[HOT TAKE] I Don't Think Everything Needs To Be HD

So not too long ago when 4K was starting to become the norm in the likes of TVs, computers, YouTube and other platforms, there was a lot of debate about whether it was necessary or not. There are pros; it is obviously a technical improvement, and it's handy for companies to market their products. But there are more cons in my opinion; the difference isn't that obviously noticeable, it takes up a lot more storage space, and 4K streaming requires more resources that aren't great for the environment, and key for the purpose of this blog, it looks worse when downscaled.

You see, we seem to have this idea about lower resolution video that it looks really bad. Sure if you go find a HD or 4K YouTube video right now and change the settings to 480p it'll look crap, but how about opening a DVD from 20 years ago and watching it? That probably looks pretty great, right? And that's not even HD! 720p or HD Ready was a big thing when it first came around as well and honestly I don't even think there's a massive need for resolutions above that except for when it comes to some massive movies. 

I think a lot of media has been poorly affected by an insistence on higher resolutions. Plenty of shows in particular are a lot less visually interesting since they moved to HD. Captain Midnight on YouTube made a really good video on this a while back. I randomly decided to watch an old WWE PPV today, specifically Royal Rumble 2007 and I was pretty surprised. I genuinely think it looks better than anything I've seen from their more modern shows. One of those reasons is that hard to describe look I just mentioned, another is that I didn't really feel like there was any important detail lost in SD, and the big reason is that the higher resolutions the shows are recorded in these days expose flaws and make everything look really cheap. This gets even worse when you're watching it downscaled a bit on their app, as streaming tends to be.

Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer had a lot of talk about being shot on IMAX and how visually striking it would be and needing to see it in the cinema, but this was a load of marketing rubbish. I don't dislike the film, and I certainly don't share Logan Paul's opinion on the film, but I will say I don't think it's a film that needed a high resolution. It is mostly people talking, it's good at that, and if it was shot in 480p I think it'd possibly enhance the experience. I definitely don't think it would take away from it.

And here's why I don't think it's such a big deal. Videos being played at lower resolutions only look bad if they are RECORDED at higher resolutions. Downscaling video never looks good because it loses detail, but have you ever seen footage straight from a standard definition camera? They look great. So many pre 2008ish TV shows look awesome!! 

Don't get me wrong, HD and 4K are cool and have their place, but if everything is HD or 4K then they aren't so cool. It's like that line from The Incredibles. (The image doesn't look bad does it?)