Does 1080p look worse on a 4K monitor?

[Ananas_]

Let's say I have 2 27" monitor. One of them only supports 1080p and the other one is a 4K monitor running 1080p, will they look the same or will the 4K monitor look worse?

 

[nukemaster]

because of the number of pixels on a 4k screen it should look about the same. Every pixel of a 1920 x 1080 stream can be mapped to 4 pixels(2 wide and 2 high) on the 4k screen.

This assumes the screen works this way, while many do, I can not be 100% sure they all do.

 

[gasaraki]

Yes. The stuff on the 4K screen will look worst due to interpolation. Pixels are being stretched to fit the 4K (3840x2160) resolution when you only have 1920x1080 worth of pixels to work with. Things won't look sharp anymore.

 

[Eximo]

1920x1080 should map perfectly to 4K. Displaying a lower resolution isn't a typical problem with high resolution screens.

It will certainly look less sharp than the same image at 4K, but that is a given. It should look nearly identical to a similar 1920x1080 panel.

Some panels will upscale incoming images that are a lower resolution. Monitors typically don't though.

 

[Donbaloo]

Can't speak specifically to monitors but I just bought a new Samsung 40" 4k tv to replace my Sony 32" 1080. I use the the tv for both tv and pc monitor but only run the pc resolution at 1080. The 4k tv is definitely hazier when displaying the PCs 1080p than the native 1080 tv was. Little bit of a bummer.

 

[Eximo]

Bit of an old post, but I run my 60" 4K TV at 1080p, but I do sit at TV distances. If you are sitting very close then I imagine you are seeing groups of four pixels to make up one. Since the pixels aren't in a perfect square grid you might see the slight artifacting as a result.

If the TV has any upscaling or smoothing settings, you could try disabling them. If it has a PC mode, try that as well.