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Think back a couple of years, let alone a couple of decades, and you’ll realise just how. far technology has developed over time.
Put the TV from your childhood next to the one that occupies a huge space in your living room now, and the former would look horrendous by comparison, with the definition of our screens improving exponentially over the last couple of decades.
But surely this rapid improvement has to stop eventually, right? At some point our eyes simply won’t be able to comprehend any further detail?
This is exactly the concept that researchers from the University of Cambridge and Meta Reality Labs sought to uncover in their latest research – and their findings have huge implications for your next binge-watch (and your wallet).
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In their study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Communications, the team sought to find an answer as to how high is too high a resolution for the human eye, to help the discerning consumer know exactly when they are starting to waste their money, as Dr Maliha Ashraf explained in a statement:
“As large engineering efforts go towards improving the resolution of mobile, AR and VR displays, it’s important to know the maximum resolution at which further improvements bring no noticeable benefit. But there have been no studies that actually measure what it is that the human eye can see, and what the limitations of its perception are.”
To test this, the researchers used the theory that standard 20/20 vision can see details of 60 pixels per degree of vision, designing a bespoke set-up so that they could measure exactly what participants were able to see when looking at patterns on a screen, at a rate of pixels per degree (PPD).
Then, participants were asked to look at the screen when sitting down, and tell the researchers whether they could see lines in a pattern displayed on a screen in both greyscale and color. They continued reporting back as the screen was positioned at different distances and angles from their eyes.
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The results were fascinating, truly updating what we thought we knew about the human eye. In actual fact, the study suggested, the 60 PPD was inaccurate, with differences based on the colors used: greyscale images were seen by participants at an average of 94 PPD, with red and green patterns 89 PPD and yellow and violet significantly lower, at 53 PPD.
What does this mean for the consumer, as well as manufacturers of screens?
Well, there’s a limit on the resolution that we humans can see – push this too far and our eyes can’t take in any extra detail. However, this varies depending on a range of factors including color, distance, screen size, and the darkness of the room.
Thus, the researchers suggest bearing in mind these factors when purchasing a new TV – and helpfully, they’ve developed an online calculator to help fully inform your choice and ensure you’re not buying more pixels than you can actually process.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about why we should be worried about the leak in the bottom of the ocean.