120Hz refresh on the TV.... worth it?

[Beertintedgoggles]

Well I'm away from home right now due to work so of course I get a call that the TV finally crapped out. I'll probably look into it and see if it's an easy fix (could just be the CFL inside) but it is also a chance to upgrade and get an LED backlit model finally. Is the 120Hz refresh rate just a gimmick? In the past, I thought most 120Hz models could not accept more than a 60Hz signal even from the computer and that it was just the rendering that was done in 120Hz.

Obviously a lot of this will be opinion based so if you have one (an opinion that is), share it and explain a bit why.

 

[McSteel]

Most TVs rely on HDMI for input and you'd have to have a TV and a GPU with HDMI 2.0 on it to support transmission at 120 FPS. Alternatively, there may be TVs with a DisplayPort that cost less than $2k. Even if you find a suitable one, the TV program currently being broadcast is only presented at 30 FPS, so interpolation to 120 can actually be a hindrance, if it's actually being done.

The only reason you'd want/need 120Hz is for 3D support, where you'll have 60 FPS per eye.

 

[qubit]

Is it worth it? There's no single right answer to this, but I can say that it would be worth it for me.

120Hz interpolation: not really worth it for 60Hz transmissions as it looks perfectly smooth anyway with no judder, but might perhaps look a little better, dunno. The real improvement comes in upsampling 30Hz / fps material such as movies*, dramas etc which gets rid of that annoying judder. Not everyone likes the motion to look smooth though, so check before you buy. Or get it from Amazon and return it if you don't like it. It can usually be switched off though.

120Hz true framerate: This is epic for connecting to your PC, even on the desktop. Your old GTX 470 would have trouble maintaining this framerate in modern games and should be upgraded to make the most of it, but the 2500K CPU would be fine. The displayport connector should support this. Check the make and model very carefully to be sure it supports true 120Hz and post on TPU first if you're not sure.

Hope this helps.

*Movies aren't shown at the native 24Hz on TV broadcasts for compatibility. Instead they're resampled for 30Hz usually.

 

[AsRock]

But for it to be worth while don't your games you play be around that kind of number too (120) ?, and if that's the case it's totally not worth it for me as i have had no issue with 60Hz.

 

[xfia]

the answer here is you really want 3 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009769 and 2 or 3 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202187&cm_re=fury_x-_-14-202-187-_-Product

 

[Beertintedgoggles]

the answer here is you really want 3 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009769 and 2 or 3 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202187&cm_re=fury_x-_-14-202-187-_-Product

Well.... that's definitely an opinion. This TV is setup in the living room for Netflix and the like. Most of my gaming days are behind me, I have too many projects around the house and garage anymore. I must admit, rebuilding the carb and hearing my old flat-head mower purring has been more satisfactory than beating any game has been.... I'm getting old.

 

[CJCerny]

Having the feature itself doesn't mean anything. It all depends on how well the feature is implemented. Some makes/models implement it much better than others. The only ratings that I am aware of for how well that feature is implemented are done by Consumer Reports. When they rate TV's--which they do often--one of the ratings they give is for "motion blur", which is the feature you are talking about.

Additionally, you are correct that the 120hz feature generally only applies to 60hz inputs. I'm not sure if any TV is capable of accepting an input greater than 60hz via HDMI. You would have to look at the specs very carefully to determine that is the case.