Is it possible for HDTV viewers to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p resolutions? We separate fact from fiction on the dispute of 720p vs. 1080p.
Wondering if the human eye can really discern a difference between 720p and 1080p HDTV resolution? We asked AV expert Joseph Kane, founder of JKP Productions
and creator of the Digital Video Essentials video calibration discs to separate fact from fiction. According to Kane:
“There is a limit to how much detail we can see, therefore there is a point where the picture elements (pixels) will be so small they can’t be seen. There is a threshold of picture size where the detail in a 1080p image would be lost. At a fixed viewing distance based on a ratio of the image width to the viewing distance the minimum picture size to see a 1080p image is larger than for 720p.
While most of the numbers for the size of the display at which this threshold occurs are small, we’re taking a completely different approach to image size. We believe a 1080p image has to be at least five feet wide and viewed from about 1.4 times the picture width before you can begin to appreciate what is in a high-quality1080p image. Then there is the opposite point of view. If you get far enough away from almost any image it will look good.”
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RSS1080p is clearly better at screen sizes of 40in and above. If you can find one, compare a 40in 720p screen and a 40in 1080p screen side by side both playing the same game on an Xbox 360. The difference is very obvious.
For gaming, 1080p is a must. For TV and film, 720p is probably enough, as very few HDTV services carry any 1080p channels, and for Blurays, most discs are optimised for 720p and many don't have a 1080p option.
What counts much more is black levels (real blacks, not washed-out brownish blacks), color accuracy (naturalness), and the absence of motion artifacts (i.e., "jaggies") which haunt all too many lower-end 1080p projectors.