Researchers at Cambridge University have suggested TV audiences may not see the benefit when broadcasters and streaming services offer content in higher resolutions.
The research, conducted by the University and Meta Labs, found that the human eye has a resolution limit. Anything above this limit gives the viewer more information than they can detect.
The precise resolution limit depends on a number of variables, including the size of the screen, the darkness of the room, and the distance between the viewer and the screen, said the researchers.
However, for an average-size UK living room, with 2.5 metres between the TV and the sofa, a 44-inch 4K or 8K TV would not provide any additional benefit over a lower resolution Quad HD (QHD) TV of the same size.
“If you have more pixels in your display, it’s less efficient, it costs more and it requires more processing power to drive it,” said co-author Professor Rafał Mantiuk from Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology. “We wanted to know the point at which it makes no sense to further improve the resolution of the display.”
The researchers discovered that the eye’s resolution limit is higher than previously believed, but that there are differences in resolution limits between colour and black-and-white. For greyscale images viewed straight on, the average was 94 pixels per degree (PPD). For red and green patterns, the number was 89 PPD, and for yellow and violet, it was 53 PPD.
“Our brain doesn’t actually have the capacity to sense details in colour very well, which is why we saw a big drop-off for colour images, especially when viewed in peripheral vision,” said Mantiuk. “Our eyes are essentially sensors that aren’t all that great, but our brain processes that data into what it thinks we should be seeing.”
“Our results set the north star for display development, with implications for future imaging, rendering and video coding technologies,” added co-author Dr Alex Chapiro from Meta Reality Labs.
