1080p on a 4k television

jayzem

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I am debating buying a 4k television UN50TU8000FXZC (its a canadian one, if that matters) and I am wondering how does the 1080p look? do upscalers work well? does this tv have a good upscaler or even have one at all? I cant find true confirmation on google kinda goes both ways but I feel like a lot of people have said 1080p looks worse on their new 4k tv. is that true?
 
It will be dependent on the tv you purchase...the cheaper TVs won’t upscale as good as a more expensive tv with a decent prossesor and video scaling...like most things you always get what you pay for.
 
Yes - 1080p has the potential to look worse on a 4K TV than a 1080p TV due to the upscaling required, however many good quality TVs do a really good job of upscaling and the difference isn't as noticeable as you might think. Bear in mind that people also often take the opportunity to increase the screen size when upgrading though, which won't help. One thing I found jumping from a 46" 1080p plasma to a 55" 4K OLED is that the OLED really shows up any deficiencies in the quality of the source material, with SD (and even some low-bitrate, streamed HD) looking poor and definitely worse than it used to on the plasma.

Your best option is to check reviews of the TV you're interested in - most good reviews (such as those on AV Forums) will mention how a TV performs with different sources at different resolutions and should comment on the upscaling. All 4K TVs will upscale lower resolution content to 4K.

The issue these days is that all mid-size to large TVs are 4K (here in the UK at least), so anyone wanted to upgrade won't have a choice ! The choice you do have, though, is to choose a set which upscales well.
 
I upgraded from a 50'' plasma to a 65'' Panasonic OLED. The majority of 1080 programmes or from streaming services look very good indeed. Blu ray 1080 discs can look stunning and often as good as streamed 4K content.

If the source is poor, like when Netflix reduced bitrate earlier in the year 1080 programmes looked dreadful on my OLED at times unwatchable. That's not the fault of the TV's upscaling abilities just a case of crap in and crap out.

I did go for one of the more expensive Panasonic OLED and it is an upgrade that I don't regret one little bit.
 

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