Boffins claim we can't see the difference between 4K and 1080p on our TVs – and forget about 8K

It's been 13 years since LG introduced the first universally available 4K TV and while it took a while before the majority of households switched their 1080p (even 720p) sets for Ultra HD models, it's now rare to find any of the best TVs under 40-inches that isn't. Now we're even talking about the next big leap – to 8K.

But according to scientists at both the University of Cambridge and Facebook owner Meta, there's no need to upgrade. They even say that we shouldn't have bothered first time around, claiming that there is "no noticeable benefit" to having an Ultra HD TV over a Full HD model.

As reported by The Guardian, the research team studied how much detail a person can resolve when viewing a display at different distances. They tested 18 subjects with normal or corrected vision on a variety of image patterns, shown on a 27-inch 4K monitor at different distances.

The images were shown in a random order and were used to determine how accurate each participant's eyes were in picking out resolution.

One image showed 1-pixel vertical lines in either black and white, red and green, or yellow and violet colours. The other presented a plain grey background without any images. Each test subject had to say which image contained the lines.

"When the lines become too fine or the screen resolution too high, the pattern looks no different from a plain grey image," said the lead scientest, Dr Maliha Ashraf told The Guardian.

"We measured the point where people could just barely tell them apart. That’s what we call the resolution limit."

Another test tasked the participants with judging between two images – this time of white text on a black background, and vice versa. They had to determine which of the two looked the sharpest at different distances.

"The resolution at which people stopped noticing differences in text matched what we saw with the line patterns," said Ashraf.

The conclusion reached suggested that after a certain distance – such as how far you sit from your TV – the average human eye would not be able to definitively pick out any more resolution, no matter how many more pixels on screen.

While this is not what anyone who's recently invested heavily in a 4K TV wants to hear, especially me as the ex-deputy editor of Home Cinema Choice, it might make you think before hurriedly stepping up to 8K.

"If someone already has a 44-inch 4K TV and watches it from about 2.5-metres away, that’s already more detail than the eye can see,” added Ashraf.

“Upgrading to an 8K version of the same size wouldn’t look any sharper."