So what does all this mean? What’s the point of upgrading from your beloved CRT TV to a sparkling 65-inch UHD display? Well, first of all, it just looks better - a lot better. This is everything from 4K home security cameras to 4K gaming monitors. That has changed in the past few years, as UHD TVs have become affordable for even cost-conscious consumers, resulting in studios caving and churning out 4K material left, right, and center.Īdditionally, you’ll also see several other consumer tech items boasting 4K as a top feature. This is considered a high pixel density.įor a long time, Ultra HD resolution televisions hovered on the edge of the market, too expensive for most viewers to buy (which in turn meant that creating 4K content wasn’t a worthwhile investment for studios). That’s a total of 8,294,400 pixels, which is four times as many pixels as a Full HD 1080p display and nine times as many pixels as a 720p display. Technically, the name is a bit of a misnomer because there are 3,840 columns and 2,160 rows of pixels that make up a 4K TV screen, which is why you’ll occasionally see this resolution referred to as 2160p. The next level of HD is 4K - often called “Ultra HD” or UHD.

For a while now, 1080p has been the industry standard for high-definition displays, and most content (that is, television broadcasts, shows, and movies) is produced and distributed in 1080p. Often, 1080p is referred to as “Full HD.” In a 1080p television, there are 1,920 columns multiplied by 1,080 rows for a total of 2,073,600 pixels - more than twice as many pixels as you’ll find in a 720p TV screen. This is the minimum TV resolution that can be called “high definition,” or HDTV. Riley Young/Digital Trends Resolutions 720pĪ 720p resolution television has 1,280 columns and 720 rows of pixels, hence “720p.” Multiply the two numbers for a total of 921,600 pixels. From a proper viewing distance, thousands of them blend to make the image on your screen. You can only see these pixels if you’re fairly close to the screen, of course. They’re tiny little dots that, together, make up the picture you see on a screen.

Pixels are the building blocks for every display you’ve ever seen.

Is my monitor 1080p or 720p