Beyond the Limits of Visual Acuity: The Real Reason for 4K and 8K Image Resolution

Several commentators have argued that 4K and 8K image resolutions are unnecessary because the human visual system cannot resolve the additional image resolution at normal viewing distances, either for viewing a large screen television at normal living room distances, or on a handheld display, such as on a smartphone or tablet. While this argument has some merit, it ignores several other reasons for increasing the image resolution beyond the limits of human visual acuity. This paper presents some of these, including minimizing image spatial sampling artifacts, for traditional television viewing as well as novel display formats like virtual reality systems.