120 Hz worth it?

[Gibson486]

I was at circuit city and I saw a Samsung that advertised 120Hz on a main display. It looked awesome. However, I saw the other 120 Hz sets (including the same set in a smaller size) and they did not look nearly as good. Did Circuit City some how purposely tune down the other TVs t make the main displyed Samsung look better? The difference was really noticeable.

 

[PurdueRy]

Perhaps they were only showing 24 FPS media on the one set?

 

[EvilYoda]

Not all TVs that advertise "120Hz" actually perform a proper 5:5, so that could account for the varying experiences.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6...792632-1.html?hhTest=1

 

[erwos]

Don't confuse 120hz with the "soap opera" effect, either. If the difference seems huge, that's probably what's going on. 2:3 pull-down judder is usually fairly subtle. And, as EvilYoda has pointed out, not all TVs with 120hz are actually all that useful, since some don't do 5:5. Do your research.

 

[ManBearPig]

Ten bucks its the soap opera effect like erwos mentioned. That does NOT look good, i have/had the ln40a650 and it's really quite annoying. on certain movies though, on the low setting it does look good. It also works well for games on high.

 

[Genx87]

Is the soap pera effect when the images appear layered?

 

[Gibson486]

What is soap opera effect?All I know is that that one Samsing on display looked awesome. The other 120 Hz TVs, including the the same Samsung model but with a smaller screen, looked no better than a 60Hz TV.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Gibson486
What is soap opera effect?All I know is that that one Samsing on display looked awesome. The other 120 Hz TVs, including the the same Samsung model but with a smaller screen, looked no better than a 60Hz TV.

The soap opera effect is basically when movies look like TV shows (in terms of frame rate). A processor in the TV looks at the differences between frames, and then makes up new ones, creating an artificial increase in frame rate. It has time to do that because it refreshes 120 times a second.

120hz TVs generally have multiple settings for this particular feature (it's called different names by the different manufacturers, but I'll just call it motion enhancement). On the lower settings, it can genuinely be useful to cut down on source-based judder (eg, 24fps not being enough to do a particularly wide pan smoothly). On the higher settings, though, it generally gives an un-natural look to the movie.

Most people can't tell the difference between 60hz and 120hz at a glance without the motion enhancement on. And, as others have said, your local electronics store kinda sucks for determining which sets have the best image quality...

 

[Gibson486]

OK, so just to check....I am guessing that Samsung paid circuit City or something to make sure that their 52 inch TV looked better than all the others by disabling the motion enhancement on other 120 Hz TV's ?

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: Gibson486
OK, so just to check....I am guessing that Samsung paid circuit City or something to make sure that their 52 inch TV looked better than all the others by disabling the motion enhancement on other 120 Hz TV's ?

No, according to Cnet, some manufacturers just don't implement 120hz properly.

They had 2 46" Sony Bravia's next to each other at my CC. One had 120hz and one had 60hz, and running the same source, The Bee Movie, and the difference was OBVIOUS especially on scenes were there was a lot of movement and high contrast on alternating lines of color, like the bees shirts. The details were also noticeably fuzzier on the 60hz, without a doubt. And if you want to use it as a monitor, you will want the increased frame rate.

Anyone who says there is basically no difference has not done very much side by side comparisons of it to actually judge the difference. You can't expect to accurately compare it with broad statements like "my dad has a Sony 60hz and I have a Sony 120hz and I see no difference." That is a load of BS. I recommend them compare them side by side, on the same source and they will see LOTS of difference.

I watched Zodiac last night on HD-DVD, and it shows a lot of text, such as newspapers scanning up and down and side to side and the image was crystal clear and completely in focus on my 120hz Samsung. That's what you would expect to see with double the refresh rate. No evident blurriness caused by more interpolated frames at 60hz at all.

Motion Interpolation - Wikipedia

This JVC news bit kind of puts it into perspective by comparing the two refresh rates. Obviously, their news is somewhat proprietary to their developments, but it sums up 60hz LCD panels shortcomings well.

JVC ANNOUNCES 120Hz CLEAR MOTION DRIVE TECHNOLOGY (HIGH-SPEED LCD) FOR FULL HD LCD TVs

LCD Specs Playing with Your Eyes - HDTV Magazine