The screen refresh rate is one of the most controversial characteristics of a display. It’s a common belief that the higher this parameter is, the better the image quality on a TV, computer monitor, or smartphone. This parameter is important not only for those who play demanding games but also for those who want to just create a 20Bet login for betting or watch YouTube videos. Let’s find out when you really need a display with a high hertz parameter and when the usual 60 Hz is enough.
Contents
What the Screen Refresh Rate Is
The screen refresh rate is the rate at which the display replaces one picture with another. Whether you’re watching a video on your TV or have a static menu open on your smartphone, the screen displays images that continuously replace each other.
For example, at 120 Hz, the screen updates the image 120 times per second, with the picture changing every 8.3 ms. And at 60 Hz, a new image appears once every 16.7 ms. The faster one image changes from one to the next, the less noticeable to the eye the individual frames will be and the smoother the video or animation will be, especially in dynamic scenes and games.
There is a myth that the human eye cannot perceive over 24 frames per second and that the 25th frame has a hidden effect on the subconscious mind. This effect was announced in 1957 by the American marketer James Vicari. He inserted several frames into movies with the words “Drink Coca-Cola!” and “Eat popcorn!” and claimed that this increased sales in movie theater stores.
But scientific studies disproved the impact of this effect and showed that the sensitivity of the eye is much higher, which means a higher frame rate makes sense. A few years later, Vicari admitted that he had fabricated the results of the experiment.
To be sure that the difference in the number of frames is really noticeable to the eye, you don’t necessarily need to conduct complex experiments. It’s enough to browse the menu on a smartphone with support for 120 Hz first by setting the maximum refresh rate in the settings, and then with a limit of 60 Hz. If you can put two smartphones with different frame rates next to each other, it will be even clearer.
What Affects the Smoothness of the Image
The higher the refresh rate, the faster the display redraws the image. That’s why dynamic scenes and movements are displayed more smoothly, without blurring or artifacts, when the frame rate is fast.
But the benefits of high refresh rates are limited by the number of frames at which content is played back. For example, 24 frames per second is still the standard shooting format in movie production, and 25-30 frames per second in digital television. This means that, in most cases, a screen with a higher frame rate will simply show the same frame multiple times.
In games, the frame refresh rate depends on the game itself as well as the performance of the processor and graphics card. Weak chips in smartphones and PCs process data more slowly, so in demanding games during the game, FPS can drop to 30 frames or even lower. In this case, there will be no special difference between a monitor with a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz and 144 Hz, either. So, when choosing a monitor for gaming, consider the capabilities of your computer.
Who Needs a High Refresh Rate Display
Players will get the most out of a display with a high refresh rate. Dynamically changing scenes become smoother, and the blurring effect disappears. Additionally, the fast matrix will sooner draw the enemy, who suddenly appeared from around the corner, and the player will have a few extra milliseconds to have time to react.
For the Monitor
In order not to overpay for excessive features, before buying a new display, check what maximum performance the PC can provide in the games you are going to play. To do this, use free utilities or the built-in tools provided in the video card drivers. If the FPS in your favorite games doesn’t exceed 60 frames per second and you don’t plan to upgrade your PC soon, there is no point in buying a 240 Hz monitor.
If the refresh rate of the display differs from the speed at which the video card generates frames, it can lead to image tearing, an error in which fragments of different frames are displayed at the top and bottom of the screen. The speed of the chip depends on the complexity of the 3D scene in a video game: the FPS may vary dynamically, while the display operates at a fixed rate. Due to unsynchronization, the screen starts displaying one frame and ends up displaying another.
For TV
The problem with the difference between the number of frames and the refresh rate of the screen is also solved by TVs. Mid-range and high-end models released in the last few years can generate intermediate frames that are inserted between frames of the original video. So, a video recorded at 30 frames per second will be upscaled to 120 FPS to match the refresh rate of the TV matrix. In practice, this may manifest itself as a slight and barely noticeable picture shake when the number of frames per second is not a multiple of the screen refresh rate. In this case, in the settings, you can usually choose several levels of “additional drawing” of frames or disable this function completely.
For Smartphone
For smartphones, a high refresh rate of the screen can also be useful in games: it reduces the blurring of the image when moving. It also has the added benefit of easier menu navigation. The higher the refresh rate, the smoother and more responsive the interfaces look, for example, when browsing menus or scrolling through social media.
Leave a Reply