Flow of Motion

First off, Like Contrast Ratio and Pixel Response time etc, there is no standard for the frame rate of a TV other than the original Broadcast Standard. So don't get caught up in these ridiculous numbers that manufacturers try to get your attention with.

But Why is Hz or frame rate important?

Our Broadcasting system is based on electricity. Does 60hz sound familiar? This is the rate of voltage that our electricity works on in the United States.

Now, the frame rate, or how many pictures go by in one second for All Broadcasting Cable etc is 60Fps or 60 Frames per second. This is what you see when you watch Television. 60 Still shots every one second flash in front of your eyes to make a moving picture seem real. Kind of like a flash book or stop animation.

So, the reason TV manufacturers are increasing the number of frames in the TV, is because your EYE can actually see at a faster rate than our standards of broadcasting (Cameras and TV's) can produce.

But here is where you have to be careful.

Everyone is trying to get in on the sale.

All of the processing is done in the TV, NOT any HDMI CORD or CABLE you may be pushed into buying!

Secondly, different companies do it different ways....

Some companies (not naming names) simply duplicate the same frame you just saw so they can stamp their TV 120hz or higher. Okay, that doubles the frame rate, but doesn't improve the picture, other than reducing a little judder.

Some companies may insert a Black or White frame and stamp it 120hz. Again, let's them claim it, but doesn't solve the issue. Now this technology can be of help in front projectors as typically you are looking at an 80" screen or bigger. If you have a bright snow scene, then switch to a dark scene, your eye is temporarily burned or held in the white, so now you are missing the movie trying to recover. That's a good reason to use Dark Frame Insertion. But it doesn't help a 30"-60" experience.

Plasma TV's can't actually create new frames based on the technology itself, so they resort to flashing the backlights to simulate more frames. This is hogwash and does nothing for picture quality. See my page on TV technology to see why Plasma is dead!

A few companies actually analyze the frames themselves for Motion and reduce blur to create a new frame(s) of information based on interpolation or an average of the two frames at a time. The BRAVIA series of TV's are apparently the only ones that analyze both vertical and horizontal planes to create some of the best renditions of motion we have seen.

Someday we won't be able to tell if we are watching TV, and technologies done right can accomplish this, but please be careful selecting manufacturers as there is a lot of misinformation out there on the fact tags.

Choose a manufacturer that actually has a hand in developing and shooting the original content.