Is the 120 mhz add-on worth the additional price on a new LCD FlatScreen ?

I am just wondering whether the new 120mhz add-on is worth the extra $500-800 to the price?

 

depends

 

You gonna be watching the majority of your stuff in 1080p (bluray) at a distance of 8ft or closer?

 

Hear me out on this one. It might be very dumb.

If a typical screen refreshes at 60Mhz, and the pixel response rate is say 8ms, doesn't it seem like that if the refresh rate was twice as fast that you would see the delay in the pixel response rate twice as often, meaning more motion blur?

Thoughts?

 

I don't know but when I was looking a few months back after I ordered from Amazon and was waiting for deliver I noticed while watching a higher priced Samsung with the 120Mhz at the store that it had terrible motion blur. At least I think it was motion blur. It was especially noticable watching football during pass plays. You could see a trail where the ball went. I saw it on three different sets of the same model from 3 different stores. I was pissed as I thought that my lower end set would surely be worse. However, mine has never once created the blur I saw.

I'd say just go to a store and see for yourself if it's worth the extra money. There is really no other way to know.

 

Many Thanks for the thoughtful replies. I spent some time yesterday in Circuit City.
There is a degree of sharpness in the 120mhz equipped sets that is lacking the sets without. I am not sure in my mind whether it is worth the price..

The other really big issue I have with the new LCD (and plasma sets) is that the Standard Definition of on-air shows is HORRIBLE. Unfortunately in my area (St. Louis) 90% of the cable airing is SD. The clarity and sharpness of the new sets doesn't even come close to my 17 year old RCA CRT.

I understand that Samsung addressed that with their 4661 model of last year.

Does anyone on the board have any knowledge of this set/model?

Bogo
St.Louis

 

I have the 4665

 

ChipshotX

I'd really like to know more about your Sumsung.

I sure you went through the same frustrations at viewing your model first at the BestBuys & Circuit Citys..with most all TV hooked to a single HDTV source, where the differences in the individual sets are virtually impossible to distinguish.

The information I have on Samsung has come from Consumer Report of Dec last. the 4665 was not rated, but the 4661F had the top slot, with 'excellent' in each of HD DVD and SD. The 5265 had 'very good' in each of the three, which may or may not correspond to your 4665.

The proof is in the viewing.

Since I was not able to see any SD on a larger LCD at the stores mentioned,,,May I ask you, First, do you view much in SD and if so how is the picture? The reason I am beating this point so hard. is that almost all programming on my cable system is SD..and I'm bundled pretty good with them.

(Most of what I have seen from other that friends have a new LCD, the pictures remind me of viewing a very old VCR tape where much of the detail has been washed out by loss of pixels)

Your thoughts would be much appreciated

Bogo
St. Louis

 

I was really worried about SD programming when I bought my tv, and as such decided to make the internal scaler one of the most important parts of the tv. For other reasons I went plasma, so I ended up with a 42 inch pioneer plasma. All said, SD programming still isn't what it could be on a crt, but it's certainly pretty good.

For LCD, I believe that Sony sets are considered the best scaler/processing sets, but you'd have to do some more checking.

I'd say you're right to worry how SD programming looks on your set, it's not magically going away even in the digital transition.

As far as 120 mhz, I've never viewed it but some people think it makes blu ray movies look like soap opera lighting, which to me is undesirable. I also have read that motion blur does increase with this tech, for that reason I absolutely wouldn't pay a premium for it. But, again, it depends on what you are watching on your tv. Some events are more prone to motion blur than others.

 

IMO the SD is quite viewable but I typically just watch the HD versions.

When I was looking I was a freak about the details. Looking back it was a huge waste of time and effort. They all look good.

My picture looks great and I am very happy with it but I don't know if I could tell the difference between it and the next model down without going crosseyed.