Videos and monitors resolution!

[Theodwros Tenizis]

Hey guys, i was just wondering. Is there any difference when you play a higher resolution video in a lower resolution monitor?
I mean whatever resolution you download you will see what your monitor supports or you will
see the actual resolution of the video? For example if i DOWNLOAD (not watch it online) a 1080p/4k movie and watch it on a 720p monitor what i will actually see? The true resolution of the video in a 720p monitor or i will just see 720p video? I dont talk about games only for downloaded movies. (And btw i ask this not only because i am curious but because i mostly watch movies
on my laptop (720p) rather than my desktop and as known 1080p movies take more time to download.) So, any difference after all?

 

[BSOD BSTD]

Any video you watch will be downscaled to 720p, there is no need to downlaod higher res films. 720p monitors have 1280 x 720 pixels, so can not display anything higher than that. Try experimenting by downloading a 1080p and 720p film, you wont see a difference.

 

[dwatterworth]

To add to this, there are advantages of down-sampling higher resolution content.
This depends largely on how the content was created.
Often a down-sampled image/video will appear more clear versus one that was created in that direct lower resolution. That isn't a factor of the actual resolution of the file, but the way the file was created, usually losing quality through compression.
It's all about how the source file was created, what method of compression etc.

 

[Theodwros Tenizis]

So if i download a 4k video that was captured with a 4k camera, download it and play it on a 1080p or 720p monitor i will actually see differences than to play it on a 4k monitor.

 

[Theodwros Tenizis]

Any video you watch will be downscaled to 720p, there is no need to downlaod higher res films. 720p monitors have 1280 x 720 pixels, so can not display anything higher than that. Try experimenting by downloading a 1080p and 720p film, you wont see a difference.

I was going to but i didnt find any time yet. But definetely i will. Thanks

 

[dwatterworth]

You'll see a lot less information. You can't actually see more pixels than exist, but it may appear smoother than if you captured video at 720p and watched it at 720p.

Downsampling will often reduce jagged edges and other edge artifacts on compressed content.