1080P vs. 4K UHD Blu-Ray: A comparison using 'Dunkirk'

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Archimago, Jan 14, 2018.

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  1. Archimago

    Archimago Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Hey guys,
    I don't come over to this forum much, but I do enjoy my home theater system, multichannel sound, etc...

    Anyhow for those into the HT hardware like 4K TVs and UHD Blu-Rays and are wondering about the visible difference between 1080P and 4K, come have a look at the comparison using Dunkirk... MadVR high quality upsampling vs. native UHD Blu-Ray with some HDR-to-SDR conversion for color/contrast:

    DEMO: Dunkirk - 1080P vs. 4K

    A little "real life" test using a movie praised for the use of 70mm IMAX, 4K VFX, 4K DI...

    Cheers!
     
    Higlander and drgn95 like this.
  2. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Note that the mastering was done by the great Walter Volpatto over at Fotokem/Burbank, who did all versions of the digital release, including theatrical, home video, and HDR. Was the 4K version you looked at also in HDR? If so, it should be quite a bit brighter than the normal 1080 HD version.
     
    longdist01 likes this.
  3. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Those samples aren’t making me run to buy a new player. A bit more resolution when you blow it up. But why did this guy have to blowup all the pictures and not give us just straight 1080 P versus 4K full frame photos? Obviously blowups are gonna look better with more resolution but doing the full frame on a 60 inch TV are you going to really notice much? Probably not. And if you wear dirty glasses like me, definitely not. I dunno. 4K TV is probably great for sports but for watching the magnificent seven, probably not so much
     
    Dennis Metz, bru87tr, rod and 2 others like this.
  4. Rufus McDufus

    Rufus McDufus Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    The side-by-side images on the website are tiny as well so not really valid for a comparison. You can download higher quality images at the end of the article, though I have to admit I'm having trouble seeing the difference even in those with a quick check. Funnily enough the last (face) one (at first glance anyway) looks sharper to me in 1080P, though the enhanced lighting is quite apparent on that one with the 4K crop.
     
  5. Never forget as you get to the upper limit the improvements are smaller because there is not much room to improve.
    Judging such improvements can be scientific, but when judging the "value" of said improvements that becomes personal and arbitrary.

    Think how great the Curtis Mathis 27" (HUGE for the time) color TV looked in 1978. That level of improvement blew peoples minds and sold like crazy.
    If you look at that same TV today you may possibly wonder what is wrong with it because the image is grainy as heck by today's standards.
    Do the same with a 1990's Plasma TV and the image improvements are noticeable but not nearly as extreme.
    Move to a 10 year old LCD or LED TV and the improvements are again noticeable but also noticeably smaller in overall increase.
     
  6. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    There are no 'LED' TVs, just LCD. However, there is a huge difference between 'standard' HD and UHD with dynamic HDR and extended color gamuts (PCI-D3 +).
     
    davidb1 and Vidiot like this.
  7. Matt Richardson

    Matt Richardson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Suburban Chicago
    Just curious, what is the resolution of your monitor through which you're viewing the images?
     
  8. Check out this website and you may find differing opinions...maybe even facts.
    LED Television History and Facts
     
  9. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    Can you summarize what you think I got wrong?
     
  10. bradman

    bradman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lexington,KY
    I'll wager not 4K. This is so common in internet "what's the big deal about(insert newest resolution standard)" comparisons.
    For anyone with doubts or questions, please demo actual 4K/HDR content. You may be quite surprised at what you see.
     
  11. bradman

    bradman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lexington,KY
    Actually film is more impressive than live sports in 4K/HDR, at least to these eyes.
     
    bru87tr, Kiko1974 and crispi like this.
  12. I can speak by my own experience as I got Dunkirk and Interstellar (this one is the US Paramount release not the international edition by Warner Bros.) on UHD BD last Friday. I saw Dunkirk the same day it arrived, Friday and Interstellar on Saturday. As Sunday was a very rainy and windy day I stood at home and in the morning I watched some scenes of Dunkirk both on 1080p BD and UHD BD, displayed on a Samsung 49" 4K HDR set and played on Sony's UBP X-800 UHD BD player. Even my far from being an expert 72 years old mother could tell the difference between the 1080p BD and the UHD BD played on HDR. Needless to say she prefered the UHD BD version.
    Everything on the Dunkirk UHD BD played with HDR shouts QUALITY. Color looks great and very natural (a bit muted at the beginning, an stylistic decision) compared to the fake and pastel-like looking color on the 1080p BD, resolution, definition has a feeling of "you are there" on the UHD BD that the 1080p lacks, sharpness and clarity is outstanding,definition is insane. The UHD BD looked like film projected on a small 49" screen, the 1080p BD looked like high quality video.
     
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  13. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US

    iPad 2 pro or something. I know it’s high Rez.
     
  14. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US

    Certain films are just gonna pop. I’m sure Dunkirk is state of the art high resolution tweaked to the gills image stuff. If I break out “the parallax view” or The perennial video file favorite “Lawrence of Arabia“ and I wonder how much difference I would see. Of course Lawrence never seems to give up the ghost when it comes to an upgrade.
     
  15. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Deesky has described the technology correctly. So-called "LED sets" generally are just LCD sets using LED illumination instead of cold-cathode tube fluorescents. There are some experimental "true LED" sets that use thousands of tiny LEDs, but none are actually available for sale... yet.
     
    bru87tr likes this.
  16. Robert C

    Robert C Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    How close were you sitting to the TV?
     
  17. Summarize...no.
    I guess your version of using LED tech, and my version of using LED tech, have are two different things.
    The LED's are being used and the output is different, which leads me to believe a differentiation between LCD and LED can be made.
     
  18. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    The basic display panel technology is LCD, period. All LCD panels require a backlight to illuminate the color filtered pixels. The so called LED TVs use white LEDs as the backlight, supplanting the previously used Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lights (CCFL). So, while the backlight technology has changed to LED, the panels themselves are still LCDs, with the same limitations as they've always had (viewing angles, contrast, motion handling).

    Recent changes/updates include things like quantum dots to boost the colorspace/saturation of the pixels, but this has nothing at all to do with the nature of the backlighting - they're still LCD panels. I suggest that you do a little more research yourself before suggesting that I 'learn a few more facts'.
     
    Metralla and bru87tr like this.
  19. Around 1.20 meters.
     
  20. Rachael Bee

    Rachael Bee Miembra muy loca

    That's awfully close! I'm taller than that! I sit about 3-4 meters from my 65" set....
     
    bru87tr likes this.
  21. You are now inserting your own words, in quotes I might add, to foster your own version of being disrespected.
    My original comment said specifically ("Check out this website and you may find differing opinions...maybe even facts.")
    This does not state what you quoted. It DOES suggest you go look and glean what you can, be it opinion, or maybe even fact.

    This I am telling you....BREATHE brother, breathe. Don't be so agitated by something that does not require your degree of ruffled feathers.

    Please continue your day with the best wishes from me.
     
  22. dprokopy

    dprokopy Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Seattle, WA
    This shot particularly stood out for me - you can really see the detail on the little hairs on the back of his hand, for example. And the texture of the cloth on his wrist.
    [​IMG]
     
  23. I like sitting close to today's TV sets as they don't suffer of the kind of flicker CRT sets did and were very annoying (even more when they displayed PAL) and tiring for the eyes. With and LED lit LCD I can sit as close as I want and enjoy its full resolution. With a 4K 49" set I can sit at 1.20 meters and don't see pixel structure.
     
  24. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
  25. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    In my limited experience, the biggest difference I have noticed between UHD and standard Blu-ray comes down to the improved image stability from the lack of compression noise. This is noticeable even watching a UHD disc downconverted to 1080p. Stills comparisons will not do it justice, but it is a lot less subtle than the benefits of 2160p and HDR for me, anyway.
     
    Kiko1974 and Hymie the Robot like this.
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