The Subjective Sharpness of Simulated Television Images

Small-sized motion pictures, projected out of focus in simulation of the images reproduced by home television receivers, are used in a statistical study of the appreciation of sharpness. Sharpness, in the subjective sense, is found to increase more and more slowly as the physical resolution of the image is increased. Images of present television grade are shown to be within a region of diminishing return with respect to resolution. Equality of horizontal and vertical resolutions is found to be a very uncritical requirement on the sharpness of an image, especially of a fairly sharp one.