Some 4K TVs and projectors are letting lower-res content down, and it’s a bit disappointing.
These days, the best TVs and projectors offer 4K resolution – the picture technology that packs in eight million pixels worth of detail into a single display. In fact, most new TVs and projectors do. So it’s odd that, this far into the lifespan of 4K images, we’re having to question whether some manufacturers are being too quick to leave lower resolutions behind. It’s even more peculiar that we have to do so while even higher 8K resolutions are striding into the market, with 8K TVs coming from various corners (Samsung, LG, TCL) and changing expectations for truly premium televisions. It’s not that we want to cling to our HD devices, or hold back the tide of 4K content accumulating on streaming services like Netflix, or 4K Blu rays for blockbuster films.4K is a great technology – it adds in an incredible amount of detail compared to older and lower resolutions like SD and HD. The problem is that, sometimes,4K-capable hardware prioritises 4K performance over SD and HD viewing. We’ve seen this in numerous devices over the past few years, but it’s somehow still apparent in 2021, with TV brands pushing screens with 4K capabilities that look good with Ultra HD Marvel movies, but struggle with a home box set of Black Books, a streaming session of Gilmore Girls, or even modern-day broadcasts on HD channels. So why do TVs and projectors struggle with lower resolution content? Shouldn’t this be easier? Any TV display will feature a certain number of pixels. If the video source or broadcast has the same number of pixels, it overlaps perfectly. If the video source has fewer pixels than the display, though, then the TV’s processor essentially needs to create visual data for the remaining pixels in a process called ‘upscaling’. Full HD content needs around two million pixels, but a 4K TV has eight million.
