New Samsung LCD - 60hz or 120hz?

[scottjf8]

I bought a new 46" Samsung last week at Best Buy. It's a 60hz 46" 1080p LCD.

I'm now wondering if I should spend the additional $100 and get 120hz. Or at this size, is it no different?

I watch a lot of sports (Football, Hockey, NASCAR) and I also bought a BluRay player.

Advice wanted!

[Davenlr]

Ive got a 60hz, and have no problems with the PQ (Mines an Aquos).

Most 60hz sets wont support 1080p24, but will support 1080p60, so that would be the only difference I think you will notice.

[scottjf8]

Oh the picture quality on the 60hz is really fantastic. But I don't know if 120hz is even better.

[Davenlr]

Oh the picture quality on the 60hz is really fantastic. But I don't know if 120hz is even better.

I honestly dont know. Supposedly it reduces 'blurring' on fast motion sports, however, Ive never seen that on my 60hz screen. I think if you have a CHEAP 60hz set, you might notice it, and need a 120hz or 240hz model...

The only thing right now, that I would spend extra money on would be LED backlighting for the increased contrast, or, if you think you will want 3D, then a 3D set. I wouldnt pay extra for 120 or 240hz unless I had a specific problem with the PQ that it would resolve. I dont. Apparently you dont either :)

[Shaqdan]

I vote for the 120hz.

[BattleZone]

Oh the picture quality on the 60hz is really fantastic. But I don't know if 120hz is even better.

"Picture Quality" means a lot of different things to different people.

Additional refresh rates "other than 60Hz" have a few big advantages, though you have to check the specific TV model, because not all of these features are automatically supported just because the refresh rate is "other than 60Hz". But for the sake of argument, let's assume they are.

LCDs that do "other than 60Hz" are usually 120Hz or even 240Hz. These higher refresh rates can do 3 things:

- Helps reduce blurring caused by LCD's normally slow refresh/decay rates.

- With additional software/processing, which goes by various names (Sony calls theirs "Motion Flow"), the TV can create "in between" frames that were never actually captured by the camera. This will create smoother motion and give you an effect as if you were looking out a window at real life, instead of watching TV. This effect is best used for sports and other live events, and generally should NOT be used for movies/TV shows. More on this in a minute.*

- Allows film, which is shot at 24 frames a second, to be viewed at 24 frames a second. No 60Hz TV can display film content correctly, and this is a problem that has been with us for 70 years, but can now be eliminated. 60 isn't evenly divisible by 24, so when film content is converted to 60Hz for TV format, it is done by repeating the odd frames 3 times and the even frames 2 times. So instead of each frame appearing on the screen for 1/24th of a second, like a film projector, you get odd frames appearing for 1/20th of a second and even frames for 1/30th of a second, which causes an annoying affect called "judder" and makes motion look strange. But since 120 is evenly divisible by 24, on a 120Hz TV, you can repeat each film frame 5 times, and you'll get perfect 1/24th of a second film frames.

Most HD content is mastered at 1920x1080/24p format, including nearly all Blu-Rays, as well as premium downloaded movies from DirecTV and DishNetwork, so 24-frame support is (IMO) very important.

Remember that film, movies in particular, have a certain feel when shot at 24 frames per second, and it is highly desirable to retain that "film feel", so features like Motion Flow should be DISabled for movies.



* Motion Flow works similar to how animators work. A senior animator will draw the key frames, which are two animation frames showing the starting point and ending point of a given motion. These keyframes are then sent to 'Tweeners, who animators who fill in all of the in-between frames:

http://www.learnflashtutorials.com/media2/flcs3/FL02_01_fmt.gif

Those in-between frames smooth out the motion and make it look natural. Motion Flow does this in real time: it analyzes the individual TV frames, notes the motion between those frames, and then creates intermediate frames to fill in between the two.

[SPACEMAKER]

I have read that the difference between 60 and 120 is noticeable but that anything over 120 is overkill.

[Yoda-DBSguy]

I sell and install them for a living. There is a noticeable difference between 60 Hz, 120 Hz and 240 Hz sets when it comes the "blur" during fast action motion scenes typically associated with sports action.

Truthfully, for the difference in price, I wouldn't opt for any set unless it Incorporated 240 Hz with the motion flow engine and software.

I'd suggest the same conclusion for your scenario since you stated upfront that sports were an integral part of your viewing habits.

[SPACEMAKER]

I sell and install them for a living. There is a noticeable difference between 60 Hz, 120 Hz and 240 Hz sets when it comes the "blur" during fast action motion scenes typically associated with sports action.

Truthfully, for the difference in price, I wouldn't opt for any set unless it Incorporated 240 Hz with the motion flow engine and software.

I'd suggest the same conclusion for your scenario since you stated upfront that sports were an integral part of your viewing habits.

I have read that 240hz is merely an excuse for manufacturers to charge more for something that the human eye is incapable of perceiving.

[Grentz]

240hz just expands the idea of making more frames. If you dont like the look of motion flow type technologies and turn them off anyways, 240hz is not really worth it for most. If you do like the motion flow type tech, 240hz expands on it a bit by inserting more frames.

Personally I think those motion flow technologies look weird and unnatural to watch. I would still consider a 120hz TV simply for the blur reduction and native 24 frame support, but motion flow would be the first thing turned off.