6 ms·

I'm not so sure as many will notice it on a device with a 5" screen. By my calculations, assuming an angular resolution of the eye of about 1 arcminute[0] and

by dpwm 8y ago

I'm not so sure as many will notice it on a device with a 5" screen. By my calculations, assuming an angular resolution of the eye of about 1 arcminute[0] and holding the device at 300mm, I get about 700 lines as the upper limit of the human eye. [1] So really there should be no benefit for anything above 720p. There may be other factors relating to scaling and compression that might make higher resolutions on small devices look better, but it's definitely of diminishing returns. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_eye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_eye [1] https://gist.github.com/dpwm/af467dff758d6f0c5810a2cf902bbf8b https://gist.github.com/dpwm/af467dff758d6f0c5810a2cf902bbf8...

izacus 8y ago
You're still approaching this in a completely wrong way. Noone CARES if you can actually see the difference. It's a marketing issue - "Galaxy S9 can do Netflix in HD and OnePlus can't" news article is something people will change their purchasing behaviour on. Not to mention other media providers which will fully refuse to allow video streaming to non-DRMed platforms. Don't get hung up on this one example case.
- dpwm 8y ago
  To be fair you're probably right given the way the capitalist system being developed defecates all over its own foundations, but I wonder how Netflix might feel about their trademark being used for marketing purposes in a way that makes it sound like they are deficient in the devices they support.
vardump 8y ago
Don't you need at least 1400 (well, 1399) pixels to distinguish 700 lines? Otherwise they won't be lines anymore.
- dpwm 8y ago
  Or even 1401 if it's black on white. I was being a bit sloppy in my language. Lines was historically a common term for vertical resolution back when it would have been scan lines.
  - vardump 8y ago
    Resolution is historically and otherwise commonly expressed as line pairs, so I assumed you used "line" as shorthand for that.
    - dpwm 8y ago
      Thanks for that clarification. Nice to learn something new :) I was incorrect in my usage of the term. EDIT: Actually, if I was referring to TV lines then I guess I wasn't wrong, but "lines" is ambiguous to the point of confusion if n lines can mean a vertical resolution of both n and 2n. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_lines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_lines
stordoff 8y ago
Allowing for variable angular resolution, and holding the device closer than 300mm, seems to allow plenty of room where you _would_ notice the different. Further, 1080p scaled to 720p is probably going to look better than bit-starved 720p, even if the resolution isn't directly a factor.
ddingus 8y ago
Depends on the eye. I just happen to have some objects from my early childhood, and late teens. I now keep them just for an aging reference. Until about age 20, I could focus right up to roughly an inch away from my eyes. However, at moderate distances, comparable to some phone viewing, there are features on those objects I know well and could resolve then which take a lens now. Used to judge quality of LCD displays by the ratio of pixel to space between with naked eye into my early 30s. Hard to do today. And for me specifically, because of those references, I know about how much harder, or if impossible without a lens. My point here is I believe many younger people will appreciate 720p plus on modern phone displays. I know I would have.

by dpwm 8y ago

izacus 8y ago

You're still approaching this in a completely wrong way. Noone CARES if you can actually see the difference. It's a marketing issue - "Galaxy S9 can do Netflix in HD and OnePlus can't" news article is something people will change their purchasing behaviour on. Not to mention other media providers which will fully refuse to allow video streaming to non-DRMed platforms. Don't get hung up on this one example case.

dpwm 8y ago
To be fair you're probably right given the way the capitalist system being developed defecates all over its own foundations, but I wonder how Netflix might feel about their trademark being used for marketing purposes in a way that makes it sound like they are deficient in the devices they support.

vardump 8y ago

Don't you need at least 1400 (well, 1399) pixels to distinguish 700 lines? Otherwise they won't be lines anymore.

dpwm 8y ago
Or even 1401 if it's black on white. I was being a bit sloppy in my language. Lines was historically a common term for vertical resolution back when it would have been scan lines.
- vardump 8y ago
  Resolution is historically and otherwise commonly expressed as line pairs, so I assumed you used "line" as shorthand for that.
  - dpwm 8y ago
    Thanks for that clarification. Nice to learn something new :) I was incorrect in my usage of the term. EDIT: Actually, if I was referring to TV lines then I guess I wasn't wrong, but "lines" is ambiguous to the point of confusion if n lines can mean a vertical resolution of both n and 2n. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_lines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_lines

stordoff 8y ago

Allowing for variable angular resolution, and holding the device closer than 300mm, seems to allow plenty of room where you _would_ notice the different. Further, 1080p scaled to 720p is probably going to look better than bit-starved 720p, even if the resolution isn't directly a factor.

ddingus 8y ago

Depends on the eye. I just happen to have some objects from my early childhood, and late teens. I now keep them just for an aging reference. Until about age 20, I could focus right up to roughly an inch away from my eyes. However, at moderate distances, comparable to some phone viewing, there are features on those objects I know well and could resolve then which take a lens now. Used to judge quality of LCD displays by the ratio of pixel to space between with naked eye into my early 30s. Hard to do today. And for me specifically, because of those references, I know about how much harder, or if impossible without a lens. My point here is I believe many younger people will appreciate 720p plus on modern phone displays. I know I would have.