120Hz LCDs?

[Ninjaman09]

I'm sort of a stranger to this part of the forums, but I know there are some pretty smart home theater folks around here. I'm looking at buying a new LCD TV and I'm leaning heavily towards the Sony BRAVIA 40" here: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8828708&type=product&id=1207957070478

What I'd like to know is what benefits, if any, the 120Hz screens offer. I know most broadcasts are NTSC standard framerate (25-30hz or something?) and video games are about 60Hz or less. Is this a marketing scheme or is there a real benefit? I have read some reviews but LCD screen reviewers tend to focus on technical aspects of the screen rather than information useful to an average buyer. I was hoping I could pick your guys' brains about it.

If there's no major benefit to the 120Hz feature, I'm probably going to go with the 40" 1080p BRAVIA.

[J-Mag]

I've got one of the newer Samsung panels that has this feature and I don't like it for the most part. It's definitely useless for games. The weird thing is my panel has four settings (low, med, high, off) and I am unsure as to the technical differences although I can plainly see them.

[npras42]

I've tested this feature a lot on a Toshiba set that my brother owns and found that we both preferred it off as well due to a more stable picture. You can get odd stuttering and flickering with the setting switched on. The TV is fantastic and produces better picture than both of the Sony Bravia sets in my house (which are around a year older than the set in question), but the setting is mostly not used.

[Ninjaman09]

Ah thank you...that is good to hear. I should be able to pick up the 40" without any buyer's remorse now. :p

[bacon12]

If you are watching sports like football you will be glad you have 120 hz. Motion blurr is so bad without it that it ruins the picture.

[Mr. Hunt]

Trying to get my stuff in order to get the 52 inch from Samsung... the 650. I hear a lot of people complain about the 120hz, but I mostly want the option (haven't messed with it much in person, outside of seeing a "demo" in Best Buy), and I also want to be able to do 1080p/24hz.

[Medion]

There are two features that come with 120hz: auto motion plus (as Samsung calls it, basically interpolated frames), and 5:5 pulldown.

The interpolated frames gives it a "smoother" look, but many people hate it. I'm on the fence, but most prefer it turned off.

5:5 pulldown is nice though. 60hz panels need to use 3:2 pulldown, since moves run at 24fps, the frames are repeated 3 times, then 2 times, leaving some stutter. Hard to see for most, but it's there. 5:5 pulldown means that each frame is drawn 5 times (24*5=120), so there's no stutter with the motion. This feature makes the 120hz televisions worthwhile IMO.

[Talon]

I have that TV and I love it. It's great for using with a PC too. I found it smoothed some frames in Bioshock at 1920x1080 on my 8800 GTS 640MB.

I use the 120Hz but it depends on what I am watching. It looks good with some stuff like Blu-ray movies but depending on the source material it can artifact. Not for everyone though. My brother hates the 120Hz mode.

Trying to get my stuff in order to get the 52 inch from Samsung... the 650. I hear a lot of people complain about the 120hz, but I mostly want the option (haven't messed with it much in person, outside of seeing a "demo" in Best Buy), and I also want to be able to do 1080p/24hz.

[BrianG]

I have a Sharp with a 120Hz image processor and it is a very nice feature. In fact, I set my cable box to 1080i output for the ability to use the 120Hz features and film mode deinterlacing. If you watch a lot of sports, it makes a difference.

[Maverick123w]

I personally think it looks horrible. To the poster above... I don't know where I heard this or if it's even true, but someone told me sharp does the 120hz thing differently and more people prefer the way they do it.

[Medion]

I personally think it looks horrible. To the poster above... I don't know where I heard this or if it's even true, but someone told me sharp does the 120hz thing differently and more people prefer the way they do it.

Again, 120hz by itself doesn't look bad. In fact, it automatically does 5:5 pulldown, which is a decent improvement to video quality. The autio motion plus (Samsung's name for it) that many tvs do, is the thing you want to turn off.

[Ninjaman09]

Ended up going with the Samsung 40" 550 model. I saw the 120Hz feature demo at the store but wasn't convinced it was worth the extra cost. $1250 for a nice Samsung sounded good to me! :D

Thanks for all the input guys, it was very helpful in making up my mind.