Yahoo Message Number: 109584 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/109584)
I was just reading some technical articles about 4K and what the ramifications are when it comes to selecting connecting cables. There was a statement in the article that reminded me of a rule of thumb from the past I want to share with everyone. In the days of projection TV before big flat screens the rule of thumb was you should sit with in 1.5 times the size of the screen you are viewing HDTV. So if you had a 8 ft screen then the viewing distance should be 12 ft. That is fairly doable. But now apply that to your screen in your motor home. 40 ". That would mean to get the full benefit of the resolution of Hi Def screen you would have to sit at 60 ". Well as said this article really surprised me buy the new rule of thumb. In order to take advantage of guaranteed enjoyment of 2k and being centered with the screen you should 1.5 times the vertical distance of the screen. So that would mean if you had a 40 " screen in your Motorhome you would have to sit with in 30" of the screen to guarantee being on the edge of being able to resolve a 4 K picture.
Another part of the article confirmed my suspicions that by manipulating the edge contrast of an object shown on the screen digitally you could trick the eye into believing the picture is sharper, clearer, with higher resolution than is actually there. That reminded me of the old debates between Leica and Contax as to which gave the the best results of capturing a scene on film. Leica with its higher resolution or Contax with it higher contrast. Contax won with black and white film, Leica with color some thought.
None of this addresses the fact that 4K has an entire list of other picture qualities that are definitely superior to older HD TV. There was an entire section in the article about what was necessary to view the picture successfully. The 4K picture can be almost successfully viewed in a day lit room where the older HD picture could only be viewed in a darkened in room. . It's not that picture is just brighter and the blacks blacker, but the optical make up of the surface of the screen. So yes a 4K picture looks better at a less than optimal viewing distance than older HDTV, but not just because of resolution. TWI 2004 Intrigue 11731.