Highest Resolution for TV?

[Capybara#2]

In an older version of LR I could chose "Original Size" for export of.jpgs. In LRC 10 for export of a quick collection I have to select a specific size, but which one? It should match my actual HD TV as well as a later 4K TV.

Images from a Nikon D700 (4256 x 2832) could be shown without problems on an older TV (720 x 567i), but could U work with high resolution images from a Nikon D 810 or D 850? (8256 x 5504).

What's the highest resolution you can recomend for  a TV (viewing distance about 5m)??

It's for private use, only, but having purchased an expensive D 850, I would like to enjoy the quality as much as possible....

Happy Halloween!

Robert Specht, Vienna

[D Fosse]

A standard HD TV is 1920 x 1080 pixels. That's all you get, regardless of screen size.

A 4K TV is 3840 x 2160 pixels.

So it's still a long way from any half-decent camera.

[Conrad C]

Capybara#2 wrote:

In an older version of LR I could chose "Original Size" for export of.jpgs. In LRC 10 for export of a quick collection I have to select a specific size, but which one?

First, nothing has changed in Lightroom Classic 10 if you are using the Export dialog box. It is still possible to deselect Resize to Fit (so that it exports the original pixel dimensions), and if you want to use every available pixel on current and future TVs, you should still do it that way. Are you exporting a collection a different way?

Regarding the pixel dimensions for a TV, the most important thing you said is that you’re viewing it at 5 meters. However, you did not mention the size of the TV screen. Both are needed to determine which resolution is effective.

5 meters is considered a long distance unless it is an extremely large screen. There are web pages like TV Size to Distance Calculator and Science that show how distance affects resolution after taking into account human visual acuity. There is a graph about halfway down the page (“Optimal Viewing Distance by the Size of the Television and the Resolution”) that indicates that if you are sitting 5 meters from the TV, the screen should be at least 80 inches diagonally for a person with perfect vision to be able see all of the pixels in 1080p HD. For 4K at that distance, the screen would have to be so large that to see all of the pixels, you would be using a digital projector and wall-sized screen.

Two conclusions can be drawn with the help of that graph:

• If you are sitting 5 meters from a TV of the common size range of 35 to 80 inches diagonally, the most resolution your eye can see at that distance is approximately 720p, or 1280 x 720 pixels. The TV and the images on it may have many more pixels than that, but the human eye will not resolve them at that distance. 
• Resolution will not be the major factor affecting your enjoyment of the photos. The biggest factor will be the quality of editing, in particular how well the images are edited for color, levels, tonal distribution, and local contrast (detail enhancement). You will see those qualities at any distance.

The easiest way to handle the resolution question is to continue to export without resizing (at original size), so you won’t have to do it again in the future. And if you want to enjoy more of the detail, sit closer to the television. I actually do that for some of my favorite HD movies! (Because it fills more of your field of vision with the image, as shown in the article linked above.)

[Capybara#2]

Thanks, that's a lot of information!!!! That's what I was looking for!

My actual screen ist just 47i. That's not enough, specially for upright format. I have  to find  a solution between screen size and visability. It seems that there is no reason to go beyond 4K für my pictures. (I do not need movies or games....)

Maybe I should have saved money, by not buying the D 850 with its extreme resolution :-((

Beamers: I've read that beamers cannot handle upright images like an old time slide-proyector. These images will still come as quadrangular pictures? Do you know about any work around?

I appreciate your advice very much!

Happy Halloween!

Robert Specht, Vienna

[Conrad C]

Capybara#2 wrote:

I've read that beamers cannot handle upright images like an old time slide-proyector. These images will still come as quadrangular pictures? Do you know about any work around?

I don’t know that much about projectors, but if you mean that an image rectangle is distorted so that it looks tilted or narrower at one end, as if in linear perspective, that should not be a problem as far as I know. Digital projectors have lens shift and keystone correction which are two ways to solve this problem. I thought all digital projectors have these features, but if they do not, then you want to make sure you get one that has them.

This problem is worse at short distances, so for a small room, a “short throw” projector is supposed to be better at being able to focus and minimize distortion over a shorter distance.