When shopping for a TV, display, or home theater, you may have come across the terms FHD and UHD, often accompanied by numbers like 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. Don’t let your eyes glaze over, because these definitions are important and will affect both the price and build quality of a display. We’ve reviewed both to help you make the best choice for your entertainment needs.
Real-world comparison 4K UHD vs Full HD resolution
UHD delivers a higher quality, higher resolution picture in all respects than FHD (1080p). The trade-off is that UHD costs more. If you are more concerned about budget than resolution, FHD offers a perfectly good viewing experience. UHD (4K) takes that experience to a higher level, especially on larger screens.
A 1080p TV is an FHD TV. FHD stands for Full HD or Full High Definition and refers to 1080p video resolution, which is 1,920-pixel columns by 1,080-pixel rows. That works out to 2,073,600 total pixels, or about 2 megapixels. The “p” in 1080p refers to progressive scanning, meaning that each row of pixels is scanned in sequential order. This is different from interlaced, as in 1080i, which scans rows of pixels in an alternating order, which can cause motion blur.
UHD stands for Ultra HD, or Ultra High Definition. It is sometimes also referred to as 4K, although UHD resolution is not necessarily 4K resolution. Two common types of UHD are 4K UHD and 8K UHD. Both are progressive-scan displays, but 4K UHD is more common and affordable. The resolution for 4K UHD is 3840 x 2160, which is 8,294,400 pixels, or about 8 megapixels. The resolution for 8K UHD is 7680 x 4320 pixels, or about 33 megapixels.
