At what level in resolution (4k, 8k, etc) is something higher resolution than average human eyes max out at and why?
In: Biology
Eye-limiting resolution is about one arc-~~second~~minute†. That means that when you have a 60 x 60 pixel patch that’s 1˚ by 1˚, that’s the most a person with 20/20 vision can distinguish.
So, your 4K display has 2160 lines vertically. So if you sit far enough back that the height of the TV is 36˚ tall, then the 4K display has eye-limiting resolution. However, the human field of view is 135˚ by 120˚, so it takes a lot of pixels to cover that. The eye doesn’t have its best resolution everywhere, so you could make a special eye-like display with lots of pixels in the middle and fewer pixels in the periphery, but that would be super difficult to make. The very agile muscles that rotate the eyes are also a problem for this scheme.
Edit: † There was a typo in this line, it should be arc-minute, as I used in the other calculations. Sorry.
It’s gonna vary based on the distance to the screen and how you define “max out”. Also, human vision isn’t very accurately represented by pixels per square inch (PPI), which is what we use for screens.
For example, someone with 20/20 vision sitting 1 foot from a screen could see roughly 477-573 PPI, but that just means they wouldn’t be able to see the white space between pixels at that distance. At 15 inches away, that number drops into the 350 PPI range.
Sitting 6 feet away means you could see around 240 PPI, but it’s disingenuous because that would mean a 24″ screen at 1080p would mathematically appear the same as a 60″ 4k HD screen, which we know to be incorrect from practice. This is because pixels vary across manufacturers and types of screens.
And then you have to worry about things like lower fidelity cameras, video or image compression, etc. A 720p video is going to appear worse the better your screen is, regardless of PPI or distance to the screen, for example.
So, to be technical about it, there really just isn’t a good or accurate way to describe human vision in PPI.
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Personally I literally cannot tell the difference between 1080p and 4k
Don’t know if I’m blind, stupid, or just don’t care enough to see the difference
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Others in here have already answered your question, so I’ll just leave [this chart](https://i.redd.it/edwvvvjlwyt41.jpg), which illustrates the relationship between screen size and resolution. I’ve used some version of this any time I’ve bought a new monitor or tv over the past decade.
You’ll see that 2k+ is of* dubious value for most people’s TVs unless they have a pretty big screen or sit very close. Monitors are a different story, obviously.
Edit: u/JeansAndAPolo provided a better link. Use this one: https://www.displayninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/best-tv-for-monitor.png
Think about it like this: it’s less about the resolution, and more about how close you are to the display and how large the pixels are. Even with a 4k display, if it’s a big tv and you stand up against it, you’ll be able to see the individual pixels.
As resolutions get higher, the pixels are more likely to be imperceptable by a typical person at a typical viewing distance from a typically sized tv. This is why some people say they are already content with 4k or 1080p.
I suspect that 8k will max out what most people can see in a normal living room setup.
Watch If Your Eye was a Camera What Would the Specs befrom the [Corridor Crew](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpFnDQr88xCZ80N-X7t0nQ), they had a real nice video about it
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPpAXMH5Upo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPpAXMH5Upo)
There are two different answers here depending on what you’re looking for. There’s pixel resolution and aliasing resolution. Cell phone screens and most tv’s now have dense enough pixels (colored dots) that at regular viewing distances you can’t make out individual pixels.
Pixel size isn’t the only thing your eye can see though. You actually have a much better ability to see aliasing (trying to represent a smooth curved object like a hanging powerline with pixels arranged in straight lines, leading to what appears as jagged lines). Because of this, image quality can still slightly improve by increasing resolution past 4k and likely 8k, but that depends on how far you sit from the screen.
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