pretty boring.

 

[MDS]

Most often 1080p is overkill for viewers because they sit 3 or 4 screen widths from their display and can't possibly see the difference between a 1080p display and a 480p display.

That is the main point I take from the chart. It has nothing to do with the resolution or 'quality' of the source. It is solely a matter of screen size vs viewing distance.

The chart puports to show that if you sit too far away your eyes will not be able to distinguish any quality difference between a display with a native 720p resolution vs a display with a native 1080p resolution.

 

[mtrycrafts]

That is the main point I take from the chart. It has nothing to do with the resolution or 'quality' of the source. It is solely a matter of screen size vs viewing distance.

The chart puports to show that if you sit too far away your eyes will not be able to distinguish any quality difference between a display with a native 720p resolution vs a display with a native 1080p resolution.

Or a standard DVD at 35ft from a 100" screen

 

[AUtiger]

Great article. Thanks for relaying the info. Can't wait for the tech side to fully catch up with what's available. But the race is on!