It is well known that ATSC 3.0 video is much better than ATSC 1.0 video. But why is it better? Is it due to HDR or higher resolution?
We compare three use cases:
- ATSC 1.0 video with SDR and 1080i or 720p
- ATSC 3.0 video with HDR+1080p upscaled to 4K
- ATSC 3.0 video with HDR+native 4K
We asked AI agents to rate the visual quality improvements from case-1 to case-2 to case-3. We also asked industry experts to weigh in on the results and they agreed with the following.
About 80-90% of gains in visual improvement occur when viewing migrates from case-1 to case-2. The balance 10-20% improvement comes from HDR+4K. In other words, HDR is about four times as important as 4K for improved visual performance.
In our opinion the CTA and consumer electronics companies have boosted 4K and 8K because it is easy to sell new hardware using the "more is better" association. In reality, most experts are hard pressed to find the visual difference between case-2 and case-3. If you are holding out for native 4K, you are missing the NEXTGEN TV bus for no good reason. The 80-20 rule applies here. "HDR+1080p upscaled to 4K" gets you 80% of the visual quality that you will ever get with "HDR+native 4K".
Now add the advantage of Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 audio over Dolby Audio 5.1 and you can't really make a case for sticking with 1996 AV technology.
