[SOLVED] Debating 27" 1080p vs. 28" 4k monitor

[jaydub868]

I have an Nvidia 1070 card with a Kaby Lake 7700K CPU and a 24" 1920x1200 monitor. The monitor recently crapped out so I need a new one. I definitely want to get something a bit larger, but not 32". So either a 27" 1920x1080p or a 28" 4K. I don't care about 4K video or gaming, but I do watch a lot of 1080p Netflix in my browser and 1080p DirectTV via Hauppauge HDPVR. The reason I'm thinking of bumping up to a 4K monitor is because 1080p on a 27" monitor is really pushing it due to the larger pixel size. Even scaled up so as to be readable, the desktop, UI elements and presumably other apps, like Office, seem so much sharper in 4K.

So, my question is:

1. if I went with a 4K monitor, would 1080p video look fine, or would it be blurry, crappy, etc. I hear that 1080p gaming looks pretty bad on a 4K monitor. I'm not sure why that is given that 4K is a direct multiple of 1080p...doesn't seem like that tough of a job (as opposed to 1440 on 4K). Would video suffer in the same way gaming does?
2. Is the 1070 card actually upscaling in the above situation, or doing something else? Upscaling 1080p on 4K TV looks fine to me, but that's a TV.

If 1080p video on 4K is similar to what I hear about gameplay (i.e. crappy), then 4K would not be a good fit at all for me.

 

[RTX 2080]

As someone with both a 1080p laptop and a 27 inch 4k monitor who watches 1080p movies on both, I can say that a 1080p movie/video looks no worse on a 4k monitor than a 1080p screen. As you said, 1080p is a direct multiple of 4k, so it scales perfectly and you don't get any blurriness or adverse effects.

Your GPU doesn't do any upscaling; the 1080p image is simply outputted to your 4k screen. If you have the 1080p video fill your entire 4k screen, then each pixel in your video populates 4 pixels in your monitor. Because it scales perfectly, there is no blurriness or lost detail.

 

[falcon291]

Up to 32" I believe QHD is more than enough.

If you want 4K gaming, 1070 is not enough, however in QHD 1070 still works fine and you will be able to get acceptable fps, not very good but acceptable.

 

[jaydub868]

As someone with both a 1080p laptop and a 27 inch 4k monitor who watches 1080p movies on both, I can say that a 1080p movie/video looks no worse on a 4k monitor than a 1080p screen. As you said, 1080p is a direct multiple of 4k, so it scales perfectly and you don't get any blurriness or adverse effects.

Your GPU doesn't do any upscaling; the 1080p image is simply outputted to your 4k screen. If you have the 1080p video fill your entire 4k screen, then each pixel in your video populates 4 pixels in your monitor. Because it scales perfectly, there is no blurriness or lost detail.

That is great to know. Thanks!

One question, you say....."If you have 1080p video fill your entire screen...." Is there a choice? Can you have 1080p fill the entire screen, OR watch the native 1080p in a smaller window on the monitor that's 1/4 size? If so, how do you invoke the latter?

 

[jaydub868]

Up to 32" I believe QHD is more than enough.

If you want 4K gaming, 1070 is not enough, however in QHD 1070 still works fine and you will be able to get acceptable fps, not very good but acceptable.

The problem with that solution, I hear, is that QHD is an uneven mapping in terms of pixels, not a direct 4:1 ratio, leading to blurriness whenever1080p is played. 1080p comprises 100% of the video I view.

 

[Eximo]

You would be surprised how little it matters in practice. The scalar should do a decent job of mapping the input to the display. Also a lot of 1080p content is compressed significantly anyway, so there will be artifacts and blurring in the original content.

 

[RodroX]

I have an Nvidia 1070 card with a Kaby Lake 7700K CPU and a 24" 1920x1200 monitor. The monitor recently crapped out so I need a new one. I definitely want to get something a bit larger, but not 32". So either a 27" 1920x1080p or a 28" 4K. I don't care about 4K video or gaming, but I do watch a lot of 1080p Netflix in my browser and 1080p DirectTV via Hauppauge HDPVR. The reason I'm thinking of bumping up to a 4K monitor is because 1080p on a 27" monitor is really pushing it due to the larger pixel size. Even scaled up so as to be readable, the desktop, UI elements and presumably other apps, like Office, seem so much sharper in 4K.

So, my question is:

1. if I went with a 4K monitor, would 1080p video look fine, or would it be blurry, crappy, etc. I hear that 1080p gaming looks pretty bad on a 4K monitor. I'm not sure why that is given that 4K is a direct multiple of 1080p...doesn't seem like that tough of a job (as opposed to 1440 on 4K). Would video suffer in the same way gaming does?
2. Is the 1070 card actually upscaling in the above situation, or doing something else? Upscaling 1080p on 4K TV looks fine to me, but that's a TV.

If 1080p video on 4K is similar to what I hear about gameplay (i.e. crappy), then 4K would not be a good fit at all for me.

I own a 32" 1440p monitor (the one in my sign) and I watch, Netflix, Amazon and Youtube.

Youtube usually have media in 1440p, but sometimes is 1080p, just as netflix and amazon and I have to say I don't see any issue looking at 1080p content on a 1440p display.

If you ask me 27 inches 1440p is the perfect size and scale for a PC monitor. (sadly when I got this one theres was no decent 27inches 1440p IPS displays availables where I live).

Gigabyte and Asus launched 2 new 4K monitors, far as I remember both display were pretty ok. You can watch the reviews on Hardware Unboxed channel

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-QABQ7c-Fk
,

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnJjuQdQiyo


Then again is your choice, enjoy whatever you buy!

 

[RTX 2080]

That is great to know. Thanks!

One question, you say....."If you have 1080p video fill your entire screen...." Is there a choice? Can you have 1080p fill the entire screen, OR watch the native 1080p in a smaller window on the monitor that's 1/4 size? If so, how do you invoke the latter?

I use VLC player to watch video files. In order to have your 1080p video played on a 4k screen where each pixel of video is assigned to one pixel on the screen (so, centered in the middle with big black bars around) I click on the 'video' drop down box and uncheck 'always fit window.'

 

[RTX 2080]

The problem with that solution, I hear, is that QHD is an uneven mapping in terms of pixels, not a direct 4:1 ratio, leading to blurriness whenever1080p is played. 1080p comprises 100% of the video I view.

I have experienced this problem personally. My first gaming monitor was a 2560 x 1440p monitor that I bought at the recommendation of many gaming websites. What almost all of those websites did not touch on was the uneven pixel mapping you mentioned if you watch a lot of 1080p video on said 1440p screen.

@Eximo mentioned that "a lot of 1080p content is compressed significantly anyway, so there will be artifacts and blurring in the original content," implying that compression artifacts are similar to what you see with uneven pixel mapping or maybe that since there are compression artifacts anyway you wont really notice the issue with uneven pixel mapping. I'm sorry, but I will have to disagree in either case. Maybe my standards for video content are higher than most, I don't know, but uneven pixel mapping looks absolutely horrible to my eyes, significantly worse than a compressed 1080p video vs. an uncompressed 1080p video viewed on a 1080p/4K display.

My 12 TB HDD has three types of movie content: 1080p movies that I bought and downloaded on iTunes (3-7 GB per video), 1080p movies that I bought as Blu-Ray Discs and ripped to my hard drive (15-35 GB per video), and 4K movies that I bought as UHD Blu-Ray discs and ripped to my hard drive (30-75 GB per video). Every Blu-Ray movie that I own represents a 1080p iTunes movie that I already owned and decided to go through the trouble of purchasing an ripping from the disc in order to avoid compression artifacts and to be able to see the movie that way it was meant to be seen. I have 980 GB worth of (compressed by iTunes) 1080p movies stored locally as well as 4.72 TB worth of BluRay content (also stored locally on my HDD). I know what compression artifacts look like as I have extensively compared compressed 1080p video with uncompressed 1080p BluRay content.

I also own a 3440 x 1440 ultrawide gaming monitor. I can tell you from personal experience that any one of my 1080p movies looks absolutely terrible on that monitor due to the uneven pixel mapping, whether the movie is compressed iTunes 1080p content or uncompressed BluRay content. When I play a 1080p movie on my laptop's 1080p display or on my desktop 4K monitor, they look just fine.

I know what compression artifacts look like and I know what uneven pixel mapping look like. The two are not compareable; uneven pixel mapping degrades the viewing experience significantly more than compression artifacts does. I will never watch a 1080p movie on a 1440p screen in fullscreeen mode because of how distracting the uneven pixel mapping is. Because of this, I only recommend that someone buy a 1440p monitor if they intend to use it primarily for gaming purposes and don't intend to watch movie content that has been mastered in 1080p (which is most of it).

Most gamers don't use their gaming monitor as movie screens; they either have 1080p/4K TVs that they watch movies on, or they just don't watch movies period. For those people, a 1440p gaming monitor makes the most sense. But for those that consume a great deal of 1080p content on their monitor, a 1440p screen is a poor choice. For those individuals, a 1080p or 4K screen is what they need. 1080p movies/content (whether compressed or not) played back on a 4K screen look no worse than played back on a 1080p screen to my eyes.