True 4K and Fake 4K Projectors: Why I Told Everyone Stop Worrying

akagi1945

Member
True 4K and Fake 4K Projectors, which one to choose? Hold on. As is known to all, the 4k projectors are highly recommended by the professional communities about the projectors. However, I want to word out my opinion: there is no need to worry about the "fake 4k projectors" because the True 4K and Fake 4K Projectors are not that different as many netizens describe.

True 4K and Fake 4K Projectors: Differences

The famous ProjectorCentral has posted an article once discussed about this question, the article was very detailed. We can skipped the histoty talking and focus on the part which really matters:

True 4K and Fake 4K Projectors: Why I Told Everyone Stop Worrying

In the test of comparison, including Optoma UHD60 vs Optoma UHD50, ViewSonic PX727-4K vs Epson Home Cinema 4000, and the high-end Optoma UHZ65 vs Sony VPL-VW285ES, all their results are similar:

If you sit 12-inch far from the screen, you can tell the differences between the True 4K and Fake 4K Projectors. The pixel structure are different - the one with 0.66" chip ( that indicates true 4k resolution ) shows more distinct detail while those with 0.47" chip ( Fake 4K ) demonstrate no sense of discrete individual pixels.

Is that mean we should pay an extra $ 200 for a True 4K projector?

Not at all.

True 4K and Fake 4K Projectors: Why You Shouldn't Worry

1. The practical viewing distance

Although the differences between True 4K and Fake 4K Projectors are visible in a close distance, but once you sit in two feet from a 5-foot wide screen- which is a quite common distance in real, you could hardly tell the difference between images of True 4K and Fake 4K Projectors- they would completely the same.

2. No visible difference in sharpness

So except for the resolution, what about the image sharpness? The answer is the same - no differences. I am not forcing anyone to believe that the native 4k is useless, but the fact is that- you just cannot tell the difference at such distance.

3. Other than True 4K or Fake 4K, what to pay attention for purchasing a projector

Other than True 4K or Fake 4K, there are other things more important to consider before purchasing a projector, such as brightness, contrast, your budget, your room space, color design, sound effect and whether it is with built in Android system -just focus on the features you need most and specs that will actually affect your viewing experience, that matters much more than the pixel-shifting 4K, trust me.
 
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To me this is labeling issue. Both projectors with a true 4k chip and projectors with a 1080 chip and pixel shifting are labeled as “4k,” with almost no way to know which is which without diving deep into spec sheets and reviews. That is inherently confusing.
 
I can see that people don’t like the disparaging nature of the term “fake,” which is fine. But it should be easy to differentiate the two projector types from a marketing and labeling standpoint.
 
I can see that people don’t like the disparaging nature of the term “fake,” which is fine. But it should be easy to differentiate the two projector types from a marketing and labeling standpoint.
i think at the core of the conversation, this is the real ask...just a way to distinguish.

When you throw in drama and emotions, you get the stuff that we have seen, thus loaded words such as "fake" come up.
 

waterloo

Member
To the people who don't think a 4K DLP pixel shifter is really 4K...

Do you also say that a CRT display is really only 1 pixel?

On a CRT only 1 pixel is drawn at a time, and the drawing "device" is moved across the screen and down pixel by pixel, line by line to create the whole image.

In a 4K DLP the panel creates the first half or first quarter of the image (depending on the DLP chip) and then the drawing device is moved to create the other parts of the image at somewhere around 9000Hz.

Human persistence of vision takes care of creating the illusion that we are seeing all the pixels created simultaneously even though the pixel creation devices are fewer than the ending number of pixels.
 

Tyler123

Member
To the people who don't think a 4K DLP pixel shifter is really 4K...

Do you also say that a CRT display is really only 1 pixel?

On a CRT only 1 pixel is drawn at a time, and the drawing "device" is moved across the screen and down pixel by pixel, line by line to create the whole image.

In a 4K DLP the panel creates the first half or first quarter of the image (depending on the DLP chip) and then the drawing device is moved to create the other parts of the image at somewhere around 9000Hz.

Human persistence of vision takes care of creating the illusion that we are seeing all the pixels created simultaneously even though the pixel creation devices are fewer than the ending number of pixels.
It's also like calling DLP projectors "monochromatic" since they only display 1 color at a time (with the color wheel).
 

reality

Member
Would this be similar to an extremely fast interlaced image, from a very simple perspective? I know it's a lot more complicated than that, but at one point in time, 1/4 of the pixels are drawn, then another point in time another 1/4, etc.. 9000 times a second instead of the 30/60 for typical interlacing, though, making it a much better image?
 

Amnesia

Member
Would this be similar to an extremely fast interlaced image, from a very simple perspective? I know it's a lot more complicated than that, but at one point in time, 1/4 of the pixels are drawn, then another point in time another 1/4, etc.. 9000 times a second instead of the 30/60 for typical interlacing, though, making it a much better image?
Yes it's relying on persistence of vision to create the illusion of 8 million pixels simultaneously.
 
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