Just bought an open box 55" LG 4K...

[poofyhairguy]

At home, the PQ on the 4K is noticeably better on both bluray playback on a PS3 and DirectTV than on my 70" 1080p Aquos (and the PQ on the aqous ain't too shabby)...

Which might be the case. I mean, the 4k TV is a newer TV. No matter the resolution it should look better, especially because Aquos has been an overrated brand for a decade. The problem is that we can't compared the exact same 4k TV to the exact same 1080p TV because each panel is always different.

With that said, there are hard and fast rules that pretty much always apply. One of them is that 1080p content will in general look better played at its native resolution, and the other is that NO current 4K tv even comes close to the picture quality we get from the top 1080p TVs like the OLEDs or old Kuros.

For those that say that 4K can't make 1080p better, have you seen the 4K displays in a store? why do the 4K Sonys and Samsungs look better than the 1080p sets?

Two reasons:

1. Most of the time they are playing 4k content. 4k content looks better than 1080p content in almost all cases. The problem is a lack of the 4k content.

2. It simply is a better panel. Resolution is one part of what defines a TV. Honestly picture quality is MUCH more determined by black levels and color accuracy than resolution IMHO.

Can upscaled 1080p look good? Yes, yes it can. But you aren't seeing that in a store. Only time I have seen a 1080p source on a 4K TV that didn't make me miss my Panasonics is when a friend showed me something playing on his superHTPC with MadVR configured to a T. But we are talking about a gaming level GPU to get there- no regular consumer equipment can do that outside of some expensive Oppo.

 

[purbeast0]

probably looks "smoother" because it has the "soap opera effect" turned on by default. every company has a different name for the feature. i personally hate it and turn it off immediately on any tv that has it turned on by default.

 

[alcoholbob]

The LG is a glossy display with high reflectivity so theres no anti glare coating at all meaning its much clearer than older TVs with matte displays, which is common in PC monitor. Its also a IPS display so it has a extremely wide viewing angle and wider colot gamut. These are the things you are experiencing not the 4K resolution.

I have a LG 49UB8500 and you cant tell the difference in 1080p content when compard to anther glossy 1080p display like the dell s2740l.