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1080p vs 720p gaming

C

ClaudeWalker

Junior Member
Is there a difference between 720p and 1080p during 10ft mode (i.e. I'm sitting 8ft away from my machine)?

I'm playing far cry 3 and I keep switching back and forth and I can't see the difference but maybe its not switching?
 
I had a 720p TV as a monitor on my desk for the longest time. Just upgraded it to 1080p. Makes a huge difference in text. Though it depends how far you sit from the screen and how big the monitor is. Bigger screens benefit more from higher res if they're on your desk. If you're sitting on the couch, maybe not. Though with 1080p monitors so cheap these days, it's worth it.
 
If you're sitting 8 feet away from your screen, I assume your screen is fairly bigger than a typical computer monitor, 32 inches maybe. In that case, yes, even at that distance 1080p vs 720p will be a noticeable difference.
 
The eyes only really resolve so much difference at a certain distance. You will want to calculate the PPD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina_display) based on your distance and the display size and resolution. You can then compare that to the resolveable PPD of the human eye around 20/20 vision and get an idea of if you should be able to see the difference. If you can't there is a decent chance your eyesight isn't 20/20.
 
For me it really does not matter what I am viewing, my gaming rig, laptop, or 60" plasma (all with different viewing distances), the delta between 720P and 1080P is not that great as some make it to seem. Sure it generally sharpens/crisps the picture up but the difference is not as night/day as it is between SD and HD.

Having said that, the difference is noticeable and I consider it worthy of added expense when possible, even at 8-10ft.
 
Hum. And I was thinking 1920x1200 was the way to go. Not sure I could use a 1280x720 device these days. Maybe on a 14 inch monitor ? I don't think I've used less than 1280x1024 since 2004 and I have fairly crappy eyes these days - well good for my age but certainly not as good as when I was 10 or 15 or 25 or whatever.
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You know to answer your question - go to best buy or micro-center or whatever and watch a couple of the demo tvs at 1080p and 720p from a blu ray (not cable or over the air signal) and while video tends to be less senstive than text (I used my 19inch monitor for text btw not games even if it was only 1280x1024) but I almost always immediately notice the difference. Then again I'm usually 4-6 feet from the display tv (depending on size - you know they have everything from 24? inch to 70 inch) so it might not be a fair comparison. I have to say my mom's 72p 32ich tv kind of sucks compare to some of the newer 46inch 1080p tvs well it used to suck we upgraded her to a 1080pf 32 inch tv but she still watches sd shows so it didn't help that much 🙂
 
Red Hawk said:
At 46", yes, 1080p will definitely look better than 720p.
Click to expand...

Actually, at 8' from a 46" screen, 1080p might not look different from 720p:
resolution_chart.html
http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html

I would say that the main difference would be that no scaling would be involved with 1080p (assuming 1080p is the TV's native resolution). If we were discussing how a web page or text document would look, then the resolution would make a bigger difference. But for a video source (gaming, movies, etc.), the negatives of scaling will probably have a bigger impact than the resolution at his size and viewing distance.
 
I play 1080p on my uhh 22 inch LCD for PC games, and I guess 720p on any console games on a 30-ish inch LCD. I don't tell much of a difference quality wise (aside from the obvious PC vs PS3 graphics - though Last of Us looks really good!), though I often wish text were bigger or the TV were bigger....yeah I need a bigger TV...and monitor for that matter!
 
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you2 said:
Hum. And I was thinking 1920x1200 was the way to go. Not sure I could use a 1280x720 device these days. Maybe on a 14 inch monitor ? I don't think I've used less than 1280x1024 since 2004 and I have fairly crappy eyes these days - well good for my age but certainly not as good as when I was 10 or 15 or 25 or whatever.
-
You know to answer your question - go to best buy or micro-center or whatever and watch a couple of the demo tvs at 1080p and 720p from a blu ray (not cable or over the air signal) and while video tends to be less senstive than text (I used my 19inch monitor for text btw not games even if it was only 1280x1024) but I almost always immediately notice the difference. Then again I'm usually 4-6 feet from the display tv (depending on size - you know they have everything from 24? inch to 70 inch) so it might not be a fair comparison. I have to say my mom's 72p 32ich tv kind of sucks compare to some of the newer 46inch 1080p tvs well it used to suck we upgraded her to a 1080pf 32 inch tv but she still watches sd shows so it didn't help that much 🙂
Click to expand...

Viewing distance makes as much of a difference as size. I sit 3' from my 32" 1080p TV (as a computer monitor), and 1080p vs 720p is a huge difference. OTOH, I sit 11' from my 50" 720p TV, and the 720p isn't a limitation (other than the negative of scaling everything).

My 5yo 50" 720p Pioneer Kuro plasma has a much better picture than my 2yo 32" 1080p LCD TV (and actually most new TVs). I don't feel like looking it up, but a scientific study was done on the 4 most important aspects of image quality. Contrast, color saturation, and color accuracy were the 3 most important aspects, with resolution being the 4th. That was for video, not text, so don't apply it to non-video computer uses.

In other words, resolution (for video uses) matters for two reasons. No scaling is better than scaling (i.e. playing a BD on a 1080p TV vs 720p TV). And having a high enough resolution given your screen size and viewing distance (i.e. using a 4k 50" TV at 10' viewing distance is a waste, but at 3' away it's a god-send).
 
lilrayray69 said:
I play 1080p on my uhh 22 inch LCD for PC games, and I guess 720p on any console games on a 30-ish inch LCD. I don't tell much of a difference quality wise (aside from the obvious PC vs PS3 graphics - though Last of Us looks really good!), though I often wish text were bigger or the TV were bigger....yeah I need a bigger TV...and monitor for that matter!
Click to expand...

Just buy one bigger TV and use it for both PC and console games...problem solved!
 
ClaudeWalker said:
Is there a difference between 720p and 1080p during 10ft mode (i.e. I'm sitting 8ft away from my machine)?

I'm playing far cry 3 and I keep switching back and forth and I can't see the difference but maybe its not switching?
Click to expand...

At 8ft from a 46" screen you might want to have your eyes checked. You should be able to see the difference. Vision loss is one of those things you never really notice until you goto the doctor.
 
It entirely depends on the size of the screen and your distance from it.

Once you know them 2 factors you can calculate the effective screen size inside your visual area and what difference you're likely to see between resolutions.

You'll want to refer to a chart like this -
resolutionchartml2.jpg
 
There is a much bigger difference between 720p/1080p video and movie watching, and 720p/1080p gaming.

At 1080p games render about twice as much detail as at 720p. You should be able to see this easily looking at the grass or leaves in Far Cry 3, and this type of difference is pretty big at any distance.
 
Zeze said:
720p vs 1080p is very VERY noticeable at any distance. It's most evident in texts.
Click to expand...

No...no it isn't.

It is a function of screen size (therefore, DPI or pixel pitch) and distance from viewer.

20/20 vision can only resolve pixels so big from 10 feet away.

So back to your original point...you're telling me you can tell the difference of a video/movie running at 1080p 20 inch monitor vs 720 on the same monitor from 10 feet away? I want your eyes.
 
the difference is the 1080p game will actually be rendering things the 720p doesn't.

for example, a tree with animated leaves, like in Far Cry 3. At 720p you cant really see through the leaves and consequently this also effects the post-process "god rays" which are rendered based your eye/camera viewpoint. At 1080p you can see the individual leaves, the sky behind the leaves as they animate around each other, and consequently, the God Rays that are formed from the tiny spots in the leaves where the sun can peak through.

So in some scenes the game at 1080p looks much much different than at 720p.
 
futurefields said:
the difference is the 1080p game will actually be rendering things the 720p doesn't.

for example, a tree with animated leaves, like in Far Cry 3. At 720p you cant really see through the leaves and consequently this also effects the post-process "god rays" which are rendered based your eye/camera viewpoint. At 1080p you can see the individual leaves, the sky behind the leaves as they animate around each other, and consequently, the God Rays that are formed from the tiny spots in the leaves where the sun can peak through.

So in some scenes the game at 1080p looks much much different than at 720p.
Click to expand...


I would love to see some screen grabs to view your point of contention.
 
With video you wouldn't necessarily notice at 10 foot or greater distance because of continuous motion, but with gaming there are relatively static elements persisting for several frames to several seconds where resolution matters. Aliasing ("jaggies") for instance is noticeable at lower resolutions.

Generally speaking, it's around 50 - 60" or higher at 10 feet viewing distance that there is any appreciable difference (except for people who are very demanding when it comes to video quality) between 1080p and 720p for video, but for gaming it would be easier to discern the difference. It may not matter to you even if you can tell the difference - for me 720p is "good enough" at couch distance unless you are talking about a 10 foot screen. For computer monitors at close distance it's a different matter.
 
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