720p != 1080p

Naughty Dog programmer John Hable writes:"Back when we were moving frm SD to HD, one of the more fashionable arguments was that if you have normal vision then you can’t tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. Every once in a while this argument comes up, so I thought I’d address it because it sheds light on a common misconception about aliasing and how our eyes work."

[MetalFreakMike]

This article is most likey defending games in 720P. On my tv, I can see the difference in pixels and I much rather have 1080P then 720P. To each their own I guess.

[kaveti6616]

You should most likely read the article.

[Anon1974]

What I had previously heard was that you can't tell 720p from 1080p on anything smaller than a 50" screen. I don't know if that's true or not but I must say from my experience with a 1080p home theater projector on a 93" screen, 720p looks good, 1080p looks mind blasting.

If it weren't for my desire to see new movies in all their glory I'd never leave the comfort of my own home. Now for gaming, boy howdy! Sure you have to buy a new bulb every couple of years but if you've got that space for a home theater setup I'd strongly recommend it to anyone considering upgrading their TV.

[Shang-Long]

Regardless, it'd be nice to have all games at that resolution. I know they say it's a waste but I can tell a differnce.. Well I think I can lol

[ChrisW]

Anyway...

Has anyone ever tried playing a game with lower resolution with graphics maxed on their PC?
If you have, then (not THAN in this situation) you understand my point.

[ColdFire]

A big problem, is outside of PC, there are almost no true 1080p games. On both consoles there are only about 6 1080p games, and they aren't AAA games that many people have. So when a console user tries to compare MW2 at 720p, and at 1080p, it will look similar, as both are being rendered at 600p.

On PC I have a 22" screen, I can easily see the difference between 1080p and 720p, and playing a game at <1080p just feels weird.

[El_Colombiano]

ColdFire you hit the nail on the head. Couldn't have said it better my self.

[Pekka]

@ColdFire: But you probably look your PC from around 3 feet distance. You would need over 50" inch screen if you watch TV from 8 feet distance to see the same difference between 720p and 1080p. 22" screen from 3 feet is exactly the same as 44" TV from 6 feet distance.

[JustTheFactsMr]

"On both consoles there are only about 6 1080p games,"

On the 360 that's true.

On the PS3 there are 40+

[NamelessTed]

Maybe you should read the article before you make a comment about it.

[Montrealien]

as others stated, check it out. Its pretty good.

[Faztkiller]

He's got some other cool articles on there

[sid4gamerfreak]

there is a huge difference between 720p and 1080p, there are approximately 60% more pixels...

[Hideo_Kojima]

I have a 37" 720p
and a 32" 1080p and I think my 720p looks better then the 1080p.

I think it is better to buy an expensive 720p then the cheapest 1080p youcan find.

But if you want to spend £700+ it will be more clear.

Basically not all 1080p TVs are better than 720p TVs other things play a huge role as well in my case a bigger role (refresh rate, contrast, plasma/lcd, etc)

[ColdFire]

Most 360 games are 720p, almost none are 1080p, several are <720p.

[sid4gamerfreak]

lol consoles cant even do full hd. Hey ps3 fanboys, you know what your console runs on?

And dont get me started on the sub hd which was popular 5 years ago, Xbox 360....

PC = 1080p and more

[PirateThom]

Actually, the PS3 can do full HD.

In fact, there's a number of games in native 1080p, what are you talking about?

[baconbits69]

@sid4gamerfreak

What about some of these games? Or do they not count because you just don't want them too....

Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 = 1920×1080
Wipeout HD = 1920×1080
Go Puzzle = 1920×1080
GT5 Prologue = 1920×1080
Lair = 800×1080/1600×1080
Ridge Racer 7 = 1920×1080
NBA07 = 1920×1080
NBA08 = 1920×1080
Blast Factor = 1920×1080
Calling All Cars = 1920×1080
Echochrome = 1920×1080
Elefunk = 1920×1080
High Velocity Bowling = 1920×1080
Locoroco Cocoreccho = 1920×1080
Mainichi Issyo = 1440×1080
Pixel Junk Monsters/Racers/Eden = 1920×1080
Rub’a'dub = 1600×1080
Snakeball = 1280×1080
Stardust HD = 1280×1080
Sudoku = 1920×1080
Super Rub-a-Dub = 1600×1080
Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection = 1920×1080

[bjornbear]

yes it can...mostly PSN games but PS3 DOES do full HD

wtf you think Wipeout HD is called Wipeout HD

damn PC elitists...go hump a harddrive

[bjornbear]

PS3 does do HD games, most are PSN titles but they are in full HD

why do you think wipeout HD is called wipeout HD

= full HD

damn PC elitists, go hump your graphics card.

[sikbeta]

No guys, you don't get it, PC makez da 1080pz and da Cryssiz Graphicz....

-_-

[hybridtheory12]

Its funny watching people state a point thats not even true. the PS3 does have native 1080p games.

[ruiner4482]

http://forum.beyond3d.com/s...

I only saw 3 or 4 games on the list that are full 1080p, and none of them are graphical powerhouses. And giving a game with nothing going on it a 1080p rez doesn't mean the ps3 can handle it on a full scale title. If the ps3 could have handled 1080p for GOW3 then they would have done it, but it can't. I still love my ps3 but lets get it straight, it doesn't really do full hd rez natively

Edit: Gran Turismo 5: Prologue = 1080p mode is 1280x1080 (2xAA) in-game while the garage/pit/showrooms are 1920x1080 with no AA. 720p mode is 1280x720 (4xAA) Not true 1080p

[Hallmark Moment]

GT5-p isn't 1080p native. The rest are PSN titles. XBLA has 1080p native games. 1280/1080 That's been known. You can find that out in a second with google.

[Persistantthug]

:P

[MrRaveDave]

lol! that made my day... bubbles for you sir! :-)

now "excuse me... can anyone point me in the direction of the wormhole?" :-D

[El Botto]

576p != 720p

Dont kid yourselves people. There is only one true HD media console. And thats from Sony.

[edhe]

You know, both consoles also do 480p, does that mean neither do HD at all?

Oh wait, one bubble... no wonder you're making retarded comments.

[Sano64]

the argument is good in gaming but not in tv. TV and movies dont need AA

[MNicholas]

came from all the moron sales people who were trying to push plasma tvs at a time when plasma tvs were not available in 1080p.

Some of them are still pushing 720P because recommending an inferior product is something that sales people do to gain the customer's trust. Once they have the customers trust they know they can easily add on all kinds of useless accessories.

So rather than a good 1080P LCD, customers often end up with a 720P plasmas and a whole bunch of useless junk like "power conditioners."

[nveenio]

This article is stupid. The idea of aliasing plays absolutely no part in video watching. Aliasing happens in games, and we all know that 1080p vs 720p is a big difference.

[tmt345]

720 vs 1080p is a HUGE difference because your really close to the screen and its allows you to see much more detail in the background and the images look more smooth and crisp. I would imagine for TV's however it would depend how close you are to the screen.

[edhe]

b.i.n.g.o.

[Shepherd 214]

I honestly do not see the point of all of this, i really dont. If some people find this interesting, im happy for them. But games with sub-HD resolutions have proven to still be beautiful. Metal Gear Solid 4 has a 640p resolution, and it still looked superb. The fact that Halo 3 used a graphics engine that wasnt as up to date as it should have been did not top me from still thinking that it had a gorgeous art style and great lighting effects.

When i play games on my 57 inch TV i cant tell between 1080p and 720p. I dont really care too much either. Im not saying there isnt a difference, but i cant see it. I also couldnt tell which crosses were dotted or solid in that guys test too when i stood a couple feet away from my monitor, so take it as you will.

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

Uhhh the bigger the screen the bigger the pixel, therefor bigger TVs need to have a higher resolution to avoid looking worse then smaller TVs and you dont want to sit as close to them either.

A 32in 1080P Tv will look better than a 32in 720P tv and better than a 62in 1080P tv if you standing close to the same distance away from them.

Everyone should be able to tell that 1080P looks better than 720P when they are the same size and same distance away(ignoring other variables). I think people just look at a number and ignore all the variables that are included when comparing resolution.

For example, Uncharted 2 is native 720P and the PS3 sends a 720P signal to my 1080P TV. I usually play on a 32in 720p TV and think it looks better on the smaller TV. Why? because its the same amount of pixels in a smaller space. You need to sit further back from the bigger TV to see the same quality. Now if the game was rendered in 1080P then the bigger TV would look better, even at the same distance probably.
or If I had a 1080P Tv the size of my wall Id have to stand in the street for me to see as good a picture as I see on my 52in.

Im thinking next gen im going to get a medium sized 1080P(~40in) display, as I want a 1080P TV that is smaller as it will have the high resolution crammed into a smaller screen.

I think that tto get the best picture you need to balance resolution, screen size, and viewing distance.

EDIT- The reason why people cant tell the difference between 720 and 1080 in games is that most games are only rendered in 720. THe consoles are not powerful enought to run the graphic intense games in native 1080P.
This argument will be much more important for videogames next gen, and it will be obvious that the difference is quite noticeable.

[majorsuave]

I have a hard time believing people care enough on that debate to write 4 paragraphs to make a point.

And I still can't believe it's not butter.

[Fanb0y]

It's all about the level of detail and environments and the amount of antialiasing, not so much the resolution.

I would have preferred BFBC2 to be 640p 2xAA than 720p no AA.

[edhe]

Yeah imo i'd rather have a nice graphics engine than more res. The latest batch of games with reduced res but better detailed & lit engines appeals to me.

You can get a lot more out of a game experience with deeper lighting effects than you can with more pixels.

Would be nice if they did it all at native 1080p, but we bought consoles, not rigs.

[MNicholas]

need to learn a bit about how the eye works.

A doctors exam tests just one aspect of vision. The ability to discern static detail while in a static position. The moment you or the image start moving, that test becomes meaningless. Just as any optician.

This reminds me of all the morons who think that 60fps (1/60th of a second per frame) is the ideal frame-rate for the human eye when, in fact, tests have shown humans able to discern changes in images at over 1/500th of a second.

[Blitzed]

I can see a single field in motion. There are 2 fields per frame of video and stepping through a cut in the video will not show a flash of a single field despite it being there. However, in motion I will see that field everytime. It's not the perfect reference to your point but it's an example of how your eyes see things in motion that are not descernable while static.

[Nicholas Cage]

1080p looks better than 720p on screen sizes 42 and up. its your cornia that does the job, the human eye cannot tell the difference based on the circumstances ive stated.

[Theonetheonly]

i look at 26 inch 1920x1200 screen and can tell the difference in all of the images. 1920x 1080 contains almost double the pixel data of 720p to say That this goes unnoticed is like saying "sub pixel font rendering" doesnt improve text quality and readability. more definition. more image.

[Nicholas Cage]

Back when we were moving frm SD to HD, one of the more fashionable arguments was that if you have normal vision then you can’t tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. Every once in a while this argument comes up, so I thought I’d address it because it sheds light on a common misconception about aliasing and how our eyes work.

The argument goes something like this. The human eye can not distinguish between unique features that are below a certain size on your retina. If you have a 720p display that is 12 feet away from you, and you have average vision, then you can not distinguish individual pixels. That’s how eye doctors test your vision. So 720p is enough and 1080p displays are a waste of money. Case closed!

[BWS1982]

I see you omitted the "Right?" part of the article after "Case closed!". Nice cherry-picking. The article addresses both points of view and explains some technicalities, and you strategically pasted the part that apparently justifies your own purchase or bolsters your own argument. Just, no...

[ColdFire]

There is NO "this resolution is only noticeable on size X and up", it's all based on viewing distance. On PC at a very short distance you can see the difference easily.

[facelike]

This article is not right. First they say "average vision." What is "average vision?" 20/20 or worst. Are people with huge eye prescriptions being counted with a person with perfect vision? If so, then that brings down the average.

These arguments always come up, and I honestly believe it's a marketing thing. We're told 720 is fine, but that info comes from salespersons trying to sell people TV's they can afford. Also, when a person is not able to afford something expensive, then they constantly rationalize why the lesser product is a better product.

If anyone heard Dolby Pro Logic vs DTS, there is a huge difference in sound. I used to work sales in audio and there were people who swore up and down that less volume, less clarity and a more dull sound was better, just so they didn't have to spend $40 for an upgrade. These same people would also tell all their friends the same.

There are a lot a cheap 720 TV's on the market, and people need to feel good about buying them and not waiting till they can afford the full 1080 TV set. So these silly arguments come up. Having grandma with limited vision saying HD isn't necessary is silly, why is she included in the counting.

If you have good eyesight, then you'll see the difference between 1080 and 720 at any distance. Just expect when 1080 TV's come down in price, there will be articles saying that they suddenly realized that 1080 is better and is now required (like with 3D TV), and they will try to sell you another set. It's all marketing.

[Jonray]

Monitors are different than TV in that their pixels per inch count is higher because it is meant to be closer to your face in your relative personal space, and when an image or application that runs lower than your native resolution is blown up full screen is it easy to see a difference because it is obvious that it is scaling and the image's "pixels" appear larger. For a TV though, it's pixel count is made to fit a LARGER screen with the same resolution as a monitor (1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 etc) because it is meant to be seen from a further distance, so scaling won't be evident because it will be too far and too high of a ratio of pixel density to the distance that you are sitting to notice the difference. The only way the difference can be noticed is if the ratio is once again altered by putting the same 720p or 1080p image on a tv twice as large, (80 inches etc.)

[FragMnTagM]

and there is a huge difference between 720 and 1080 on it.

[ambientFLIER]

That's because your face is 12 inches away from it. This is assuming normal viewing distances. I sit 10 feet away from a 42 inch display, and I can't tell the difference.

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

For example, Uncharted 2 is rendered in native 720P no matter what resolution your TV is.

I have a nice 52inch, 120hz, 1080p TV and U2 looks better on my 720P 32inch TV because its 720P in a smaller area and the TV doesnt need to fill unused pixels like my bigger one does(well it does to a lesser extent as the resolution of the 32 inch TV is actually somethingX 768 pixels). To get the same image from the 52inch TV I have to sit back much further.

At the same distance on the same TV, YOU WILL ALWAYS NOTICE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 720P and 1080P UNLESS YOU HAVE POOR VISION.

[MNicholas]

It explains things rather well. There are even more reasons why 1080P is better, even on a 32" in your living room, as I explain in my earlier comment.

[MUGEN]

After using 768p TV's for 5 years and then 1080p for the last 3.5 years I would never go back to anything less. My eye's are ~6ft(perfect for 1080p on my screen size) from my 46" 1080p at all times and your seating distance to screen size is the main reason to upgrade to a 1080p TV. Since I sit so close I can even tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p, 1080i is blurry or out of focus compared to 1080p.

Quote from the article
"So, what resolution is “enough”? In my opinion, it’s the resolution at which you don’t need any anti-aliasing."
I see jaggies even with 32xQAA@1080p, 4/8xAA@1080p is what I would normally use though.

[Motion]

While I agree with most of what you're saying, I do want to disagree with being able to tell the difference between 1080p and 1080i. They are the exact same resolution, the only difference is that the p is progressive, meaning all lines in the image are updated at the same time, or i is interlaced, meaning every other line is updated during each refresh. P may have a more fluid look w/ less ghosting effects, but they are running at the same resolution, one will not be blurrier than the other.

[MUGEN]

Every time I change the resolution to 1080i(PC/360/PS3) I get the same slightly blurred/out of focus result so it could be the TV but I doubt it.

[PS360PCROCKS]

Pssh I wouldn't trade my 1080P 50" Pioneer Kuro plasma for my previous 720P 32" Samsung LCD EVER. I can TOTALLY notice the difference, it's very obvious.

[PotNoodle]

Part of that may be the fact you have one of the very best TVs out there.. But yeah, 1080p most certainly looks better than 720p. I can see it even on my 24" and 22" PC monitors as well as my 42" plasma.

[Chug]

But it's not like I'm going to come in here and brag about my Sony Bravia XBR KDL-52XBR4 52-Inch 1080p in my living room, or my Samsung LN40B650 40-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color in my basement.

[Droid Smasha]

but I prefer my Sammy LN46B640 46in 1080p 120 Hz LCD in Grey Touch of Color lol

[whitesoxfalife]

I have a 73" from Mitsu, 40" from sony and a 32" from proscan, got to get two more TVs to cover everybody rooms I want the samsung led TV i watched kunfu panda in hi-def at costco simply amazing!!!!!!!!

[PS360PCROCKS]

Lol yeah your probably right deathrow, but 1080P to me is very noticeable on any TV be it a plasma, LED, LCD etc... and chug really? I wasn't bragging I was merely stating what 2 TVs I own as a comparison. BTW my TV is better than both yours.

[Biggest]

This is a true statement. I would punch a baby in the face for a Kuro.

[Deios]

I see 16 crosses, XD

[SixZeroFour]

same :S does that mean we have greater than 1080p monitors :O that the resolution is so great, it can come up with 2 extra crosses out of nowhere!! lol

[rakunado]

I have two bravia's one 52 inch, and one 32 inch, i also have a samsung 32 inch. The samsung can do 1080p native, and the bravia 32" upscales.

Can I tell the difference? Hell yes even though they are both 32 inch.

People that like to argue about 1080p and 720p being indistinguishable are the type of people that don't have true 1080p. Jealousy is like fanboyism. People make too many excuses about why something "is not needed" when they don't have it, but when they have it, its like opening a door to a whole new world. Everyone is a hypocrite at times out of sheer ignorance. This applied to me as well. I use to have a computer monitor playing my ps3 and xbox360... lol i thought i didn't need a hd tv at all... how wrong i was. So what now? Well i think im gonna join the "We don't need 3d tv's camp!" until once again... my ignorance is blown out of the water. haha.

Also lets not get into the 5.1 DTS/Dolby digital debate either... surround sound kicks a$$!

[BulletToothtony]

7.2 is what you should really invest on..

While playing shooters it's quite helpful to know exactly how much you have to turn to shoot someone..

many times in cod4 i would turn around and i can kill someone running behind me trying to knife me.

plus dts-hd is where is really at for bluray purposes

[AKS]

A major misconception is that raising the resolution automatically makes a game look infinitely better. 1080p can be very costly to performance; 720p with more detail and extra effects or AA can actually look significantly better than 1080p. That's why most developers of 360 and PS3 games use 720p instead of 1080p. 1080p is very taxing for consoles.

[SilverSlug]

if you have a shitty TV. I do, I game on a 22 inch monitor. Looks nice for 720p. But then I saw Watchmen at my house on my set up (shitty) then on my friends badass new television, and HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

Mind = fucking blown. I swear. I could not go back. Saving up money for a amazing TV.

[TheObserver]

I can tell with my eyes, your mileage may vary which depends on your vision.

20/20 vision is not the average nor it is the the best vision. More of like a bare minimum in order for you pass the "vision not impaired" test. Average is like 20/16 - 20/12. Just so you know before saying that you are 20/20 and you cannot tell. If so, it means get your eyes checked.

Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopedia on "Visual Acuity".

I am 20/15 the last time I went to the optometrist. However, with age my vision is declining...

[Pandamobile]

If you can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p you are blind.

[zslash]

I have a 2560x1600 display and still notice jaggies. The perfect res is far out there.

[Pandamobile]

You'll always have jaggies. No matter what resolution you're running, they'll always be there unless you have anti-ailiasing enabled.

[BannedForNineYears]

Ehh, isn't it better if you play 720P games on a 720P TV?
Because if you upscale a 720P game onto a 1080P 52 inch tv, it'll look worse than if it was being displayed natively..
Amirite?
No?
Oh....Ok.

[Hideo_Kojima]

if you have an good 1080p tv it will upscale so well that you wont tell
the first set of 1080ps were not good at upscaling but they really caught up at playing 720p footage

It won't look any better though and as I do not watch Bluerays and I do not own any 1080p games I did not think I would need a 1080p tv as the only thing that it would improve for me would be the XMB

[ar]

The games I play doesn't consist of black lines on a white background. It's always easy making a point by using extreme cases. Try a real world example instead.

[thief]

It must be me, but I never saw the difference betwen SKY HD and SD when I used to see Football matches - thats 1080p vs 720p isnt it?
But sub-720p is definitely visible

[PirateThom]

Sky HD is 1080i or 720p max, due to bandwidth required. There's no 1080p content on Sky HD.

SD on Sky would be... 480p, maybe? Not to sure, never had Sky.

However, my dad does, and he had Sky HD for three months and swore he couldn't tell the difference between HD and SD.... his TV was set to the wrong channel, so wasn't even displaying via HDMI (using SCART for whatever reason). There is a definite difference between the SD content on Sky and the HD content, even in 720p (because don't use 1080i). Even flicking between Sky Sports and Sky Sports HD, there's an obvious difference between the 720p content and the upscaled content, which is why anyone who says upscaled is "just as good" must have a really small TV.

[Hotel_Moscow]

difference is 1080p is for televisions over 40 inches i mean come on how can you forget the most important factor television size you can compare a television thats 720p 37 inches to a television thats 1080p 47 inches

[nOvashin]

A monkey could tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. I've done tests using my gaming pc that put this argument to rest. case in point I had a friend who has got a platinium trophy on his ps3 copy of resident evil 5(thats a long time staring at his screen) and when I showed him ressy evil 5 running @ 1920 x 1080p, 16xAA, 16xAF, max texture, and 60fps rest assured their is no comparing the two.

[ULTIMATE_REVENGE]

What is this article trying to say? I can tell the difference easily so what's with all this crap!

@thief SD isn't 720p lol it's 480p, and switching to SKY HD doesn't all of a sudden make your CRT TV become HD capable. You need a HD TV, HDMI cable and you need to obviously be watching a HD channel to to see the difference between SD & HD.

and I'm sure SKY HD doesn't do broadcasts in 1080p, it only does 720p and if you can't tell the difference between 480p and 720p (SD & HD) then there's something seriously wrong with your eyes.

[FragMnTagM]

and 480p is Enhanced Definition (EDTV).

[bunfighterii]

The difference between 720 and 1080 is easy to tell, even on a relatively small screen.

The only proof I need is the comparison between the Full HD television that sits in my bedroom and the two, older, 720p TV's in my lounge and rec room. The full is clearer, sharper, and everything displayed on it looks much better.

[ImmortalLegend]

The reason I got a 720p set is because that is the sweet spot for consoles. Not many games are true 1080p, they are upscaled. There's not enough games that run 1080p natively to convince me to get a 1080p television. I don't game on PC so there's no reason for me to go 1080p at the moment.

[Figboy]

jaggies "issue" is completely blown out of proportion this generation.

take inFAMOUS for example. that game has poor anti-aliasing, but i still consider it to be one of the best looking sandbox games out there, because all the other elements that make up the visual presentation is so rock solid.

i have a 40" 720p set, which can also output 1080i. i currently have my PS3 set to 1080i, but most games output to 720p automatically.

i sit about 6-8 feet from my screen, and i can most certainly see jaggies in images on games, but i never find them distracting.

maybe it's because i've been playing console games since the 80's, when graphics were, for the most part, one big jaggie. lol.

my wife has a 24" 720p HDTV that i have the 360 and the computer hooked up to (for now, the 360 is going back on the big TV once i get my wife her PS3), and sitting about 5-6 feet from the screen, i could see the dotted crosses, and the jagged lines in the article above.

all i know is that HD is better than SD, and i'm enjoying the hell out of my HD consoles. i don't get hung up on the little things like anti-aliasing. games like God of War 3 are a rarity, one that i appreciate, but i certainly don't expect every developer to work that kind of magic on every game.

[SmokedOut]

Having a 1080p and 720p tv in my house I prefer the 1080p. Although alot of it is in our heads wanting to think it's better, although it seems to look sharper but who cares.

[dirthurts]

1080p is a much smoother image in gaming. 720p is still jaggie. I hate jaggies. I can't tell the difference in detail, but I do notice that gaming at 720p makes it harder to spot enemies and such in games.
It also seems that the colors is better in 1080p. But that could just be my display.

[PrimordialSoupBase]

PC.

[ReBurn]

I found the article to be very interesting. Sitting about 1 meter from my laptop screen I couldn't tell the difference between the crosses, but I could certainly tell the difference between the lines with jaggies. I see a lot of PC folks saying that it is easy to tell the difference between 1080p and 720p. I guess when you spend so much time half a meter away from the display you can tell the difference. In terms of video games and HD televisions the author's points are valid I think. In terms of PC's where your face is right in the screen things are probably different.

No need to argue over it, though.

Jagged lines in games don't really bother me all that much. I guess it comes from growing up through every generation of game consoles. In the beginning everything was blocks and jagged lines and things have just gotten consistently better.

When I first saw the graphics on the 360, before the PS3 launched, my mouth literally fell open. And there have been moments on both 360 and PS3 where it has happened again, like with Mass Effect 2, God of War III and Heavy Rain.

[thehitman]

Its like being in a dark room for awhile then someone turns the light on and BAM your eyes hurt until they adjust.

If your someone who jumps from SD to something like 720/1080i then your going to be like wow etc but you wont see the difference between a 720/1080i tv and a 1080p tv because your eyes are not use to them yet. I have been watching/gaming in HD 720-1080i for years now and no matter what size the tv I can tell the difference between a 720/1080i/1080p tv even anything less than 720 really really hurts. There is HUGE difference between 720p and 1080p. If my PC/PS3 didnt allow upscaling to 1080 I probably would need glasses by now because 720 starts to throw me off now too.

[Trey_4_life]

Read the article and still think he is talking sh*t. I have tested many games in different resolutions and have to say i can see a big difference between 720p and 1080p so WTF is he on about, lol.

[CoLD FiRE]

I dunno about you guys but I can see the difference between 720p and 1080p even on a 22" screen

[DaRazorback]

I generally agree with you, however I think it all depends on the product. Like the originally Sony NBA game for the PS3 was 1080P, the the quality of the images were not as good as the most recent 720P ones. Same goes for Tekken: D.R. it is 1080P and Mortal Kombat Vs. DC is 720P and I think MK has absolutely better and crisper images.

[LevDog]

Come to my house watch my SamSung LED in HD 1080p and then go watch My older samsung DLP 1080p then watch my GFs 720p tv we have in our room..

TRUST me there is a HUGE Difference.. even if it says 1080p You can still do better.. 1080p is way better than 720P

Besides who watches Tv farther than 12 feet away.. This isnt the movie theater

[Cherchez La Ghost]

I sold my Samsung 60 1080p DLP for the Toshiba 55 Regza to the Samsung 55 8000 240hz. First of all, the resolution is far better on the LED over the DLP. To be honest, my 720p Insignia has a better picture quality over my old Samsung 1080p DLP. I am little over 12ft. for viewing. The closer you are, the shietter the picture look on a big screen.

Second, it depends on how in depth the graphics are within the game. GT5 vs. Calling all Cars?! C'mon, son! You pick which. Both are 1080p, you make the call. To a certain extent, some games in a lesser resolution of 1080p graphics still looks good.

[kraze07]

I don't care about screen resolution when it comes to console gaming. On PC is another story though.

[Gun_Senshi]

I still see jaggies in games. I only do not see jaggies when I'm playing 1680 on PC with x16 AA Q

[hadouken007]

u can tell, i have a sony bravia 120hz tv, u have the option to display what the resolution is, but uncharted 2 can be at 720p or 1080pand hell yeah theres a difference,and that with any game i got thats for from 720 to 1080,stop letting these people lie to u.

[subzero-08]

I can certainly tell the difference between a 1080p game and a 720p game on my television set. Everything is much sharper.

[ATi_Elite]

buying a TV that only does 720p is a waste of money if your looking for the best picture available. But then again I game on the PC and only game at FULL HD or beyond. there is a big difference between 720 and 1080.

At 1080 you don't have to use as much AA as you would at 720 plus everything is sharper in games and movies. Most consoles can barely do 720 in a High Quality game such as Halo Reach or God of War 3. Both achieve 720 but lack the horsepower for AA and AF correction but they look good for the hardware they are on.

As a PC elitest playing at 1920 X 1080 8 AA 16 AF 60 Fps all my games look better than high resolution screenshots. BBC2 looks like candy with all the colors dust and explosions. 1080p is the only way to go so don't be fooled!

[CryWolf]

1080p isn't a big deal for me my HDTV can only go up to 1080i so i just play my games in 720p which better then 1080i, I hear that 720p and 1080p isn't that difference not unless you have a King size HDTV but really is their a big differences guys please tell me.

[earthbounding]

My biggest problem is with the jags. But the difference, at least to me, is noticeable. Especially with the PS3 menu screen.

[SQWERCH]

Guys doesnt 1080p fit more on the screen then 720p?

[karan8624]

You can as much on the screen regardles
However, with 1080p and higher resolutions, your can fit more stuff on the screen CLEARLY, without stuff being blurred or jaggy edged

[SQWERCH]

ok so it is true you can fit more on the screen with 1080P

[Reallink]

Almost completely ignores the only important relationship in this "resolution debate"--screen size Vs. viewing distance. How the author managed to dig up these aliasing and pixel examples, but couldn't be bothered to mention size:distance (or post a chart) is amazing.

[Magna Farta]

and all the other ultra-HD resolutions that are gonna make all of our TVs obsolete within the next 5 or so years.

Gotta love technology and it's uncanny ability to empty our wallets

[karan8624]

This new N4G is not fun
All the fanboy comments get mounted with disagrees and minus bubbles, what did they do? Delete everyone and replace them with mods? This friendly atmosphere displeases me

[TheDudeLasse]

Best to forget about 1080p this generation. Neither console has enough power. And yes, if you have a big screen there's a massive difference between 720p and 1080p.
Of course there's a difference, 1080p has more than double the pixels.

[anonymouse111335]

It depends on the size of screen and how far away you are, so depending on the person 1080p is better or just a waste, have a chart. http://img28.imageshack.us/...

As for me with my TV it's 32" and I sit about 8-10 feet away from it when I play, so according to the chart I wont, but if I was to sit on my bed and play I would, as for PC you're a few feet away from the screen so higher resoloutios will look better.

Thing is (and I'll probably get 1000 disagrees for this) going higher resoloution for games won't improve the graphics, it'll improve how much area is on screen and picture quality like comparing blu-ray and DVD, but it won't improve the graphics, it'll help you see more of the game at once, but not the graphics, if you want to argue change your moniters size in pixels, it'll let you see more content on screen at once, but won't magically make your taskbar appear prettier, nor images you view.

[Dellis]

Remember when gaming wasn't about this crap???

lets go back to that, a game can look amazing at

high res but if it is ass grease then what's the point??

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

I remember in the 80s when My favorite computer game was a mini golf game which had about a 20x20 resolution and was made of squares. Back then they couldnt even put triangles between diagonal squares to smooth them out.

[Primetimebt]

Well I can tell the difference especially when PS3 XMB is 1080P and I'm playing a game in 720P and trying to read a message. The XMB and message become alot lighter.

[Pandamobile]

Lol, this news just hit 1080 degrees.

[ChronoJoe]

Coldfire there are about 40-50 native 1080p games on PS3. Not 6.

[TwistedMetal]

Its a waste to get an Hdtv if u got an x360 becuase theres like nothing on it that does native 1080p, if u have a 1080 tv then u get the ps3 becuase it has the best looking games, and 1080p blueray movies to get the full use out of your tv, as well as 3d soon. the fact of the matter is ps3 should be the choice no matter what unless u like wasteing money and not useing all your tech to the fullest. ps3 and Hdtv should be the only thing comeing out of peoples mouths.

[JoelR]

2.5x - 3x the height of the screen to where you sit is considered the sweet spot by the ISF. that is if you have a 32" screen the screen height is ~ 15" or so... that means you sit back from it ~ 37" - 40" for best viewing... most people sit at the old range which was 5 to 7x the height of the tv (SD and ED)... if you do this you loss much of the benefit of HD resolutions.

at these ranges you should not see the dots making up the image and should with good visual acuity make out the most amount of detail.

[TABSF]

I only became a PC gamer in 2007 and its still embarrassing that the console can rarely hit the 1920 by 1080p Full HD standard

Before the PS2, NGC and Xbox was released PC was already beyond the HD standard with resolutions like 1440 by 900p and 1280 by 768

While the console struggle with 1280 by 720 and no Anti Aliasing PC just runs away with 2560 by 1600p 32xAA

Also 1920 by 1080p is over twice the pixel count of 1280 by 720p and 2560 by 1600p have 198% more Pixels than 1920 by 1080p

I can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p, I also can tell the difference between 0xAA and 16xQAA

Final point how come you have to spend like £500 = $800 for a Full HDTV yet my 1920 by 1080 monitor with shaper image, better colours, better contrast and quicker response time only cost me £150 around $250

[hoops]

PC's have been doing true HD since the 9700pro was released.
Consoles as you said have strugglked to even do 720p let alone true 1080p.
Almost all the games that are native 1080p on consoles are PSN or XBL titles that have basi graphics and pysics.

[Reigen]

just check this video and see for youreself

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[hoops]

None of the console games that are graphic intensive are TRUE 1080P let alone run at 60fps.
Most of the so called NATIVE 1080P games on teh Xbox360 and PS3 are thosePSN and XBL games.

[PS360_37]

I've heard its hard to tell the difference between 720p and 1080i. I've never heard the rumor between 720p and 1080p. AS far as the difference between 720p and 1080i, I heard not everyone can tell.

[SmokedOut]

According to the article your saying Blu-Ray(1080p) is pointless ?