Topic: 120hz - making all of tv look like the Hallmark Channel

[BlackNMild2k1]

Seriously, I'm watching Harry Potter on abc family and it look like a Hallmark Channel movie now. I already was not a fan, but this is making it so much worse.

I turn'd it off, but its a little humorous watching out like this. The actors stand out from the backgrounds so much that everything looks fake. So very very fake. All the cg sticks out like sore thumbs, and there is alot of it too.

I can't stop laughing, but I kinda have a new appreciation for the things needed to be done to get the cg to work with the real life people and objects.

But seriously it logs so bad its funny.

[ShyGuy]

I hadn't heard or seen this. They broadcast at a higher frequency which changes how the image looks? Are their examples online?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Not that I've seen, but you can find plenty of people talking about how 120hz gives it that soap opera look where everything looks like it's being filmed on stage live infront of an audience.

It looks great for sports and stuff, but makes regular TV look odd.


Truth is you tend to get used to it after a while, but since the only TV I watch with 120hz is at my moms house, it doesn't happen too often, so it really stands out for me. The motion on screen and everything is affected, it all just looks very weird.

[oohhboy]

100Hz/120Hz is a TV signal processing thingamabob that quadruples the number of frames by making up new frames reduce (Non-existant) flicker. Because LCDs pixel response times, especially on TVs don't remotely responde that fast, it produces what BlackNmild calls the Hallmark effect. It produces all sorts of nasty artifacts because the idea is retarded since LCD pixels don't turn off between frames.

It's about as useful of a feature as sticking the word "Real", or "Low fat" on food. However it is theoretical you could use the "extra" frames with glasses to retroactively give an older TV a 3D mode.

There are actual uses to doubling the frame rate like the use of adaptive motion de-interlacing to produce 50/60 full frames which does improve image quality.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Like I said, it looks GREAT for live sporting events, like Football and Basketball, because you almost feel as if you are there watching it Live, but other TV looks as if it's being performed on stage.

[BranDonk Kong]

I think 120hz is garbage. The only positive use I can see for it is for 3D viewing. Every time I see a store demo with the 120hz and 60hz side by side, I can't help but laugh at just how stupid the 120hz side looks. Movies are meant to be displayed at 24 frames per second, Blu Ray players and similar devices will set themselves (and your TV if it's half decent) to run at 24hz, so you can see them as they were meant to be seen. I can see sports benefiting from 120hz too, if they were actually filmed and displayed at 120hz, but until that happens it just looks silly.

[ThePerm]

I was at my uncles house, and i was like god-damn. It took me forever to find the feature to turn it off, but then I didnt really want to mess with his tv. On the other hand the second time I visited I watched Blue Crush with it on and it actually worked for that movie. They usually show Pirates of the Caribbean at stores and it looks so damn stupid at 120hz. So, nature shows, blue crush, and sports works, Harry Potter, Pirates, probably 90% of everything else doesn't.

[RABicle]

I think Blue Crush would look good no matter the hertz

[Morari]

Documentary and sports broadcasts work just fine. Real cinema doesn't, however. It's the same reason no one likes the look of tape or digital video over real film. It's too sharp, resulting in an odd sense that it's "fake". Compare that to film, which has a soft and almost surreal feel to it. The frame rates have a lot to do with that, which is why most indie filmmakers end up slowing their digital productions down to 24fps. Of course, proper lighting, good use of perspective and focus, and responsible camera angles and movement have a lot to do with things not looking cheap and fake as well.