I am confusion. What is the best viewing experience?

[Taemero]

I am confused on the effects of watching 1080p content upscaled on a 4k monitor vs a native 1080p monitor. And what about the reverse situation, 4k content on a 1080p. I have heard it is pointless to buy a 4k monitor if all I am watching is 1080p on youtube, anime, and even lower quality on streaming sites. 

Is the only point in buying a 4k monitor just for gaming and video editing?

Is it better to just buy a really nice 1080p high refresh rate monitor vs the 4K LG gaming monitor?

 

[SupaKomputa]

1080p is 4 times smaller than 4k, so if upscaled 1 individual pixel of 1080p will reside in 4 4k pixels.

If you can actually see the pixels (like in a large tv) it maybe disturbing, but since a monitor is smaller, you can't see it.

Playing 1080p files in 4k tv, you will definitely notice the difference.

 

[SolarNova]

Depending on what is doing the scaling, upscaling can make content look better.

 

As for downsampling. running  a game at 4k on a 1080p display does improve fidelity greatly.

 

As for Youtube, youtube compression at 4k runs at a higher bitrate than at 1080p, so u can still see an improvement in quality. I always watch youtube in 4k if there is the option.

 

As for monitor choice, ull find the best monitors tend to be 1440p and 4k nowadays, so i'd look into getting a high refresh 1440p display. See the pinned thread to find out how best to find and choose a monitor.