Let me get some things straight first. It seems to be common misconception specially for computer people to confused the LCD’s refresh rate and frame interpolation aka Motion Flow, Auto Motion Plus, depending on the manufacturer. Your LCD’s refresh rate is either 60Hz, 120Hz or 240Hz, you can not change it by turning frame interpolation on or off. By turning it off, you will get rid of the extra frames inserted to create a smoother picture. I advise frame interpolation to be used only for watching sports.
What you need depends upon the type of material you would want to watch.
60hz LCDs will display 60fps, which is equal to the broadcast refresh rate, however introduces judder to 24 fps material(film).
120hz LCDs can display 60hz material by displaying each frame twice or interpolating motion from one frame to the next, so long as that option is available for the TV in question. As for 24fps material, some 120hz LCDs can play back this material at it’s intended rate by playing each frame 5 times. This removes any judder that was a result of the 3:2 pulldown associated with playback at 60hz.
240hz LCDs double the 120hz resulting in additional frames for interpolation.
In my opinion, 24fps playback is important for anyone watching Blu-rays, so they can view the film as the filmmakers intended. However, I owned an XBR9 with a 240Hz refresh rate and don’t see much benefit from 240hz LCDs over 120hz. I would recommend a good 120hz which may serve you better than a similarly priced 240hz model.
You can’t change your LCD TV’s native refresh rate. It’s either 60, 120 or 240 Hz (NTSB). Again, the soap opera effect as some call it, it is caused by frame interpolation (Motion Flow, Auto Motion Plus).
The real reason to get a 120 Hz or 240 Hz LED/LCD TV is to watch movies at 24p. It is advisable to leave frame interpolation off especially when watching 24p movies on Blu-ray. Otherwise, it becomes motion misinterpretation and makes your screen look like it’s displaying video instead of cinema and even looks cartoon soap opera like.
Copyright 2010 Christian Rios
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