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Comment by jofzar | Hacker News Reader

> . I do have a 4k TV, but it’s not extremely large, and while I can tell the difference in resolution between SD and HD, for almost everything, 720p seems to be good enough for me.

I am actually jealous of you, I can tell the difference between 4k low bitrate and 4k high bitrate, 1080p and 720p are like mud to my eyes.

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I got a VHS player and a load of free tapes. It hasn't changed since I was young (well they've degraded a little), so if I enjoyed it then I can enjoy it as well now. In some things I try to resist a little the encroachment of higher standards.

But not in everything. I can't drink a cheap scotch.

The difference between a 4K bluray encode by pirates who care, and a 4K WEB-DL from Netflix and co, is simply staggering.

> I can tell the difference between 4k low bitrate and 4k high bitrate, 1080p and 720p are like mud to my eyes

The more interesting question is whether you can tell the difference between 720p and 4K at the same bitrate. Dividing that bitrate across more pixels usually results in a worse image at the higher resolution.

High-bitrate 720p generally looks better than low-bitrate 4K - it's not uncommon to find that a DVD looks better than the Netflix stream of the same content.

This stuff is so complicated and insane, that a 720p TV version from a decade ago can look better than a modern 4K Blu-ray release.

Case in point: Ghost in the Shell (1995)

http://comp.judging.it/index.php?seriesid=Koukaku%20Kidoutai...

Old TV version: http://comp.judging.it/content/Koukaku%20Kidoutai/4K-1/Judgm...

New 4K BD: http://comp.judging.it/content/Koukaku%20Kidoutai/4K-1/4K%20...

I think the screen size matter, 720p seems good on 32" but could be noticeable bad on 50". Another factor, if I'm familiar with the high resolution, I will notice the lower one easily.

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