SD HD UHD 4K 8K 16K HDR Comparison – Classic

by HelpCuttingTheCord.com

 
Format Image Size (Pixel Width X Height) Lines of Resolution Pixels/frame (p=Progressive, i=Interlaced) Uses
HD and HD Ready 1280×720 720 720p TV resolution marketing, minimum quality for today’s available content.
Full HD 1920×1080 1080 1080p TV resolution marketing, blu-ray comparable viewing quality.
4K & UHD 3840×2160 2160 2160p UHD and 4K are the same thing in television and consumer media, highest comsumer viewing quality available for current streaming TV, gaming, Video on Demand services.
Cinema 4K (DCI 4K) 4096×2160 2160 2160p Cinema Theater 4K standard.
8K 7680×4320 4320 4320p Consumer 8K TVs debuted for sale in 2019.  Currently limited content.  4K content is just now becoming broadly available. Controveries regarding human ability to see difference between 4K and 8K vs. pricing.
16K 15360×8640 8640 8640p For extra large 100-inch plus monitors.  Currently only one manufacturer.
SDTV (Standard Definition TV) 640×480 240 x 2 480i Over-the-Air (OTA) analog TV standard. Old tech. Go with minimum of 720p TVs.
HDTV (High Definition TV) 1280×720
1920×1080
720
540 x 2
720p
1080i
Over-the-Air (OTA) and current DTV standard. Go with minimum of 1080p TVs.
HDTV (High Definition TV) 1920×1080 1080 1080p OTA 1080p is available on a limited basis, mainly for pay-per-view and video on demand content.
VHS Tape 333×480 240 480i Discontinued.
DVD Disc 720×480
858×480
480 480i
480p
TVs and Blu-ray disc players with “upscaling” can help significantly.
HD-DVD Disc 1920×1080 1080 1080p Discontinued in 2008.
Blu-ray & Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs 1920×1080
3840×2160
1080
2160
1080p
2160p
Disk format chosen by manufacturer. See its packaging.
Standard Definition Video 352×240
480×360
858×480
352 240p
360p
480p
Low capacity on-line streaming services.
HDX 1920×1080 1080 1080p Vudu format – higher frames per second download available for better picture.
HDR (High Dynamic Range 10) Video formatting/filtering used to improve picture quality.  HDR is the contrast between the brightest whites and the darkest blacks.  HDR10, most widely used of five standards, uses 10-bit color instead of 8-bit.  Most videos are capable of displaying around 16.7 million colors.  HDR is capable of displaying over a billion.  Most HDR TVs are HDR10 compatible.