Hardware & Technical Comparing 4K UHD with 1080p HD Results in an Unexpected Observation

[Old Duck]

I've been a console gamer on a very nice 1080p display for years now, but with Black Friday around the corner, I took some time to really observe some nice 4K UHD TVs in person to see what all the hubbub was about.

WOW...

I must say, I am very impressed, though I think it's the HDR that catches my eye even more than the resolution, though admittedly the resolution is also nice. However, I noticed something seemed "wrong" while watching the demo video on each of the different 4K displays. After close observation, it hit me - 30 fps actually looks "bad" in 4K!

I never understood the "hate" for 30 fps up to this point, because I usually find 30 fps quite tolerable on my own gaming system. But now that I've seen 30 fps on a higher-resolution display, I'm beginning to understand. It's all about the pixels - the more pixels you have, the more evident the framerate becomes, because the lower the framerate, the more the picture "jumps" from one frame to the next, the measure being pixels per frame.

I had entertained upgrading my PS4 Slim to a Pro, and ultimately decided to wait for the PS5, and after seeing this "effect", I definitely feel that's the right call for me. If I'm gaming in 4K, I think I'm going to need 60 fps to fully enjoy the experience. Now if the TV has motion smoothing (frame interpolation), that would likely solve the visual "jutter" I'm seeing, though my experience with this on 1080p displays is it adds noticeable delay to the displayed image (push a button, see the result 1/4 second later).

Anyway, I just thought I'd share that and see if anyone else feels the same way. I'm also curious, do people with 4K TV and UHD Bluray movies notice this effect, or does the movie had significant motion blur to compensate? I usually don't like using motion smoothing on movies due to the "soap opera" effect (depends on the movie), but I didn't like the jutter I was seeing in the 4K demo videos either.

 

[Jon flint]

I currently game (via pc and console) on a 65" 4k non-hdr screen, and i haven't been able to tolerate 30fps gaming for quite some time, on any size/resolution screen, it tends to make me feel a bit ill.

Currently battling through RDR2, I can only play for around an hour at a time before the wierd disconnect between input and action on screen takes effect and makes me nauseous. As for films and tv shows, they're fine, wether it's the natural motion blur of the video or just the fact that you're not controlling the onscreen action, they don't have the same effect that 30fps games do. I'd certainly never recommend enabling any kind of motion interpolation though, all that does is add more latency and introduce that nasty soap opera effect.

As for HDR, sadly I've never tried it, I brought my 4k tv about 4yrs ago, so compared to modern screens it's a bit outdated, watched a few HDR YouTube vids on my phone and it does really catch the eye, though it's hard to tell on such a small screen.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

Processing power becomes an issue with 4k and motion.

For a 1080p signal it's barely more than two million pixels per frame. UHD is closer to 8.3 million pixels.
And at a higher colour depth as well.
You would still have to get a rather high end tv to get enough processing.

As for hdr and the resolution in general it depends a lot on content and how it's shot.
Some UHD discs and especially Netflix shows that feature HDR are gagbysmal.
But some are absolutely showcasing how much of a boost this can be.

As for a quick demo material I could recommend is the grand tour on Amazon

The UHD version of Pacific Rim, first one, is also makes great use of HDR.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

My 55" 4k TV runs at 60hz, but occasionally, my PC will randomly switch it to 30hz (usually after a driver update). And it's HORRIBLE.

I'd never buy a 30hz screen.

Even windows feels sluggish on a 30hz screen. Window animations feel slow, and the mouse cursor is just odd.

Switch it back to 60hz and it's buttery smooth again.
It's just a shame my GPU can't support gaming at 4k/60fps.
ED looks so nice! But I only get 60fps at 4k resolution in space if nothing is in front of me. Otherwise is about 12fps. Lol