[KobraKai]

“Colors and blacks don’t really have much to do with the resolution. Those will be other build factors in your TV. If you want really black blacks, the Kuro was one of the best. Plasma display. 720p if I remember correctly.”

Color has everything to do with resolution. The more pixels there are, that means that the density of the color is higher per scan line. It also means that any particular color is more true. I operate a printing press by trade, and it’s generally the same theory.

“On a side note, were you actually running true 4k? Or did your source only output 1080, with the TV upscaling? In which case you aren’t even running 4k, you’re running a 4k display that has squares of 4 pixels for every actual pixel.”

I have an all Sony 4K HDTV setup, 4K BDP800, with plenty of 4K UHDs to have experience enough to back up my opinion.

[Svartalfiar]

Color has everything to do with resolution. The more pixels there are, that means that the density of the color is higher per scan line. It also means that any particular color is more true. I operate a printing press by trade, and it’s generally the same theory.

No, that only means the density of the color is higher per scan line, if you don't have a much bigger screen. Someone upgrading their 1080p 32" to a 4k 80" will actually have a WORSE looking screen, because his density just dropped from 69ppi to 55ppi. It's not just the resolution that affects this, it's several factors. And generally, (assuming exact same style of construction) a higher ppi will give you worse blacks, because that's a denser packing of the little bit of light that is 'black'. Pixels aren't always turned off for black, they're just really, really dim. That's why turning your TV off actually looks darker than any 'black' you display - between your backlight, and pixels not dropping entirely to zero. Similar to how your printing can't just mix all colors and make black - you have to have a key ink for that.

True color is much more dependent on the capabilities and quality of the hardware. No consumer grade TV has 'true' colors - for that you want a reference monitor, which costs in the thousands and then some. For a 24" monitor. Sure, a low resolution will have 'worse' color simply from the fact that you see more of the space between the actual pixels, but that has nothing to do with each pixel's actual color quality. Increasing resolution there will help your overall picture, but at a certain point it's useless - the human eye can only distinguish so much resolution at a certain distance. And on a normal size TV, most people can't even see the difference between 1080 and 4k once they're more than a couple feet away. Ten feet away on the couch, and you probably need somewhere around an 80" or bigger for really sharp eyesight to start to see a difference. If not even bigger.

A printing press is similar, yet different. A monitor is sourcing the light, while printing is actually taking away light. That's your difference between additive color addition and subtractive color addition. Why printers are generally CYMK, while video signals are RGB. Light fully mixes, whereas inks do not.