Full HD or 4K, which do you prefer for movies?

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

Which do you like better for movies, Full HD or 4K?

  • Full HD

    Votes: 1 25.0%
  • 4K

    Votes: 3 75.0%

  • Total voters
    4

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
I have to get a new tv, because of HDCP (control protection) my tv doesn't function anymore in many ways. I'm wondering though whether to go for Full HD or 4K. There are coming more and more titles on 4K, but my worry is about film grain. Film grain are those tiny particles you see move in the background in most films. They're quite visible on HD Ready which is what my old tv is, but since 4K is four times as sharp as a Full HD I'm worrying those particles will also be 4 times as visible. Does anyone here have 4K yet, and is the film grain indeed very visible?
I find it especially distracting in black and white films. I see it the most when there is a lot of sky, like say a scene on a beach, the whole sky is filled with moving particles. But since I mainly like older films from the fifties, sixties and seventies it's quite visible no matter if it's colour or black and white, simply because of the film stock they used. Some distributors are very good at minimizing it: I have Night of the Living Dead from Criterion which looks splendid and I hardly noticed at all. But most are not quite as good as that.

What do others think about the difference between Full HD and 4K?
 

ghost19

"Have I run too far to get home?"
Sep 25, 2011
8,926
56,578
51
Arkansas
I like the 4K quite a bit. There isn't a whole lot of programming out there for it, but more is coming out all the time, especially on Netflix. The most recent season of "Stranger Things" was in 4K and it looked amazing on the 4K TV I bought about a year ago. 4K definitely looks better and you make sure you get a TV with at least 120Hz refresh rate also. Lots of TVs are still 60Hz and that will have a bit of a "snow" effect if you're watching sports, or movies where the camera angle or colors change a lot. At 120Hz I very rarely, if ever, notice any picture quality loss when streaming. Your internet connection also has a lot to do with this, but if you're in the market for new TV, definitely make sure it has a120Hz as it picture refresh rate.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
I like the 4K quite a bit. There isn't a whole lot of programming out there for it, but more is coming out all the time, especially on Netflix. The most recent season of "Stranger Things" was in 4K and it looked amazing on the 4K TV I bought about a year ago. 4K definitely looks better and you make sure you get a TV with at least 120Hz refresh rate also. Lots of TVs are still 60Hz and that will have a bit of a "snow" effect if you're watching sports, or movies where the camera angle or colors change a lot. At 120Hz I very rarely, if ever, notice any picture quality loss when streaming. Your internet connection also has a lot to do with this, but if you're in the market for new TV, definitely make sure it has a120Hz as it picture refresh rate.

Which brand tv do you have?
Pretty much all the tv's from the major brands (Samsung, Sony, Philips) only have 50 Herz. I'm looking for about 39/40 inch screen (I used to have 37 inch but that's not available anymore - there is very little between 32 and 40 inch), because my room is not that big and I want to use it as a pc-screen too. But none of them are as high as 120 Herz...
 

ghost19

"Have I run too far to get home?"
Sep 25, 2011
8,926
56,578
51
Arkansas
Not sure if the sell them where you live, but I have a 55-inch TCL/Roku TV. It has a Roku device built into the TV which allows me to stream all my subscription Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, etc, without having a separate device. They're very affordable and come in several sizes. Here's a link to the 43-inch 4k ultra HD model. I have the same model but a 55-inch version.


I've had the TV for over a year and have had zero issues with it. I just picked up a 50-inch for my son for his birthday and he very much likes it. It's nice not having to switch remotes to go to your streaming channels.
 

ghost19

"Have I run too far to get home?"
Sep 25, 2011
8,926
56,578
51
Arkansas
Oh, okay. That must have been what Ghost was talking about with watching Netflix on his 4K.
Yessir. Ultra HD (4k) is 2160p whereas the normal HD standard right now is 1080p. I can definitely see a difference. Most shows stream 1080p currently but some of the streaming channels like Netflix and Hulu are putting out some shows in 4K.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
Not sure if the sell them where you live, but I have a 55-inch TCL/Roku TV. It has a Roku device built into the TV which allows me to stream all my subscription Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, etc, without having a separate device. They're very affordable and come in several sizes. Here's a link to the 43-inch 4k ultra HD model. I have the same model but a 55-inch version.


I've had the TV for over a year and have had zero issues with it. I just picked up a 50-inch for my son for his birthday and he very much likes it. It's nice not having to switch remotes to go to your streaming channels.

I don't think you can buy Roku tv's here. But is it different from a smart tv? Most tv's are smart tv's here now, which means they can be directly connected to internet.

Another thing: do you also notice a difference in image quality on a 4K tv if the programme you're watching is not 4K? Does it do a kind of upscaling of non-4K content?